My ac clutch in my 03 silverado ss seems to work fine a low rpms (idle) but as soon as I give it some gas it wants to lock up and it eventually breaks the belt. I bought a new clutch assy today from autozone and I don't know exactly where to start with removing the clutch piece by piece. I have removed the fas shroud so far and now I just don't want to **** something up.

Does anyone have an illustraded parts breakdown of how it comes apart piece by peice?

Thanks.

 

Having similar problems with my 03ss, I get belt squeak upon start up with a/c on? and also some squeak for a few mins after that... I have had problems with this ever since i install a u/d pulley.

I haven't gotten a chance to get into it yet, but my bets are on it being the compressor's clutch.

 

this should help

 

Sounds like the compressor is locked up inside. If you are not familiar with replacing a clutch and coil I would not attempt. Also it would be much better to replace the entire compressor.

 

yeah I have the same problem mine works fine at idle but anything over 2000rpm it locks up and breaks belts.ebay has new ones for a little over a hundred dollars.

 

+1, the compressor is locking up, not the clutch, if the clutch were "locked up" the compressor would just run all of the time, which doesn't happen too often if at all...

 

Thanks guys. I replaced my clutch and belt tensioner to just find out it was the compressor, yay... Here goes a couple hundred bones...

Should I really even trust a compressor from ebay though or the salvage yard?

 

+1 Plus, the heat of that clutch grinding or locking up can melt out the input shaft seals causing a refrigerant leak.

I've always been told buying the clutch is a temporary fix.

I bought my compressor off of Ebay for my Prix. It was a reman unit for $100 with a 1 yr warranty.
If not, shop around the online retailers for a good reman unit, with a warranty.
If its a salvage yard unit - make sure it's capped to prevent dirt/water/whatever from entering. Otherwise, leave it.

I would recommend getting it professionally clean evacuated and charged. You'll need an accumulator, oriface filter, and the compressor. With the compressor locking up, you may have lots of metal debris in the system, and the last thing you want is to put on a new compressor, only to cycle dead compressor remains. The oriface filter should tell you right off the bat how much contaminants are in there.