AC Compressor clutch slippage
 

Hey all... I've been lurking/reading the forums here for the past couple of months.
I recently bought a 1997 Sebring Convertible, 2.5L. It has 150K miles on it.
It has a couple of issues that I'm working through.
While on a road trip a few weeks ago, I'd come up to a stop light and smelled
something burning. Turns out it was the AC clutch. I bought a rebuilt compressor,
swapped it, vac'd it down, refilled it, etc. From the get go, sometimes as you were
watching the compressor, I could see the clutch slipping... you could hear it as well.
I figured it might be just because it was new. After a few weeks, it's still doing the same
thing. It might not slip for 100miles, but then will start doing it again. I'm now thinking that
this is what killed the old compressor. I'm thinking there can only be a couple of reasons
for this... My primary thought is that the A/C relay is bad... contacts are pitted or the like. Swapped it with the top relay, no change.
Other thought would be the dash button for the A/C. I've noticed sometimes when I turn
the fan speed knob, the light in the A/C button flickers, sometimes goes out until I fiddle
with the knob a bit more.
I've bought a dash A/C control assy from a salvage dealer, but the more I think about it, the
more I'm leaning towards the relay. I went ahead and swapped the control assy in the dash, no change.
Really running out of directions to go here.
Would a poor ground on the compressor cause enough resistance to keep the clutch from locking up solid?
Has anyone had the same or similar problem?


Any comments or advice are greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Ron

Go swap it out. It shouldn't be doing that. Your old one just died of old age i'm sure. The only thing you should see it doing it engaging/disengaging. Not skipping.

Update...
 

I just realized I never updated this original post.

I wound up taking the Sebring to a NAPA service center.
The said the clutch on the remanufactured unit was bad.
Replace the clutch, charged me $500, and in all honesty
it never seemed quite right. We wound up moving about
50 miles from that service center, and I gave the car
to my stepdaughter to drive. She mentioned once it started
getting hot this year that the AC didn't work. SIGH!!

This time, I'm going to go ahead and order a kit that comes with the compressor, Accumulator, expansion valve, Orings and PAG oil.
Once I have all the components removed, I'm going to flush it, and
blow 120 PSI air through it to make sure whatever is in those
lines is long gone.

I did not replace anything other than the compressor the first time around, and never flushed it. I'm pretty convinced that there's crap in the system that is stalling the compressor. I checked it out the other day, and the clutch engages, but then slips, because the compressor doesn't want to spin freely. I'm pretty confident that if I replace all the components and flush the lines, I should be good to go this time.

Any thoughts?

Ron