free5ty1e wrote:but the compressor engaged and spun the entire time. Would it do this without a good charge?)
It's not terribly hard. You'll need to pick up a couple bolts from the hardware store first, but that's all.
Before you do anything, turn the center piece by hand and check for smooth rotation without gritiness.
Leave everything in place. Unplug the clutch and activate it with 12v with the car off so you hold it in place. Turn the center bolt just enough to break it loose. Remove power and disassemble.
Check this out:
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin ... ch-116835/
Use common sense and tighten down like when you're tightening lug nuts. You should be able to squirt some oil into the pulley bearing from there once you have the clutch out.
You'll need a pulley puller and perhaps a snap ring pliers to get past this. I've not taken it further myself so I don't know.
Legacy777 wrote:
I'll share this....when AC comressors are not run frequently, at least once a month they don't get the oil they need and when you start them up they will have increased wear. So over time the compressor may eventually start knocking and seize. I went through 3 used compressors before I broke down and bought a new one. I now have all the equipment to do AC work (gauges, vacuum pump, leak tester, etc). I got tired of having to take my car somewhere to do that work...and not have it done right.
That's the shaft seal. The one that's making noise in his case is the pulley bearing which is always spinning whenever the car is on.
It's supposed to. These compressors are variable displacement and changes displacement instead of cycling it on/off all the time. There's a sensor, so if its flat, it wouldn't engage, but the fact it engages doesn't mean that its got a proper charge. Once you have that bearing lubed, feel the two lines going to the compressor. One should get hotter and the other one should get colder. If all works good, it'll be worth actually pulling the pulley to replace the bearing.
