Ok, not really sure why this happen. Had a stupid chick on the cell phone swerving on the highway so for my safety down shift to get around her ASAP. After passing her, the next thing I know my AC doesn't seem to be working so well and I'm smelling something burning, a very uneasy feeling, pulled the car off, saw smoke coming out of the hood, popped the hood and saw a good amount of smoke coming from the AC clutch; thankfully my car wasn't on fire!

Fortunately the smoke cleared and I was able to drive home without AC. The clutch engages, but now squeaks like crazy and seems to be leaking some type of oil now which makes me think the clutch is toast, but I didn't want to replace to clutch if it turns out the compressor is bad.

Was wondering if anyone has any insight or similar experiences that could confirm that it's the clutch?

Amazing how Mr. Murphy strikes during a freaken 100 degree heat wave!

 

There isn't any oil in a clutch. I would bet the heat took out the front seal in the compressor. Best to replace the compressor/clutch assembly and a new accumulator at the same time.

 

Sounds like the compressor may have siezed, that is usually what causes the clutch to slip. Remove your drive belt and attempt to turn the compressor with a wrench on the front bolt if it has one, some require a type of spanner. If it won't turn you wil likely need the clutch as well since it has slipped at high speed. Good luck.

 

Good advice so far. The oil you see is from the A/C system, oil is inside the lines along with the R12/R134A. The compressor went bad leaking oil out along with the refrigerant.

 

Bummer sounds like, from the advice I'm getting, that the compressor is culprit. The clutch actually still works if I push the AC button on/off, just now when it engages I hear an awful noise which I guess is coming from the compressor that is now DOA.

Another question, if you go WOT shouldn't the clutch disengage? I wondering it that is what caused my compressor to burn up because the AC was working like a dream until yesterday.

 

Exact same thing just happened to me. I had been topping off every year due to a small freon leak. It must have been low on oil also. Seized the compressor good on a hot humid day. You will need to change the comp/clutch, receiver/dryer and flush out the evaporator and condensor and lines. I found a deal on line. Do the work yourself and take it to a shop to pull a vacuum and service it up. Good luck and let me know how you make out. My stuff will be here in a few days. I have a 30 lb cylinder of R-12. If you don't, you may want to convert now to R-134.

For anyone that is interested, I ordered all this stuff from ackits.com. A rebuilt compressor was only $172.00 but since a new one was so cheap I got it. I got all this for $118.00 cheaper than what the dealer was going to charge me just for a compressor. If you need any AC stuff I suggest you check them out. Very user friendly web site.

Code Name Quantity Price/Ea. Total
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CP3011 GM COMPLETE SYSTEM O-RING KIT 1988 & PRIOR 1 $2.82 $2.82
CP3016 GM SEALING WASHER ASSORTMENT 2004 & PRIOR 1 $8.30 $8.30
15-20185 COMPRESSOR/CLUTCH(New) 1 $212.73 $212.73
41462MD ACCUMULATOR/DRIER 1 $40.57 $40.57
31-50001 EXPANSION VALVE (ORIFICE TUBE) 1 $1.16 $1.16
09500MD Mineral Oil 525 Viscosity (Quart Bottle) 1 $5.22 $5.22
91046-A Mastercool A/C Flush Kit 1 $50.74 $50.74
ShippingPS Ground: $33.68
Sales Tax: $0.00
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: $355.22
Year: 1984
Make: Chevrolet
Model: Corvette
Engine Size: 350 CI
Another excellent site is http://www.autoacforum.com/index.cfm Tons of excellent people helping eachother out just like this site but it is dedicated to AC questions.

 

Before you go blame the compressor, check you clutch. I had the same thing happen to my 91 three weeks ago. It smoked like mad and melted the rubber damper between the center hub and pulley. It also cooked my coil. It was so bad, it threw pieces of melted rubber all around the hood. It turned out to just be the pulley/clutch bearing gave out and caused the heat.

To check the compressor, try to turn the center hub by hand and see if the compressor spins with minimal force. No need to remove belt for this. If it does not spin, then definitely your compressor is history. If it does spin, turn on the engine and has someone engage the A/C while you look at the clutch.

