Thanks pal, I wish my hands were clean enough to operate a phone! This has been a filthy job due to the oil leak - tar and feathered but without the feathers!
I have tried to replace the bearing in the A/C compressor pulley today,
Very difficult to counterhold and very brittle plastic. I managed to break a chunk off and so decided to order a new one (£80 from Germany) and the bearing I ordered was the wrong size anyway!
I broke the pulley up as I was replacing anyway and forgot to remove a circlip
- the remains came off easily once I saw it amongst the filth.
It is not a magnetic clutch like the pre-2003 ish cars as these compressors are variable output DENSO 6SEU14C, it's just a load limiting clutch with rubber dampers that will 'trip' if the A/C get's too stiff or seizes, I think it could then be 'reset' if taken apart and it was just a transient event.
Seems to be a problem as our cars get older - if I hadn't made a mistake with the circlip, I am confident a £15 bearing would have worked.
To remove the pulley without special tools, you have to remove a massive circlip around the circumference, then tighten the belt pulley tensioner with a T60 socket and wrench pulling it the opposite way to what you do to loosen/remove the belt. This makes the belt tight and you can turn the 7mm 'nut' CLOCKWISE - as it's not a nut, it is a hex end of the shaft, so you are effectively loosening the pulley hub off the threaded shaft. Next, remove the belt and you can unscrew the pulley anti-clockwise until the hub pops out of the pulley, you might need to press a finger on the hex shaft to prevent it turning. Once off, thre is another circlip about 30mm diameter and after removing that, the pulley and bearing should come off.
Here are some of my photos, and a Mercedes thread that was invaluable.....
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w220...-aircon-2.html
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