I finally succeeded in replacing the pulley bearing in my A/C compressor.
Unfortunately it required me to get a kent-moore geo storm puller kit off ebay and I had to modify the puller with 3 pan head screws to grab the clutch plate since it apparently is not the same puller in the FSM. After removing the clutch plate, I found it is splined in the center, so perhaps a liberal dose of penetrating oil and using a few screw drivers at once to try to pry from the edges might work, but I suspect with any rust like mine, you need some sort of puller.

Per another post I had purchased a ProLiant bearing which turned out to be the wrong bearing for the Calsonic compressor (3mm short in width). For Calsonic compressors, the correct OEM bearing is a NSK bearing P/N 40BD219T12DDU. I had a machine shop push off the old bearing and press the new one on. I don't recommend hammering the old one out for risk of distorting the pulley.

I also had to use the pusher in the kit to push the pulley back on the compressor, though I found the diameter of the pusher to be too large to push the pulley the last 2mm onto the compressor shaft to expose the circlip
groove.

All in all, considering the trouble it took me, if you have some money, I would recommend you purchase a new compressor which can be had for under $300.

Yeah, I know you then have to evacuate the system etc., but the labor time in doing the pulley alone really didn't seem worth it in the end.

 

Well you could either get the bearing and do it yourself and spend what? 30 dollars? or evac your system and get a new one, then pay for the new one, then pay for it to be charged...That seems like to much money for the small amount of work to do this. Or you can simply get a 32" 6 groove belt at autozone for 21 dollars and not worry about it.

 

Well, the bearing was $26, the wrong bearing was $22, the machine shop was $25, the puller kit was $40 (if you can find one), it took extra days to get the puller kit shipped, and I had to rent a pulley puller from Autozone plus time at the machine shop. I had to run around to hardware stores to find the right screws to modify the puller and mess with it awhile before it would work. I was fortunate to be able to borrow a car when I got stuck, if not it would have been worse.
How much is your labor time worth per hour?

Add it up and compare to the cost of the compressor.....

 

....or lose the a/c totally and remove the components.

 

So...I'm trying to get my bearings replaced rather than do the whole compressor. Does anyone who bought/modified a clutch puller and never plans to use it again want to part with it for a few bucks?

Also, does anyone have an updated link for purchasing the bearings? Proliance was mentioned as having the WRONG one for the calsonic, do they have the right one? 1962? Will any work if right size? Is 62 40 20.6 right? Thanks

 

to be more specific on the bearings- I've got the CWV618 on my 98 max...

 

As I said in my first post, the correct OEM bearing is a NSK bearing P/N 40BD219T12DDU. Any good bearing shop can cross reference it if you need another brand.

 

Thanks, I did see the part number you referenced above in your original post but I am having a hard time finding a place to order from. I was hoping for a referral to a good website.

Some had mentioned getting the bearing for around $20 vs $40-50, but so far no luck with any of the previous links. Did you end up finding the correct part number you listed through proliance?

As far as my current status, I have been through hell trying to get my clutch plate off and can't find or make a puller. Even decided to bite the bullet and go to the Nissan Dealer to see if they had this ever so unique tool, and while they could find a picture of the tool on there computer they didn't have one or know where to find it...

Thanks again to everyone who has posted info on these compressor bearings, hopefully I'll succeed and can also pass on what I learn

 

I would look in your yellow pages under bearings and find a local supplier. I live near a big city so I was lucky to find a place that had the bearing in stock. I got the "geo storm" puller from ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GM-SP...motiveQ5fTools

I just looked up a bearing supplier http://www.motionindustries.com which appears to stock the bearing, but you have to call them for a price.

 

Thanks, gonna try my luck the Geo Storm clutch puller.

As far as the bearing, I sure had the guy at motion confused. He was hooked up with the NSK system and the part number gave him nothing. No info, no interchange, nothing. His only conclusion was that it was OEM and they were not selling replacement parts to force people to buy the whole compressor. He said they couldn't have discontinued them or they would at least still have info listed: dimensions, roller vs needle, etc.

