AC Compressor Leak (71 CS).

Last year I assumed my 41 year old compressor was leaking. I could easily see a line of oil spray on the Right plastic fender and lowerRadiator Hose. The oily spray was lined up with the Pulley on the front of my compressor. I cleaned the whole engine compartment and drove the car for another week or two and found a fresh line of oily spots on the Right fender again. The spray was clearly some type of oily leak because the oil substance never dried.

I had a local shop replace the compressor (along with a new set of Barrier hoses for 134a and a new dryer). After a few weeks of driving, the oily streak was back again. This time the amount of oily spray is much less than with the Old compressor.

I have cleaned the fender many times and the faint streak of oily spots keeps coming back. The location is always the same, a line of oil approximately lined up with the compressor Pulley. Some of the oil is also visible on the lower radiator hose.

I am 99% convinced this oil is coming from the compressor. I can’t think of any other source of liquid that could be traveling through the engine compartment and landing exclusively on the compressor pulley.

The problem only happens when the engine is hot, the weather is at least warm and I drivefor at least 30 minutes. I cannot reproduce the problem idling in the driveway (with a few random engine Revs).

The shop made me laugh by saying Old cars leak. Isaid New Compressors don’t leak.

Are there any Compressor experts out there?

Using a stock looking new/rebuilt compressor, should I ever see oil spray traces coming from the front shaft pulley area?

Thanks Miles
ps, hope to see some of you at the May 19 show in Lancaster Mass this weekend.
http://clubs.hemmings.com/olds-gmo/G...yer%202013.pdf

 

I have had the same problem. I think if I needed a new compressor I would try one of these
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Replacem...-/310597911807

 

If it's leaking refrigerant oil out of the system, it's also leaking freon with it. Does the AC still blow cold? If it's been doing this for weeks as you say, it more then likely is low or out of freon and the Ac would no longer blow cold air..... The leaking of oil at the front of compressor usually means a bad front seal, a new compressor should have eliminated that problem unless the shop replaced the front pulley clutch assembly only. There should never be oil spray from the comp, especially the amounts you describe.....

 

Sounds like the front seal to me...

 

Front seal of the engine that is.

 

I agree that the front seal on your AC compressor is leaking. I would have words with the shop that did your R134a retrofit.

 

Does this oil show up when running the AC or does it show up even when the AC has been turned off? With the AC off the pressure at the front seal is much, much less than when the AC is running (something like 70 psi vs. 200+ psi).

Any leaks from the front seal should make a damp, oily area around the front of the compressor. Over time this oil collects dust and creates a layer of black crud.

And that oil spray should be on the RIGHT fender (passenger side), not the left one (drivers side).

 

Correction, Right inside fender.

The initial retrofit was poorly planned (I never had a cutlass with a working AC before). I forgot to tell them to replace the POA. The new compressor did reduce the amount of leaking oil by more than 70%. I think the leak only opens up at speed and temperature. I never see any leaking when the AC is Off. I would not see any oil on a short runs with the AC on during a cool day (its New England, no hot days for the last 7 months).

I did check the outer rim of the compressor belt clutch looking for drips. All I found was minimal dirt and grime. No real obvious puddles or drips. My guess, on a hot engine/air and high RPM, the seal opens up for a second or two and leaks into the clutch area. The clutch then spins the spray around the engine compartment. As the RPMs drop (when the secondary’s are closed), the leak stops until the next time.

I just think I got a bad compressor. After the new Compressor was installed it would make “cool” air, but not “Cold” air. On a cool day OAT 70-75F, I would see center vent temperatures of 40-55F. On Warm days OAT 80-85F, I would see center vent temperatures of50-58F. The Cool problem was most likely caused by too much 134a and Wrong settings for POA.

The shop said this morning, before any changes, that my Freon 134a levels were good and their sensors did not detect any leaks.
This week I had the shop replace the POA (from CAA tuned for 134a) and a new evaporator. They are going to extend the warranty on my compressor a little since is expires this Sunday. The shop also said, they are NOW seeing temperatures of 38F (Not sure where it was measured on this cool 60F day).

thanks for your suggestions. Too bad its 5pm and cool, cant open the secondaries.

 

Even the CSM says that a slight leak of oil was 'normal'. It also depends on what type of seal was installed in the compressor.
Is it a new brand new Delco A6 or a rebuilt? If the latter, what brand?

The POA could have been adjusted for 134. If you still have it, I might be interested in buying it.

 

How about a picture of the oil spray pattern?

While it is certainly possible for both the old and the new compressors to be leaking, it would seem unlikely that the new one would be.
One thing I would try, while the oil is fresh, is to smell it.
There are four possible things that can be flung off of the accessory pulley area: A/C oil, P/S fluid, motor oil, and coolant.
They all smell distinctly different.

Also, I would check your system pressure regularly to see whether it is leaking down.
If it is leaking as much as you describe, I doubt it would hold a charge for a week.

- Eric

 

Did you say the compressor was from CCA? I got a new (rebuilt) one from them and it leaked refrigerant from the front of the compressor. They have sent me another and it seems ok But now I am worried.

