Southwind AC Compressor Replacement
I had a wee bit of trouble while pulling my 2004 Southwind into a spot in Sedona. Paid $546 (Ins) to tow it to a RV repair shop in Cottonwood..They told me the Compressor froze and it would cost $290...
Forum Discussion
Hi,
One of the replies on your post on irv2.com here had a cheap solution:
I think you should've had the original shop perform this swap and drive the rig home. With this plan, you bypass the A/C compressor pulley, replace the serpentine belt with one a bit shorter and replace the idler pulley with one with grooves (since the grooved side of the belt will now be against the pulley instead of the flat side). The part you linked to above uses the stock belt and pully, but you have to remove the A/C compressor (and open) the A/C system. I opted to keep the compressor and the A/C lines connected until I had the time to work on it myself. (Opening the system and keeping it open invites contaminants to enter, and then you have to deal with extra flushing when repairing it).
Here's what I did when our compressor clutch seized up a few years back while on the road. Fortunately we were about 20 miles from the campground and I was able to make it there, even though we could smell the belt burning. Once we pulled into the campsite, the family did their thing & I did some internet research. On irv2.com I found all of the part numbers for the belt and pulley. Went down to the auto parts store in the small town we were in, and they had both the pulley & belt. About $50 lighter and an hour later the A/C compressor was bypassed and I was able to use the RV for the rest of the season and fix the compressor at my own leisure.
Now a few things I learned.
For those who said you can just "unplug" the clutch and you're all set. No, for this type of failure, you can't. The clutch seizes the pulley to the compressor shaft. The pulley no longer free-wheels.
The A/C compressor, and specifically the pulley/clutch, fail fairly frequently based upon the number of similar incidents I've read about on various forums.
If you're doing this yourself, MAKE SURE you have a diagram of the serpentine belt routing. It looks simple enough when you're staring at it, but as soon as that belt comes off...it's not so simple to figure out what goes where. PLUS, you'll have to work on it from on top and underneath while replacing it, so the diagram is VERY handy as your perspective changes.
Originally, I thought all I needed was a new clutch. BUT...because of the seizing and probably the overheating of the pulley/belt/bearing, the pulley remover would not budge the pulley. I eventually had to put so much force on it that the end seal was damaged inside the compressor. So now the compressor had to get replaced. Again, a bit tricky to find the exact one, but our local chain autoparts store was able to get me one for around $250, including the clutch. (The clutch/pulley is press fit on the compressor shaft, sometimes there's also a nut to help keep the clutch on, but I believe most compressors don't use the nut, they rely on the press-fit to hold it. Unfortunately, I think this also allows water to get into the press fit junction and cause corrosion to form, making it even harder to remove the clutch. Bottom line, is my research showed many end up replacing the compressor even though theoretically they could've probably just replaced the clutch...if it could be removed properly.)
IF you're lucky enough so they can remove the pulley/clutch assembly then you won't need to open the system and the expansion valve and receiver/drier do not need to be replaced.
As I had mentioned, I HAD to replace the A/C compressor, so I needed to replace the expansion valve and receiver/drier. Finding the right expansion valve, and especially the receiver/drier can be difficult. Those parts are added by the coach builder not by Workhorse, so finding the right ones can be a bit of a challenge.
I went overboard in buying all of the equipment to do the work myself, but I think everything together totaled about $800-$900 and now I have the R134, vacuum pump, scale & gauge set should I either have problems on this rig again, or on any of our cars.
Anyway, good luck with your issues. If the mechanics tell you they're having problems locating the proper parts, that is quite possible. If that's the case, give the manufacturer of your motorhome a call and see if they can give you the OEM part numbers for what's needed.
~Rick
P.S. I keep that shorter belt and grooved idler pulley in my "spare parts" box on the motorhome. If this clutch fails, I'll be prepared! :) This seems to be a pretty common failure on many of these compressors, so those of you who always like to "be prepared" might wish to pick up these for spare parts...or at least keep the part numbers handy.