Sounds like my best bet is to order by dimension vs a part number. From what I've read here it sounds like either a 62 40 24 or 62 40 20.6 is what I need. Probably best to just bring it somewhere and match it up unless anyone knows for sure. As much as I'd like to have my car back ASAP, I'd hate to order the wrong bearing

 

If you paste the part number into motion's website it finds the part. You can't order by dimension because this is a special magnetic clutch bearing. Use the motion search by part number with mfg NSK. The guy is stupid. If you do a seach on motion it comes up with Item No. 04210670

 

Yeah, it comes up in their system but they don't have any in stock, nor does NSK...so no way to order and their system has absolutely no other info under the part number. For what its worth I'll try to call again and get someone else.

I don't know all that much about bearings, so just curious if I was able to find another one that fits what would be the trouble?

 

This is where I got my bearing. Call them:
http://www.actionbearing.com/

See also the second row in this page: http://www.nskf-bearings.com/Product..._bearings1.htm
TOYOTA, DAIHATSU, MITSUBISHI, ROVER, VW BRASIL, FIAT BRASIL Sanden 507, 508, 510 (some models) MSC105, MJS170/DKV14C, Ogura 6" Seiko Seiki SS811

 

Wow, it seems like AutoZone stopped carrying the bearings as well. I have the CWV618 compressor and was able to do mine last summer. Rented the puller and the bearing racer set they had and replaced it following the instructions in the stickies. The only problem was that the clutch plate was seized up and got bent when removed due to missing splash shields. I was forced to get a used compressor and use that for now along with new OEM splash shields but I will be transferring that bearing soon.

 

Just a matter of opinion, but to all who said bypass or loose the a/c system entirely, Funk dat! I just fixed my a/c after 3 years of not having it. Even in Maine I was roasting my nuts, even on 65* days. My car gets well over 130* in the summer, I literally burn my cheeks on my seat. I had to replace a hard line and the dryer, while not as hard as the compressor bearing, its about the same as replacing the whole compressor. It has been the best thing Ive done for my car in years. I recharged it myself for around $20. I do have access to refrigeration equipment though I opted to use the 12 oz cans at Wal-Mart. So if you have a leak and lost all your r-134a you dont need a pro to evacuate and recharge.

 

Did you vac the system after installing the new compressor and drier? I just bought my replacement compressor but after a bunch of reading I realized I should also replace the drier. Any opinion on buying a $10 one vs. a $40 one? I'd like to replace it myself then have a shop vac the air out of the lines and I'll refill it. After some reading I'm afraid if I don't get the system vacuumed before refilling with r134a something bad will happen or it won't be cold. Besides the two cans or R134a+ should I add a can of oil, did you?

 

i need to change mine really soon. does anyone have a step by step posting about it? you should of took pic by pic of how u modded ur puller to work and how to pull bearing.

 

I plan to put some step by step stuff up after I finish. I've got the clutch plate off, waiting for monday to get some bearings and get things back together.

The clutch plate has by far been the biggest pain so far. The ac clutch removal tool mentioned for the geo storm has the correct spacing for the threaded bolts that attach to the plate, but the holes on the plate are not threaded. I believe there are hooks that screw onto the bolts, but they are not included with tool. I did jot down a part number that I believe to be for the hooks, but haven't had a chance to look it up yet. My local chevy dealer had the tool but not the hooks, however the tech was bored and was able to make some hooks by cutting a notch of three bolts.

As far as recharging the system, I've heard a couple different opinions with the oil. Online I found a website that lists the PAG 46 http://www.aa1car.com/library/pagoil.htm but I also talked to a guy who I was maybe going to pay to recharge for me and he said PAG 100. He was very possibly mistaken though, I don't know how critical it is since Nissan said they use a universal. With regard to quanity, this same guy said to pour 8oz into the low pressure line. Not sure how to do that from the compressor end of the line so he must have intended I pull the other end of the line. The tag on my compressor says 200cc oil capacity which calculates to about 6.7oz, and I've seen both the PAG 46 and 100 sold in 8oz cans so depending on how much I spill I should be in that range I plan to try and get as much of the old oil out of the compressor as possible first, but I hadn't intended on flushing the system. I haven't yet had a chance to research replacing the dryer, but if it doesn't cost too much or look too difficult I probably will.

Hoping to just get a vaccum from Auto Zone, and the 134a from Walmart and do myself. We'll see how that goes!

 

I need a new AC compressor now too. How much are our dryers? been 3 years since my bearing froze up.

 

+1.

