I have an air conditioner on my 2001 Taurus that has been very temperamental. The car has the 24V engine, and has roughly 95K on it.

Last year I had to recharge it because it was no longer working. After recharging it, it worked fine. This year it would work for a little while, and then quit (blow warm air). If I left it on max a/c and max fan the whole time, it would work ok, but I would get horrible gas mileage, and the car cabin would get very cold. If I turned the fan down at all, the compressor would kick off, and it would stop working again.

I have a set of gauges, and have checked the pressures, and they are a little low, but not horribly low. The low side was about 35, and the high side around 200. I have put a little less than two 12 oz cans into the system.

I've been told that sometimes these cars have problems where the clutch spacing becomes too big and can't engage. Has anyone ever taken the clutch plate off to take out the "spacer" that they refer to? I'm also curious if anyone has ever done this without dismounting the compressor.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

I have done it. 8mm or 5/16 socket. Sometimes you can loosen the engine mounts and lift/pull back the engine alittle to get required clearance. Get a set of feeler gauges and verify the gap before you tear into it. You might also acquire a shim set for that FS-10 as removing the shim will often cause contact between the pulley and the clutch. Measure the gap at 2 places on the clutch, find the min spec clearance, and subtract that difference from the installed shim.

With the car idling and the AC on, wait till it acts up and tap on the front of the clutch to see if that engages it. Be careful doing that. If the condition only occurs when warm, ohm the coil on the compressor. Sometimes they get a higher than spec resistance that manifests itself when it gets good and marmed up.

Working on the AC of the DOHC makes you appreciate the little 12V Vulcan.