Now the down side if you decide to just change the clutch… Given the price of a new clutch, new compressor, and what type of refrigerant you have (R12 or R134), you may want to consider just getting a new compressor and overhauling you A/C system. At Advanced, the new Clutch cost me $172. A compressor w/o clutch is around $298 and $328 for a compressor w/clutch. So if you buy the clutch alone for $172, then it turns out you still need a new compressor because the front seal fried by the heat, then you will then have paid $470 for buying the clutch and compressor separately.

Since I still have R12 in my system, I really did not want to break open the system when it was obvious my clutch and bearing was the only thing wrong. So I gambled it and my compressor turned to be fine and still cools air from vent to 40 degrees and has good pressures on low and high side.

 

I have a 93 LT-1, which has the double- sided belt and uses R-12. The compressor leaks at the top where the lines enter the unit. The lines go into this (?) alminium deal with a square base, (?) and the leak is between that and the compressor housing. looks like a flat surface, so i suspect that maybe the o-ring died.

So is it a good idea to do the 134 conversion at this time, or should i just replace the seal, and refill with R12?

 

Boy you pretty much described my exact scenario, burning rubber smell, bits and pieces of rubber all over the place along with some oil. I suppose now I need to decide if I should just replace the whole system, for an extra $150 it maybe worth it, quite a bit of summer left.

Not sure what my AC system use whether it is R12 or R134, can't say I'm an AC guru although I understand the principles of how they operate. It's a 96 LT4, what came standard that year for refrigerant?

 

Since you have a 96, I believe you all ready have a R134 system. I am not sure what year they stopped using R12 in vettes but I believe it was around 93. Don’t quote me on that though.

SunCr seems to be very knowledgeable about our A/Cs, maybe he or someone else will chime in and tell us exactly which year vettes started using R134.

But since you more than likely have a R134 system, cost of refrigerant will be much cheaper if you decide to install the new compressor. But if go that route, you might as well also change the any leaking hoses and o-ring seals, accum-dryer, and orifice tube as well. Then before you charge with new freon, make sure you put a vacuum on for atleast 30 mins to get out all the moisture after you exposed the lines. Most shops are lazy and will only put the pump on for about 5 minutes. That’s why I rent the vacuum pump and just do it myself.

 

All 93 vettes used R12, that was the last year for it.. The early 93's used the double sided belts, they changed to single sided sometime during that year.

 

Thanks kalister1 for clearing that up for us.

 

Ok, finally got time to look into this a little bit further this weekend. The compressor does spin with minimal force. What I thought was oil initially, actually wasn't. I think what I saw was rubber that was so hot it was in a liquid state that looked like oil. Now that everything is cool, it has become solid again and I see nothing that looks like oil. My feeling is that I have the same problem you did and that the rubber damper melted. So I'm going to gamble as well and just go with getting a new clutch.

 

Just want to follow up on this post for those who may do future searches.

I replace the clutch and while it's not a hard job ranks high on the PIA scale only because the snap rings can be a pain. Also you need a serpentine tool that Autozone will loan, I initially just muscled the belt off by lifting the belt tension pully with a box wrench. But the old belt had stretch and getting the new belt on was a nightmare using the box wrench method; this is where the serpentine tool made a difference. Amazing how easy things can be with the right tools...LOL!

Also I didn't have snap ring pliers, so I bought some at Autozone while picking up the serpentine tool and a new belt. Turns out those pliers were to big to fit inside the clutch housing to remove the last snap ring....eeeerrrrr...so I bought another pair at Lowes that worked great.

Getting the old clutch off was easy, put the new on fairly quickly, but didn't realized that you need to have an air gap between the clutch plate...doh...because there was no air gap between the clutch plate, the A/C always ran and would never shut off which isn't good. So with some more help for the forum, discovered I hadn't shimmed the clutch plate...oops.

Ok, remove clutch plate bolt, put clutch plate shim in, measure air gap to make sure it's in spec., and voila, A/C works and turns off when not needed.

My vette is alive again !

 

Yeah, nothing beats having the right tool for the job... And you can't forget those shims either.

Glad to hear it worked out for ya!