 

The current compressor is a rebuilt system that looks just like my original factory Frigidaire. It has a label, Manufactured for Four Seasons. The mechanic that seemed to be older than the car, and had some experience with AC systems. He said that Rebuilt compressors are not as good as new. He said you may get some slight leaking around the shaft because they do not always use “New” shafts. He agree with my theory that it’s only leaking a few drops at high temp and high pressure. Not enough to worry about. It ran a full year without any noticeable pressure drop. I will keep a close eye on it this summer. I am still running on the 1 yr old rebuilt. However I now have a new POA and a new evaporator.
The rest of my parts are from CAA (hoses, Evaporator, POA, dryer). Note to self: Next time I rebuild a Cutlass AC System, save money and Replace Everything from CAA at the same time (3 hoses, POA, Condenser, Evaporator, Dryer and fan motor). The only part I did not replace so far was the Condenser.
At MDchanic suggestions, I will try to better analyze the oily drops. Any oily liquid hits the compressor pulley could be causing the issue. I did try taping White paper towels to the fender on one test, but did not catch any fresh oil during that test.
I will try to get a fresh picture soon. The oil spray is so fine that you cannot get a picture of it on black plastic.
First Road test:
It was a cool 60F day. I cleaned the fender before the drive. Total slow highway time was 20 minutes and 6 miles. The center air was 31-34F (fan on low). This is not a good test since the outside are was 60F. When I arrived home I checked the fender and could not notice any splatter. I cleaned the fender and all hoses again and will try again today. I also whipped down the compressor pulley and did not notice anything other than mild road grime. The air temp is expected to be 80F today.

In the attached picture, the Red box outlines the area where the oily spay will be noticed. This area is clean now, I will keep checking weekly.

 

Like so many parts, some are better than others. Some rebuilt units are pure junk. If a shop did the work, then they should stand behind it. If it is a defective seal, then they should do a new seal or replace the compressor.

 

Successful Road test:
The new POA and Evaporator seem to be working good. I went for a 15 minute highway run, Air temp 78-80F, Speed 60, RPM 1800-2000. The AC was running on Low fan speed, Center duct temperatures were 28-34F (Using a thermal digital sensor).
On city roads the RPM and speeds are much lower. Also the compressor speeds will be lower too. I was seeing temperatures at stop lights between 48-55F, which I assume is Normal.
After approximately 40 minutes of highway and city driving I checked for leaks. I did not see any hint of leakage on this trip. The Right fender was still shiny under the compressor. I did however keep the RPMs under 2,500 for the whole trip. This weekend ill take the old Girl for a 1 hour trip to a car show in Lancaster Mass. That should be a good enough run to check for leaks and if the road is clear maybe more than 2500 rpm.

 

Four seasons rebuilds the compressors from what I understand. Therefore they are never as good as new. I hear a lot of bad things on the rebuilts. However I have heard some good also...
Often you can find a "star" like formation around the defective seal.
Who knows how long this unit was in storage. Perhaps the front seal was dry and loose, then swelled up after being in oil contact.
It is possible they oiled the clutch mechanism and that lube was thrown out, too.

Please update this thread periodically with how it is performing. I NEED to get mine done soon but not sure what compressor route to go yet!

 

It still Leaks.
I cleaned the PS fender and took the car for a few rides on warm days (above 80F).
After a total AC -Compressor time of approximately 2+ hours I examined the previously clean fender. The oily slime was back.

The GREEN arrow points to the drive Belt.
The BLUE arrow points to the front of the clutch plate.
The RED arrow points to the gap between the Pulley and the Clutch Plate.
The RED Box shows the area of Oily spray.

Along the gap between the pulley and clutch plate, there is a slight black oily slime. There are No big drips, just some black slime, similar to the mess directly below in the fender.
I have examined all Pulley and belts, looking for signs of Oily spray in other areas and I did not find any. The only area with belt/pulley spray is close to the Compressor clutch seam.
Next I used a Laser Pointer to help me verify the angle and origin of the spray (it feels like a CSI TV show with Blood being cast off a Knife, to prove it was the Left handed 1 legged man).

The area below the actual compressor Belt does not have any spray/cast off.
The oily cast off is directly under the seam between the Pulley and clutch plate.

I had a talk with the Shop that installed my Four-Season compressor. They agreed to my plan, which is I will buy a new compressor from CAA and they will install the new compressor this summer. They will “Take care of me”. I have been doing business with this shop for 20 years and have been extremely pleased with the past business. They have recently sold to a new owner, we shall see.

AC Road test:
Initial results for the AC system on a hot day (with a drop per hour leak) were very encouraging. The Air temp was 95F on the Highway. After approximately 10 minutes of driving and 5 minutes at highway speeds I was seeing 22F on the center vent (System set to MAX, internal air only).
City driving at similar outside temperatures (80-90F) were 50-60F at the center vent with Outside air enabled. Testing was cut short by a Blower issue.

New issue:
My 4 month old Blower motor does not turn on. According to my CSM schematics, I have power to the Purple Blower wire and both fuses are good. It looks like ill need to pull the inner fender again and check the Blower. When the shop replaced my evaporator, they only removed the Right Side (DS) of the Air box.

 

I have the exact same issue with my A6 compressor, spraying oil on the left side of the fender. My A/C system currently not experiencing any issues and blows very cold air. When she does fails, I will replace her with a Sanden compressor.