One of the replies on your post on irv2.com here had a cheap solution:
From Dan L:
...you can also bypass the compressor pulley with a shorter belt dayco pn 5060955 and replace the center idler pulley with a grooved goodyear idler pulley pn 49021.
I think you should've had the original shop perform this swap and drive the rig home. With this plan, you bypass the A/C compressor pulley, replace the serpentine belt with one a bit shorter and replace the idler pulley with one with grooves (since the grooved side of the belt will now be against the pulley instead of the flat side). The part you linked to above uses the stock belt and pully, but you have to remove the A/C compressor (and open) the A/C system. I opted to keep the compressor and the A/C lines connected until I had the time to work on it myself. (Opening the system and keeping it open invites contaminants to enter, and then you have to deal with extra flushing when repairing it).
Here's what I did when our compressor clutch seized up a few years back while on the road. Fortunately we were about 20 miles from the campground and I was able to make it there, even though we could smell the belt burning. Once we pulled into the campsite, the family did their thing & I did some internet research. On irv2.com I found all of the part numbers for the belt and pulley. Went down to the auto parts store in the small town we were in, and they had both the pulley & belt. About $50 lighter and an hour later the A/C compressor was bypassed and I was able to use the RV for the rest of the season and fix the compressor at my own leisure.
Now a few things I learned.
For those who said you can just "unplug" the clutch and you're all set. No, for this type of failure, you can't. The clutch seizes the pulley to the compressor shaft. The pulley no longer free-wheels.
The A/C compressor, and specifically the pulley/clutch, fail fairly frequently based upon the number of similar incidents I've read about on various forums.
If you're doing this yourself, MAKE SURE you have a diagram of the serpentine belt routing. It looks simple enough when you're staring at it, but as soon as that belt comes off...it's not so simple to figure out what goes where. PLUS, you'll have to work on it from on top and underneath while replacing it, so the diagram is VERY handy as your perspective changes.
Originally, I thought all I needed was a new clutch. BUT...because of the seizing and probably the overheating of the pulley/belt/bearing, the pulley remover would not budge the pulley. I eventually had to put so much force on it that the end seal was damaged inside the compressor. So now the compressor had to get replaced. Again, a bit tricky to find the exact one, but our local chain autoparts store was able to get me one for around $250, including the clutch. (The clutch/pulley is press fit on the compressor shaft, sometimes there's also a nut to help keep the clutch on, but I believe most compressors don't use the nut, they rely on the press-fit to hold it. Unfortunately, I think this also allows water to get into the press fit junction and cause corrosion to form, making it even harder to remove the clutch. Bottom line, is my research showed many end up replacing the compressor even though theoretically they could've probably just replaced the clutch...if it could be removed properly.)
IF you're lucky enough so they can remove the pulley/clutch assembly then you won't need to open the system and the expansion valve and receiver/drier do not need to be replaced.
As I had mentioned, I HAD to replace the A/C compressor, so I needed to replace the expansion valve and receiver/drier. Finding the right expansion valve, and especially the receiver/drier can be difficult. Those parts are added by the coach builder not by Workhorse, so finding the right ones can be a bit of a challenge.
I went overboard in buying all of the equipment to do the work myself, but I think everything together totaled about $800-$900 and now I have the R134, vacuum pump, scale & gauge set should I either have problems on this rig again, or on any of our cars.
Anyway, good luck with your issues. If the mechanics tell you they're having problems locating the proper parts, that is quite possible. If that's the case, give the manufacturer of your motorhome a call and see if they can give you the OEM part numbers for what's needed.
~Rick
P.S. I keep that shorter belt and grooved idler pulley in my "spare parts" box on the motorhome. If this clutch fails, I'll be prepared! :) This seems to be a pretty common failure on many of these compressors, so those of you who always like to "be prepared" might wish to pick up these for spare parts...or at least keep the part numbers handy.
