[Digerati]

SO I was kinda giving the 94 a little gas, all of a sudden the batery light comes on and I cant steer, the power steering went out. And then the temperature started climbing and I was scared. I got to my house and opened the hood to find a spewing Radiator reservoir and a dangling Air conditioner Compressor. The Compressor got thrown off the motor which pulled off the belt which stopped the water pump and everything else. it is fixed now, 3 hours later. Whew. Not leaks or cracks.

 

[StephenA]

I had that experience when the belt shredded on my way home just before christmas - when it started to shred I lost power steering as I went round a corner

Any idea why the a/c compressor got thrown off the motor?

Steve

 

[Digerati]

The reason why it ripped off was because I guess one bolt was loose and when I was torqing it, the thing just ripped off taking the belt with it. New hardened screws are in and it is running fine.

 

[mark e]

Be careful that you have not over-torqued the mounting bolts- this can lead to failure as the steel strips the much softer alloy thread from the head.

 

[Digerati]

Everything looked ok when it was off. I got the broken screws out and checked it out inside. It looked okay. The car runs smoothly now that everything is fixed.

 

[ZARS]

This happened to me when I first attempted a base boost check The constant accelerating and braking was to much load on the engine and the whole thing just stopped. Belt off, no coolant and battery light on. I was at the time a couple of streets away from home so managed to nurse the car home. Air-con pump was dangling off.

My mechanic managed to repair it but a few months later I noticed the pump coming away slightly so I used JB Weld to hold it in place. It seemed to work but on the way to USD last year it happened again just as I was coming off the M1. Luckily the motorway was empty and I managed to coast to a stop on the slip road. I guess it's a good job it did'nt happen on the track

Anyway my mechanic got a professional to hexi-coil and new bolt into the head (at one point I thought I'd have to change the head

) and it seems to be ok now, however after every long run I always look under the bonnet to check

 

[sbn]

I have a 94 CDE that I took in yesterday to have my oil drain plug removed (previously it was tightened too hard by whoever did the last oil change. Anyways while there the mechanic saw the plate covering the clutch to the AC compressor was lying by the wheel well, and the bolt holding it in was missing. They did not have the bolt and said they would have to special order it blah blah blah. In the meantime they said NOT to use my AC especially as I risked that belt coming off and have what happened to you. Well I stopped at a hardware store and got a M6 socket head bolt and just re-insterted the plate. It was not a reverse threaded bolt as the dealer suggested.

The question remains though is how this bolt came off out of the AC compressor on its own.

 

[wrighar]

I think one of the V6 boys had this problem last year too (microcat??)

He found the bolt when it was just about to fall out (undone but not yet missing).

Andrew

 

[Digerati]

Wow, I thought that this was somewhat of a isolated problem. I didn't know that this was an actual problem, but that stinks.

 

[Digerati]

Oh yeah Sean, I also have a 1994 CDE.... hmmmm