Fixing a shaft seal on a Seiko Seiki.

[oneblueyedog]

Saw my Seiko Seiki compressor leaving a thin band of oil (grease?) on the inside of the hood (for the last 2 years). So I'm replacing the shaft seal and gaskets. It's slinging at the clutch. I'm low on R-12. I've neglected it. Time to get to work.


The adventure begins. I've spent a couple of hours trying to buy the parts. Found one place that would sell the parts to me if I had a Tax ID# since it is here in TX. They gave me a price with shipping plus TX sales tax-$14.21. They contacted a vendor that invoices me but I don't have to drive to Fort Worth. I had another quote from another vendor and his price without tax was $17.50 and I had to drive to his place to pick it up. Still a good deal, but I get to save $3.29. I get it tomorrow.

I'm having the AC system evacuated Tuesday. My mechanic saves my r-12 (I get a credit) then will evac/ recharge it after I make the repair. $90+r12. He quoted I think $80 a pound for R-12. I was also told to add 2oz. of SGS oil.

Now to find a Universal Clutch holding tool+Clutch remover.
Maybe someone has a way to hold it/ remove it without damaging the clutch other than these tools. The price quoted for the holding tool was reasonable.

Stay tuned.

[oneblueyedog]

Yesterday I had my system evacuated of R-12. The shop is keeping the R-12 on account. Total r-12 removed was 1.96 pounds. The specialists that removed it said that the system normally holds about 2.4 pounds or until the ball in the reciever drier floats. After 5 years, it's pretty good. I'm convinced that during my rebuild the inactivity is when the leak started. At least that's the only place that gave evidence of the leak.

Purchase of a clutch holding tool next. $19.

I'm hoping that I won't need a clutch removal tool but if so I'll source one or beg an ac shop.

[ruf-porsche]

Any pic of the seiko seki rebuild? I have a seiko seiki that I will upgrade my old York with once the old york goes to that a/c graveyard in parts heaven.

[oneblueyedog]

Pictures to come.
So far I have found that the seals I bought are completely different from the seal removed. I assumed from a prior post that I had the same compressor as another Porsche owner's Seiko Seiki. I did not have the same compresor. Mine is a ss170psv5. I bought the kits for a ss170pss. I found that SS makes many different types of compressors. I assumed that Preformance Aire supplied the same compressors through the years.

Special tools? I bought the clutch holding tool to loosen the holding screw. I thought I'd need a pulley puller to remove the clutch plate. It's not needed. The clutch plate comes off the splined shaft by hand.

To remove the pulley you must remove a snap ring first. Then I used a small pulley puller with a standoff on the end of the shaft to keep from marring it. The pulley has a sealed bearing that is friction fitted to the compressor front cover. The puller gently removed it squarely from the front cover tube.

After that you have to remove the electromagnet. This is held on by another c ring. It's deep down between the front cover extension and the electromagnet housing. I had to go out and buy some longer snap ring pliers. I bought a Klein dual purpose tool and it didn't work. I had to make some new inserts and finally got the snap ring removed and took the electromagnet off.

All the above took little force.

I then unbolted the perimeter bolts of the front cover. I then removed the 4 inner bolts (8mm) that hold the pump works in. These have aluminum sealing washers. I'm sure they are a one use item. I used a scale torque wrench to see when they broke free- it looked like 38-40 NM.

This compressor has one seal. I took a socket the same id as the cover plate nose where the seal lay and pressed it out with my drill press. It came out in one piece.

The kit came with 2 seals- I knew I was in for another couple of days of parts shipping.

The cover plate O ring also was a triangular shape, as if deformed by pressing against the body of the compressor.

I'll get pictures posted on the reassembly.

I cleaned everything with electrical cleaner that I took off. I did not clean the inside of the compressor . I also drained the oil off in graduated cups and got 3 ounces of oil collected. I figure I spewed a half ounce from one of the hose connections which was alarming since I had the system evacuated completely! I can't remember if it was from the high side or low side. It was not cold though.

Stay tuned.

