Replacing a/c compressor
 

1986 951: Not sure what happened but a/c suddenly stopped blowing cold. Checked pressures and the high side is lower than low side, 20psi versus 30 on low. Refrigerant level is fine. Guess the valves went.

Has anyone replaced their compressor? Seems like it should be an easy job, but I can imagine it might be hard to get to the back bolt and getting the hoses off without bending/breaking anything.

Also, I've never jacked this car. I've got jack stands, but previous posts seem to suggest there's no real good place to put them unless they're modified. I'm thinking of jacking it and sliding my ramps under the front wheels. Will this give enough room to get the compressor out?

Anyone who did replace it, where'd you get the compressor and how much?

thks, scott

Scott, I've never replaced my compressor, but check out this site. They got a lot of cool air conditioning stuff for Porsches, including compressors. Very informative site too. By the way, some of their pages have an animated symbol that makes it difficult to move my mouse pointer (it might just be my computer, I don't know), but if it happens to you, just get your pointer on the scroll bar and scroll down. Once you scroll down far enough to get the symbol off of the screen, the mouse pointer will move fine. Hope this helps.

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Ryan
1991 944S2 coupe

Ryan-

Great site! I am waiting on a compressor clutch and learned alot from the link.

I now know my chances of fixing my problem with a new clutch are pretty slim. http://www.pelicanparts.com/ultimate/smile.gif

-G

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Geoff Baltz
'86 944 Turbo
http://www.ninefiveone.com

Hey Scott--
On the jack-stand question, I've found it works pretty well to jack the car up from the stock point in the middle of the rocker panel, and then put a jackstand under the front part of the main longitudinal element of the unit body (the big rectangular-section stamping that's about a foot in from the rocker panel). Then repeat for the other side. The car kinda wobbles funny while you're doing the second side, but ultimately it's supported in a real solid way.

Question for you guys who've lowered your cars--how do you jack it up without enough clearance under the rocker panel? Drive it up on wood blocks first?

Good luck with the a/c!

dk944, thanks, but I'm still not clear: Do you put two jackstands on each side (total four), and where in relation to the wheels are these support points?

I'm just afraid of putting them someplace where they'll bend a critical part, or worse, break thru sheet metal while I'm under the car!

That does sound kind of hairy, placing the stands on one side, then jacking the other while car teeters on the stands...yikes!

My car is lowered, and I can *usually* get a jack under it, or else I use the scissor jack to get it high enough, then put the floor jack under it.

As far as jacking up the car, I've never had a problem. I put the jack under the center jack point, and jack the damn thing WAY up into the air (so it's supported by the jack and the one rear wheel opposite the jacked up side). The car's a lil wobbly it seems, but then I slide the jack stand up under the jack point in the front (or rear if working back there) of the car. Then I slide around to the other side and jack that side up too. Never had a problem, car looks like it's in a bad spot, but everything's okay.

Tip, put the parking brake on when jacking.

OK, this is helpful and I don't mean to sound dense, but where exactly are the front and rear jackstand hardpoints for using a regular saddle shaped jackstand?

Hi Scott,
I use two jackstands to support the front of the car, and I usually put them near the front of the longitudinals. If I remember right, there's a hole in each longitudinal, and I put the jackstands maybe 2 inches in back of those holes.

There are also four vertically aligned, rectangular "sockets" on the rockers, just behind the front wheels and ahead of the rear wheels. The sockets are of pretty thick-gauge steel; they look like they're meant to receive a special jack pad so you can lift the car on a 4-point hoist. Anyways, I've used these sockets as support points too, sticking half the "jaw" of the jackstand in the socket. Not what it was designed for, I'm sure! Kinda wrinkled the socket's sheet metal, too.

Anybody know if my hunch about the sockets is correct? Thanks, all.

Saddle type? Like a 'U' shape? As in it would fit a solid axle nicely? I have the same type. The first time I jacked the car up I did it on the center jack point, slid the stand under the front jack point and then proceeded to jack up the other side when crash....you guessed it, the saddle type stand slipped off the jack point. Dented the sheet metal around the jack point but that's about it. Had my heart in my throat for a few moments though. Got rid of the saddle type stands in favor of the puck (or saucer) type that seem to fit the jack points better.

If you do use the saddle type stands be VERY careful.



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Marc
'86 944 NA

Scott,

I bought/installed a Sanden AC Compressor from Griffiths. It works great. I highly recommend.

Mike