ac pump

[Vanessa Brake]

So while I was on my way to get an estimate for the paint damage my ac pump seized up and the pulley and shredded the belt. 200$ to get towed from abby to chilliwack. And the tow truck driver got in a fight with some guy in the middle of the street while loading my car on to the flat deck
I'm going to replace the pump on sunday....does anyone know how hard or a job this is on a 420a?

I'm sure there will be pics to come as Brandon though seeing it getting towed away was the most hilarious thing ever. Prob even a video

[Carl Gould]

Replacing the compressor itself shouldn't be too hard, however it is expensive. First thing you have to do is have a certified professional fully evacuate the system. One thats done, it's literally just a few bolts, possibly a sensor. Just make sure you get new orings for the lines. Once that's done, you can have the same refrigerant that was evacuated put back in, as well as new oil for the compressor (if it wasn't prefilled). It's too bad you have a 420a. I'm getting rid of the a/c on my car, would have given you the compressor for free.

[Vanessa Brake]

What is envolved in evactuating the system? Its super low and a real b***h to keep getting it towed around. Is it possible to have someone come to the car to do it or does it need to be done in a shop?

[Remi Raymond]

The refrigerant is an ozone depleting gas. Evacuation requires what is essentially a complicated vacuum, so it does need a shop that can do A/C work.

[Vanessa Brake]

That really freaking sucks....so this is going to be like stupid expensive to fix basically

[Vanessa Brake]

Next question....is there any difference between the ac compressor in my 96 and say an ac compressor from a 97? Or is it a generic piece through all years of 2G's?

[Carl Gould]

Next question....is there any difference between the ac compressor in my 96 and say an ac compressor from a 97? Or is it a generic piece through all years of 2G's?

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure all of the 420a compressors are the same.

[Remi Raymond]

I don't know the 420a but usually you can just run without the AC pump hooked up (with the belt disconnected) and it doesn't have any impact on the car. If the pulley truly seized, and for some reason you need to have that belt on for your AC then you don't really need working ac, just a pulley that spins. I'm sure there will be some homebrew solution for that.

[Vanessa Brake]

The pulley does need to spin as that belt also drives the power steering and possibly the alternater but not positive. I don't use the ac ever anyways so if there's a way to just the pulley spin freely that would be an option for sure

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

Vanessa, I used a belt on my 1g, not sure if yours is the same.

I had an A/C delete done and it ran great, if you like I can get you that belt number just not sure if 1g/2g are different there.

If you arent going to keep A/C then rip the entire thing out. I remember reading somewhere that the entire A/C system including all the hoses and extra crap weighs over 60lbs, plus removing it cleans up your engine bay & helps to improve in engine airflow 


But the cars not worth as much when you sell it...

[Vanessa Brake]

Resale value is not really a huge concern. I'm assuming you had a 4g63 in your 1g though? If so the belts would probably be very different from my 420a (but I'm often wrong about these things so who knows lol)  More than anything I just want it drive able so I don't have to tow it around trying to get it fixed. Its far too much work getting it on and off the flat bed and every time I hear the inevitable scraping along the ramp it breaks my heart a little lol
Ideally I would like to find a way to have the pulley spinning freely temporarily so I can take it to a shop and have the ac system evacuated and then take it to my dads house to replace the compressor. I live in an apartment so my place is not exactly ideal for working on cars

[Mikael Mikkelsen]

OK, I had the EXACT same issue with my 420a. Heres what I did:

Its not your A/C (well it wasn't mine) thats shredding the belts, its actually the free spinning guide wheel, they get loose, its a common problem.

You can completely remove that free spinning wheel and opt in to a shorter belt that doesn't require it.

You tighen this belt with your powersteering pump, you can push it forward and back.

It took me quite a bit of searching but I believe it was a 1992 Diahatsu Rocky belt that I used that worked for me. Do some searching, I believe its on dsmtalk.com or dsmtuners.com or whatever it is now.

If you need any help PM me or post it up, I went through what sounds like the same thing not even 60 days ago

[Jason Harwood]

Get a non AC belt and run with out it.

Save time and money.

Summers almost over

[Vanessa Brake]

Lol I totally had that problem early this summer too Mike. I replaced that pulley not long ago. That was more the pulley was wobbling and letting the belt skip over and shredding it. This time was different. There was smoke the ac pulley was like red hot and I can reach down there and try to move and its stuck. Wish I had known you could just bypass that other pulley though lol it was not nearly as easy to replace as it should have been
But with using the non ac belt. I'm not looking at it right now but the ac pulley is derctly underneith the tensoiner pulley and I'm pretty sure if I ran a smaller belt and just didn't put it around the ac pulley it looks like the belt would still rub against it? Is this something that people have done in the past and not run into problems with the belt not clearing the ac pulley?

[Vanessa Brake]

So when this happened I had my laptop with me as I broke that too, obviously I never made it there to get it fixed that day, thus my laptop still isn't working. Point is, I was hoping someone would be kind enough to email me a pic of the belt route diagram for the 420a with no ac. Vanessabrake@msn.com Thanks