AC Clutch Failure - How to fix! (blinking light, squealing)

I had a noise only when the AC clutch was engaged so I replaced it with a UAC compressor. The noise ended up being the tensioner assembly. The clutch wiring failed and the compressor was knocking just few months out of the 1 year warranty so they won’t help me out. I was going to replace the clutch on my old compressor and install that since the compressor worked fine.

 

Pics from my adventure in AC clutch repair. Easy fix and AC is ice cold again!

 

Awesome write up OP

 

Sorry, the pictures are a bit out of order. But if you are tall enough and have long arms (like me) you can do it all from the top.

 

Thanks to the original poster. You are my new hero!

 

I hope you can see how I used the clutch tool. It doesn't work on our clutches quite how the instructions explain it, but it does work. And it was worth the whopping nine dollars I paid for it!

 

For you guys that have melted clutch hub rubber, check the freon charge. A little low will make the low pressure switch turn the comp on, off, on, off etc. The friction builds heat which overheats the clutch. And melts the rubber. On a not too hot day, the AC seems normal, it's not.

 

I already addressed that issue. I had a leak in the suction line that turned into a full blown cracked line. Replaced the line, flushed out the leak dye I used and recharged the system. Two weeks later, the clutch disintegrated. Put the new clutch on today and back in business. So new suction line, clutch and recharge and good to go. Even put my gauges on to check the charge.

 

And once again, a HUGE thank you to the OP, you are a hero to many Tacoma owners on these hot summer days!

 

Just did this repair. Great thread. Thanks OP, you saved many of us a lot of money.

 

Subd

 

I just did mine today - had exactly the same issue as the OP. I dropped the skid plate and did it from below. The only challenging part was using a vice grip to hold the center of the old clutch plate so the nut could be removed. Luckily it wasn't seized and came out with less torque than I expected. Bought the clutch plate here (https://www.ebay.com/itm/302898643665) and used the spacers from the old clutch. The new clutch plate engages perfectly and doesn't spin when it's off. Thanks to everyone for all the helpful posts on what became an easy and cheap fix.

 

I can't figure out how to get just that part off. I took the bolt out but it's just stuck on there. I don't see a c-clip on it either. What did you use?

 

No clip on that part. Mine slid right off. Yours might have some rust in the way. Pry it off, watch for the shims.

 

Cool. Thanks for the reply

 

Yikes! That's a lot of rust. Man I'm glad I live in the desert...except for June, July, and August.

 

Yeah, was from upstate NY...now in the south. AC went out halfway down. Alternator seized too, but not during drive down.

 

I replaced a clutch on a 2011 tacoma and the replacement clutch had no shims and my old clutch only had 1 shim. The new clutch is to close to the hub. Does anybody know where i can get the shims? Will these fit? https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek...MI6tO_886Q5QIVEb3sCh1gHQ1wEAQYAyABEgIS6_D_BwE. Thanks

 

Had the squeal, then blinking ac light. Ordered my hub with spacers from Amazon ($40) So glad I found this post and it fixed my issue with a huge $$$ savings!! Thank you for posting this when you figured it out!!!

 

Took care of replacing my clutch hub yesterday. The old one was definitely dry rotted and starting to separate and there’s some balled up rubber inside. I bought the $23 one on ebay from a few posts up. Replaced the serpentine belt while I was in there. Took me maybe a half hour. Plenty of access from the bottom. Pretty easy job. Add me to the list of TWers indebted to the op..