Ryuu

na, dayco ones at advanced.. but.. I was going to Honda to pick up some parts I ordered, the belt snapped as I was turning into their drive/parking lot.. it was around 6 pm quitting time.. on a Friday night no less... anyway.. all the parts were available in stock, they were dayco parts.. but I was up an running an back home bout 2 hours after it occurred so.... pretty much rocks in my book...

electric_vibez

I ended up with a Dayco from Autozone, but the sales rep there was a fellow S2k owner and had one himself. Beats not having AC on a long trip so I took what I could get. The S2k community is full of so many kind and passionate people, I never thought a few months ago that I was joining a club!

electric_vibez

Well, that certainly was a five minute repair. However, after replacing the belt I see why the previous owner may have bypassed it. When not engaged, the pulley that passes by the compressor shakes a bit and makes a sqeaking noise. When engaged, the belt noise seems correct but the compressor sounds like it is forcing pressured air through. Air doesn't blow any colder and the low side of the AC system reads off the charts high according to my gauge. Any thoughts on what the problem might be? Bad compressor, maybe bad bearings?

bdo

The LOW side is off the charts high? With the compressor running or no?

What does the high side do?

Switchblade

Plugged up high side??

electric_vibez

I don't know. I went back out after it cooled off some outside, and started the S back up. The compressor was a bit rattly, until I turned on AC and then it get really loud and kept almost stalling the motor. It kept doing this rev, drop, rattle sort of cycle until the high side blew a hole in the compressor and all the refrigerant shot out. Fortunately I was sitting in the drivers seat, but I would love to know what caused this. Either it got backed up on the high side or the compressor was internally shot, maybe?

Obviously I will need a new compressor now, so the old serpentine belt goes back on for the time being. Hopefully just replacing the compressor and refilling will solve my issue. It would seem that a lot of fluid was shot out at the time of explosion.

VPS_AP1

bet the expansion valve is stuck. since you didn't have gauges hooked up you couldn't tell us if the low side started to pull vacuum. but the compressor was building up pressure if the burst disc blew. so don't count on just a compressor and vacuum and refill to work.

electric_vibez

So if I replace the expansion valve that would do it too? Replacing the compressor doesn't seem that difficult, so I am trying to minimize my reliance on a mechanic for this one. Clearly I don't have to worry about releasing pressure at the compressor at this point.

VPS_AP1

It might but its hard to say.. you could have a pinched hose somewhere as well. I don't want to say this but you might want to have a mechanic check it out then you fix it yourself.... but even if you replace those parts you still need a machine to vacuum the air out of the system then charge it any air in the system will compromise the cooling effectiveness to 0... autozone cans of r-134a wont help you here..

bdo

That's strange. Typically there are high and low pressure safety shutoff switches, but I'm not sure if S2000's specifically have them. Maybe someone with a shop manual can check for you.

I would start with the compressor, but unfortunately we really don't have enough info to fully diagnose this. I'm not disagreeing that you may need an expansion valve also, but you also may not. You said the pressure went way UP on the LOW side, which can be caused by an already bad compressor. Compressors also don't commonly blow holes in the side, even if the system is blocked. I'm guessing your compressor may have had an internal mechanical failure (think throwing a rod). It's also possible someone added the wrong refrigerant and/or oil in the system at some point, or grossly overcharged it. (Just keep putting more in until it gets cold... right?)

IMHO you can DIY the physical compressor swap, but then you'll need someone with the proper equipment to evacuate and recharge the system, then watch pressures on BOTH sides of the system to see what it's doing. Also if that compressor pumped metal shavings throughout the system, you'll probably need a pro to flush it. In any case, sorry to hear about this, and good luck!