Has anyone killed the AC compressor with a OD crank pulley?

Redneckbmxer24 · Jun 24, 2020

My car is a 2012 with 35K miles, the last 7K miles with a 15% OD lower. My AC compressor is starting to take a shit, it started to squeak a little when engaged a little bit ago and now it’s turning into more of a squeal and it’s going to be long until it lets loose.

Is this a common problem when running a OD lower? I know the 03-04’s like to fry alternators with a lower pulley, I fried two with a 4lbs lower on my 04.

I just ordered a whipple 2.9 for it so I’m going to be swapping out and retuning anyway so I’m thinking about swapping it back to a stock diameter lower if this is a common issue. I’m only going to run 18-20psi which should be plenty doable with just pulleying the blower and not worry about belt slip with a snub idler.

mdoan · Jun 24, 2020

I trashed the ac clutch bearing with a combination of too much belt tension and a failing harmonic balancer. That’s the theory anyway since I know both conditions were present; it could’ve just failed. Not knowing your full pulley setup the overdrive lower should reduce tension (bearing load) not increase it. It’s possible you didn’t get the overdrive completely pressed on flush with the front main seal, which would place additional load on adjacent pullies, including ac. But I can’t think of any other reason the overdrive would’ve contributed; maybe shortened the life a bit since accessories are designed to spin at a specific speed.

I’d argue you might just need a new ac clutch. You can buy a kit from Ford that either includes 1) the clutch and clutch coil, or 2) the whole assembly including compressor. Those were the only options for a 2010 anyway. The first option is 300-400 cheaper or better IIRC. I think it was around 250 bucks or so locally, so cheaper from Tasca or autonation white bear lake.

The coil rarely fails - good thing ‘cause it’s held in with 3 Phillips screws and one of them is practically guaranteed to strip on you - so just use the clutch and have a spare coil on the shelf.

Edit: make sure you read Tob’s 2.9 install guide on this forum and/or pm me when you get ready to install that 2.9. It’s a major PITA and knowing a few tricks ahead of time will save you a lot of heartache.

DSG2003Mach1 · Jun 24, 2020

I would agree with suspecting the ac clutch but you want to replace it before it fails and cooks the compressor

Redneckbmxer24 · Jun 24, 2020

mdoan said:
I trashed the ac clutch bearing with a combination of too much belt tension and a failing harmonic balancer. That’s the theory anyway since I know both conditions were present; it could’ve just failed. Not knowing your full pulley setup the overdrive lower should reduce tension (bearing load) not increase it. It’s possible you didn’t get the overdrive completely pressed on flush with the front main seal, which would place additional load on adjacent pullies, including ac. But I can’t think of any other reason the overdrive would’ve contributed; maybe shortened the life a bit since accessories are designed to spin at a specific speed.

I’d argue you might just need a new ac clutch. You can buy a kit from Ford that either includes 1) the clutch and clutch coil, or 2) the whole assembly including compressor. Those were the only options for a 2010 anyway. The first option is 300-400 cheaper or better IIRC. I think it was around 250 bucks or so locally, so cheaper from Tasca or autonation white bear lake.

The coil rarely fails - good thing ‘cause it’s held in with 3 Phillips screws and one of them is practically guaranteed to strip on you - so just use the clutch and have a spare coil on the shelf.

Edit: make sure you read Tob’s 2.9 install guide on this forum and/or pm me when you get ready to install that 2.9. It’s a major PITA and knowing a few tricks ahead of time will save you a lot of heartache.

I don’t suspect it being the balancer out of alignment, I suppose anything can happen, but the previous owner had it installed at a very reputable shop that specializes in these cars up in PA. I think I would have had a belt issue by now too if that were the case.

I saw on a FB group where a couple other people had their compressors crap out but they were older posts and it’s not something that’s brought up a lot for sure.

If it were the clutch though, shouldn’t it make noise when it’s disengaged too? It only makes noise when the compressor is engaged.

mdoan · Jun 25, 2020

I also doubt overdrive alignment is your issue - just throwing it out there as a remote possibility.

If the clutch bearing is in a relatively early stage of failure it can definitely make noise only when engaged. Then it will start squealing one way when engaged, and another way when disengaged. And eventually it will squeal all the time.

When the clutch is disengaged there isn’t a loaded compressor fighting it, so the bearings aren’t working nearly as hard. You won’t know for sure either way until you pull the clutch. If the removed clutch spins quietly/smoothly in your hand - and I mean practically silent - it’s the compressor. If there is any audible roughness when spun in hand, it’s probably just the clutch. For what it’s worth, I see far more clutch failures on these cars than compressors.

Is this your daily ride or can you pull the clutch off, test it, and keep the car parked until the right parts come in? You’d be looking at about a full week from an online dealership.

Redneckbmxer24 · Jun 25, 2020

It’s not my daily, it sits in the garage and gets driven maybe once a week. I’ll pull the clutch and see how it looks. Fingers crossed.

mdoan · Jun 25, 2020

Since I was pretty sure mine was trashed I did the unthinkable and “gently” used a pry bar to press it off. If you go that route, its pretty harmless on the compressor shaft as long as you only apply a touch of force and rotate the pulley a few degrees with every tug. Just takes a bit of patience.

Always best to find the right pulley puller but the standard parts store specials wouldn’t line up in my case. Maybe a small 3-jaw?

shelbygt500_897hp · Jun 26, 2020

Been a GT500 owner for sometime and I havent heard this happening

Redneckbmxer24 · Jun 27, 2020

So I got it off. What a pain in the dick. Tried three different pullers and couldn’t get any of them to work. A pry bar moved it a little bit there was nothing great to get leverage against and I didn’t want to jack up anything so I ended up just using a small 4oz ball peen that I use for gun stuff and just lightly tapping while rotating a bit every few taps. That works like a charm, I should have done that from the beginning instead of messing with the pullers. The replacement should be here some time this week from rock auto. Fingers crossed that the squeaking goes away.

Once I got the clutch plate off I could feel some wiggle in the pulley bearing.

I’m still thinking about going down to a smaller crank pulley though.

Is there any issues with idlers exploding with a larger lower pulley on these like the 03/04’s? I remember that was a problem if you didn’t upgrade them.

einehund · Jun 27, 2020

I've had my IW 10% lower on for 70k hard miles with no affect on the A/C. I highly doubt that the pulley is the problem.

Catmonkey · Jun 28, 2020

Which lower? I know with ATI you can just replace the supercharger balancer part. Your a/c clutch would not be engaged when you're going WOT, so there would be no harm to the compressor. But, your hub assembly would be spinning fairly high.

Redneckbmxer24 · Jun 28, 2020

I think it’s just the bearing that it killed, fingers crossed anyhow.

It is the ATI that’s on the car. I think the SC part is the main part of it though so I’d probably be $$ ahead to just buy another one and sell my whole unit vs buying just the part. Thinking of going with the IW though since it’s shiny and pretty.

Has anyone killed the AC compressor with a OD crank pulley?

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