How do you remove air conditioner compressor to install a bypass pulley on a 1998 chrysler town and country?

Answer 1

There are a couple of ways to approach this. I just did one of these for a friend. The A/C pump seized while running. The serpentine belt broke. Crazy things can happen to other components when this occurs. In this case the broken ends of the belt, I think, whipped back around on itself on the crankshaft pulley and one of the other pulleys in the belt circuit and devastation occurred. 1) It snapped the Power Steering pump bracket in two. 2) It took out the alternator. 3) And not to be left out, GOODBYE cool blowin air conditioning. Time to decide what to do. He had to order the power steering bracket from a dealer (junk yards were cleaned out). He decided to replace the power steering pump with a remanufactured unit and new hoses (parts houses are much cheaper than dealer parts folks). You'll need a pulley remover that you can usually borrow (with a deposit) from some parts houses. He HAD to buy the alternato ya gotta have juice. I have been using the name, "parts houses" . (Can we use specific company names in this forum MR./MS. Editors ? I Feel I need to for the sake of all of us that come here for correct information.) THE ANSWER : DO you want to drop the bucks into fixing your A/C ? NO ? It can be involved and costly depending on how good of a do it yourselfer you are. New pumps are spendy. Then, if you use the older refridgerant you'll need a conversion kit and blah blah blah. YOU have opted for a bypass pulley. COOL ! Errrr...not actually. It's coming out. The bolts that hold the A/C pump to its bracket come out from BEHIND the bottom of the unit. They are long and won't clear the intake manifold,at least not easily. Take the bracket bolts out from the front. Take the hose from the pump to the dryer apart (at the dryer). Do you want to preserve the system for future repair? If so, cover that connection on the dryer to protect it from the world. With a sharp blade, cut the other hose coming off the pump right behind the grill. Or, try to take the fitting apart at the evaporator. Cutting it is easier. Plug the cut off end if ya want. Future repair thing. Rotate the pump forward so you can either take the bolts out,or remove the pump and bracket as a unit, with the lengths of hose attached to the pump. This gets all that hose you no longer need out of the engine compartment. NOW THE BYPASS PULLEY. He found a pulley from NAPA. IT DOES NOT WORK ! YOU DO NOT NEED IT ! Nothing against NAPA. I have bought good parts from them before. Maybe their supplier does not know. The pulley is supposed to drop into the A/C bracket in the concave recess that the pump once occupied. IT WASN'T EVEN CLOSE. Chevy released THREE versions: Poor Boy-no power steering,no A/C. MIDMan-power steering,no A/C. Rich Guy-power steering,with A/C. SO....... If you have power steering, the A/C pump removal just put you into Midman status. Stop at your local Chevy dealer, ask them to print you a belt routing diagram from the computer parts book. It shows all three versions. Go to your local,,,,,,,"PARTS HOUSE", tell them info...year,make,engine size, REMEMBER.. IT NO LONGER HAS AIR CONDITIONING. YOU'LL GET A SHORTER BELT !! IF, they sold you the bypass pulley.....GET YOUR MONEY BACK !!! Use the diagram you got. The belt is routed a little different since you lost the A/C pump and the idler pulley with it's bracket(that you can keep for future repair or trade in for to be made into beer cans) Also remember that without a belt on, the tensioner pulley is swung over to the end of it,s range of motion. When you get the belt routed correctly you have to put a wrench on the bolt on the pulley and turn hard to compress the spring. (COUNTERCLOCKWISE) The bolt is left hand thread so it won't come loose while ya reef on it to get the belt swung onto the ALTERNATOR LAST.<<<<<<GOOD LUCK !!! ADDED NOTE: Would that bypass pulley work on say...an "88" or "89" or "90" ? > I DO NOT KNOW. DID CHEVY change the size of the pump bracket after 87 ? We will be letting the good folks at NAPA know what we ran into and how we fixed it. We also will ask for a refund on the wrong part for the job. IT DOES NOT FIT AN 87! WE DO KNOW THIS..... IF the belt had just broke in half and safely dropped away, then all those parts wouldn't have been needed and the cost of the fix is FOR A SHORTER BELT and a little sweat to remove the A/C pump and bracket. #%*!!@! The A/C NEVER WORKED ANYWAY .#$@!%&!!!!!!!!!!!!!DARN THE LUCK :)