I'm without a/c and have been for about 4 years now . I'm getting ready to finally fix it. Was told my a/c compressor was shot when I first got the car. Then my a/c clutch started making a ton of noise so I bypassed it with a smaller belt. I'm going to go to pullapart in the next couple weeks and get a new compressor and maybe a dryer as well. I work at a shop so should be easy as cake to recharge.

 

Read the next to last post by Lexmia on this thread and click on the links he cited. The oil is Pag46.
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...viscosity.html
Interdynamics makes a gas charge of R134a mixed with oil that you can buy and use to get the oil in the system. I found it at my local advanced autoparts.

 

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...55BVQ30DE%255D

Rock auto had the cheapest online dryer I could find, around $12 plus shipping.

Thanks for the info on the oil, PAG 46 it is.

Do you think its ok to drive the car before recharging the system? Not quite warm enough to need the ac, and it won't engage without pressure in the system anyways so I might just get the car drivable for now and order a dryer before recharging it up

 

The fsm specifies that the car be run for awhile when pressure readings are taken. There should be no problem adding refrigerant when the car is warm.
You should be using guages however.

 

With the SP20 promotion code you can get the ac compressor for 211 plus tax at advanced auto's site. With the same code the drier comes out to $25. I paid $250ish for both. After replacing the compressor and drier vac the system to remove all air and then you can refill it.

 

So I got everything put back together today. Everything said and done it definitely was a major pain...but since I couldn't afford a new compressor it was worth it to me. I spent under $40, but I did have ALOT of time involved. I still need to charge up the AC, but as others have mentioned it could probably be done without actually removing the compressor. If I had to do it again I could probably have it done much quicker of course, but the only real pain was getting the clutch plate off.

Here is a link for a good step by step, but I'm gonna add my two cents and some pictures about the clutch plate removal...

http://www.vqpower.com/v2////article...article_id=112

To remove the clutch plate, here is how I modified a Geo Storm clutch plate removal tool:

????????? How do I put pictures up ?????????

 

Thanks to everyone for the input so far. I'm about to tackle this (I fear) on our '03. I'm not 100% sure whether I'm facing and alternator change and/or AC clutch change. We had a loud squeal at startup that lasted longer and longer during the winter. Then the car quit several months ago due to low voltage, and wasn't charging. So haven't driven it as there wasn't time to get to it, or money to have it got to. The belt is now broken too. I'm *pretty* darn sure the belt was still there when I checked for charging, but I'm not 100% sure now. The alternator spins fine, but theres a bit of a grind turning the AC pump so I'm not optimistic there.

AJE, I'd love to see your pictures. Seems you have to host them somewhere else (like Photobucket) and then use the button to link to them. Link to a resized picture. I'm sure there must be a "how to" FAQ here on it.

Thanks again. Cheers, Andrew

 

I was in the same boat trying to figure where my noise was coming from. I had a local mechanic swear it was the alternator so I replaced those bearings first - still had the noise. Then went for the idler next since it was so much cheaper than the compressor and really didn't sound 100% healthy - still had the noise. Finally after swapping the compressor bearings it sounds great. I really thought it was the compressor the whole time since it made a lot of noise when I spun it, but unfortunately I let this mechanic convince me that was normal because of the clutch and not something you would hear when the car was running... It's possible all three were gonna need attention at some point, but the compressor was definitely the one that needed the immediate attention.

I have heard of photo bucket, just never been there. I'll go check it out and try to get these pics up. Good luck!

 

Here is my clutch plate. To get it off, the tool pushes through the center hole while pulling up on the outer 3. The outer 3 aren't threaded, so find a bolt with a head that will fit in the whole. Then to hold it in place I used a vice grips and a hammer to bend the tip over on a nail and put the tip in next to it. Do this for all three holes and you can set the clutch removal tool over the threaded portion of the bolt and secure with a washer and nut.

 

Thanks, I see the post above but no pic. From the descriptions, and looking at the AC pump now that the shields are off, I think it makes sense.

I got a new belt on today (the old one had broken), not without some strife because I sheared off the rod in the tensioner. I loosened it too much and wedged it in at the end of the threads. It then sheared off when I turned the other way. You can only get the rod as part of a whole new tension assembly from the dealer (for $123 and had to be ordered to arrive Friday). So I re-threaded the nut right hand and welded on a chunk of threaded rod and got on with things (the metric left hand threads were a bit munged up and I wasn't even going to start looking for a left hand tap and die).