[oneblueyedog]

Well, I tried to source a seal kit in my area from one of the largest parts distributors of automotive ac equipment and the person helping me said that my compressor was actually a Hitachi. He gave me part numbers for that and a gasket kit and told me to call the third party vendor and feed them the numbers. I asked for other parts like the felt seal for the clutch and the aluminum crush washers for the housing bolts. He didn't have a listing for them and told me that rebuilders re use the washers and toss the felt sleeve seal.

Good info if you're thinking about a re-built unit purchase.

So I call Diane at Performance Aire. I tell her about the Hitachi deal and my seal quest and frustration and that I was waiting for the 3rd party vendor to sort out part number cross references. She said, "I've got the seals in stock". She assured me that I have a Seiko Seiki. I ordered the seal kit from her. She stated it had all of the seals, washers and felt.

I called back the other place and cancelled the parts seach and cross reference process. And I thanked them.

I must endorse Performance Aire's professionalisim and customer service. If I had only asked for the part when I called for advice, I'd be a week ahead. She was super careful in explaining what to look for and what to do before I took the compressor off.

Parts arrive Thursday.

[oneblueyedog]

Got the seals from Performance Aire. Here's how I put it back together.

Seals

Nose cover


Lube the seal with compressor oil



press it in the nose housing- hardly any pressure at all with a 19mm socket.


Install the snap ring in the nose to keep the seal from drifting. Make sure it's seated.

Apply heat shrink tube to shaft riding up 1/8 inch past the splined shaft -no more. Shrink it down.

[oneblueyedog]

Unfortunately the camera batteries petered out. I then took the nose housing added the large perimeter O-ring and snaked the heat shrink end through it. The seal is tight so it would have been cut by the splines and the lip of the shaft. The heat shrink protects the seal. You make sure to keep all of the bolt holes in the right orientation. I marked the housing before taking it apart. In the kit came 4 aluminum sealing washers for the 6mm hex head bolts. They were not exactly like the ones that came off and the instructions strongly suggested to use orange locktite. I assumed 574, but since I used drei bond, i opted to:

Turn down the washers to the correct outside diameter.
Use hi temp orange silicone seal on the washer facings.
bolt the thing up.

You bolt it back together by threading on the perimeter bolts by hand and then the 4 8mm bolts with the sealing washers and sealant to 30 nm- at least that's the reading i got when I broke them free. Some were more nm's. You then tighten the 6mm preimeter bolts to 12.5 nm. Then I had to go and buy another snap ring plier set because the one you see in the nose piece picture ($27) wouldn't spread the rings squarely and the tool was too fat to get into the recess of the electromagnet. I found a 2 plier set for 6 bucks with different sets of pins that worked after I removed the red handles. Barely but it worked.

[oneblueyedog]

Time to install the pulley. Put it in the freezer for an hour. You cleaned it right? Put the pulley with the slotted clutch end facing down on the bench (clean bench) and lift up the compressor and turn it over to get the nose into the pulley. Look to the side and make sure it's not cocked into the pulley but leading in squarely. You can rotate the compressor on the bearing to see if it's square on 360 degrees of rotation. Then press squarely on the back of the compressor until the shaft stops it on the bench. If it's square, it slips in with hardly any force. Turn it over and press the pulley on all the way. It pressed home with a satisfying clink. Snap ring it in place.

Add the shims on the shaft. Note the snap ring holding the pulley on.


Add the felt washer to the clutch plate and not the pulley like I show here. It actually goes over the shaft that has the splines on the inside to mate with the shaft of the compressor. I think it absorbs oil to keep it from slinging.


Then you tighten the clutch plate. It's a 5mm hex bolt. 12.5nm.

Add the oil you saved back in. Instructions said to add 2 oz. 3 came out of my compressor. I put the 3 back in. I'll call for clarification and post back.


Cap plug it and carry it over to the car and reinstall.

I was told to cover the hose ends. I used glove fingers and zip ties. I removed them and hooked up the hoses.



I then bolted it back down and will go for an evac and recharge on Tuesday.

[oneblueyedog]

Got the system evacuated and recharged today. No leaks. Blowing cold. The instructions supplied with the seal kit made the installation straightforward.