It seems to run OK right now, but there was rubbing in the AC clutch so I think it'll need attention soon. The good news is that the alternator is charging fine, so I can take back the replacement one I got. I'm kinda embarrassed to say that I think the belt broke and I didn't realize it. I suspect that the dragging AC pump caused it to wear faster (and it is 7 years old too I guess)

I will have to see if the squeal comes back on a cold start first thing.

cheers,
Andrew

PS. If you have trouble posting the pics, email them to me and I'll put them up for you.

 

bearing is available here too: http://cgi.ebay.com/A-C-AC-1012-Comp...item5ad927caa2

looks like i will be replacing my bearing soon too...ugh

 

i might have to buy this belt so i can by pass the compressor, and then to top it off my compressor (which i'm assuming) had to start doing this when the texas summer heat is starting up...


so there is no way i can take the pulley off with out that tool?
why cant it be an easy task, i was all happy cause my car has a/c and now i have to change out the bearing :/

 

That tool isnt to take the pulley off. Its to take the clutch plate off. You can use a generic ac pulley puller that you can rent from pretty much any auto parts store.

Also dont forget you'll need some snap ring pliars before you can pull off the pulley.

 

I didn't have any luck with the generic clutch pullers from auto zone or orileys, but maybe with the same type of modification (securing bolts in the unthreaded holes) there might be an way...

Auto zone did borrow me the 2 other tools necessary for the job though, the one to hold the clutch plate from rotating while unscrewing the center bolt, and the actual pulley puller. First time using their tools, very convenient

Good luck!

 

^^^hmm, thanks for that. i'm gonna bypass the compressor and try to replace the bearing...

 

does anybody know the price for a mechanic to install this bearing?

 

Just put in the reman compressor, new drier and expansion valve, all from advance. I wish I knew that code for discount, paid 250 for the compressor. Note - rather than studs for the a/c lines, the ~250 reman compressor uses bolts to secure them, and the bolts that came with it are about 1/4" too short; with longer bolts the lines can be sufficiently torqued. the reman unit ships w/oil already in it.

The expansion valve was trickiest for me, and there's a risk of pinching or breaking the attached tubing - I used a torch to heat and break the tubing nuts, rather than using too much wrench.

The drier is hard to get to unless your radiator is out, I ended up taking out the battery, moving the fuse box over, and wasting the (rusted) metal mounting bracket - the lines hold it pretty steady, and zip ties seem sufficient to brace it against the fender well.

vacuumed for ~3 hours, only because I had other things to do, and did not want to err on the wrong side of this step. B/c I could only find Pag46 oil mixed with 134a in a pressurized can, I added this first - about 2oz, the amount that's recommended to be added to a new drier, if you poured to in from a bottle. The FSM verifies that you should need no more than 1.4 lbs, or ~2 12oz cans of straight 134a (not the type with oil mixed in, which is typically pag100 viscosity)

Got a reading of 52 degrees at the vent on the highest fan setting (4).

 

I need to bypass the AC pump on my '03 until I can get a chance to look at the clutch/pump.

Anyone know if the 32" belt is the right length for my year as well?

Thanks in advance.

cheers,
Andrew

 

I've removed the field coil(now just a spool of wire), the clutch plate and pulley and the outermost snap ring. I'm stuck on the second and third snap rings. Any suggestions? Maybe PB Blaster ? My snap ring pliers are new and either don't reach in far enough or not strong enough for removal. Appreciate any help.

 

I remember having one ring that was hard to remove. I have a pair of long needle nose pliers that I recall using to compress one of the snap rings that gave me trouble. It seems the snap ring pliers I have couldn't hold the ring open enough to fully remove it.

 

What tool is needed to insert into the center hole to extract the clutch plate?




The local auto stores clutch plate removal kits don't work with the CV618 compressor on my 1998. As mentioned earlier the 3 outer holes have no threads to utilize the tool set.

As shown in this diagram it appears the clutch plate is only secured with that center bolt.



I got the center bolt off with ease using the triangular clutch disk holding tool but couldn't pry off the plate nor force it off with a longer bolt?

The bearings are gone on the clutch plate pulley so I need to insert the NSK sealed bearings I purchased.