Our 2005 Saturn Vue has the 3.5 liter V6 from Honda. This makes for some interesting repairs at times. The Air conditioner compressor is one of those that require removing a lot of the parts from the engine just to get the compressor out and a new one back in.
It’s located at the front of the motor next to the front catalytic converter, between the engine block and the radiator fans, below the alternator.
The compressor had died and stopped cooling a week before the idler bearing died, when that happened I carefully drove home and after letting it cool down I started to work on it. At the end of this video I will show what failed inside the old compressor.
Link to leveling block video
https://youtu.be/KTvSnMA-Isc
Vacuum pump / refrigerant recovery machine
Mastercool Recovery System TwinTurbo Refrigerant Recovery Machine.
To remove the compressor we started by disconnecting the pipes that connect it to the rest of the system, this is a simple one bolt and remove the pipe. The electrical connection is next and there are 2 plugs on the compressor one on the pipes that were just disconnected and the other by the pulley.
Next we put a jack under the motor, put a block of wood on top of the jack and lifted enough to take the load from the motor mount, then we removed the bolts from the motor mount and pulled it out. Then we jacked it up more to make room.
With the alternator out of the way the 2 bolts on the top and the one on the bottom were relatively simple to access. But the real reason to remove the alternator and motor mount is that with them in place the compressor will not come out this way. One more thing had to be removed before the compressor had enough room, the mounting plate for the alternator and the compressor.
The mounting plate is held on by 4 bolts and it also has the tensioner mounted to it but that can stay in place. We pushed the compressor out of the way and removed the 4 bolts and pulled the plate out of the way below the compressor. With the plate below the compressor the compressor can be lifted out of the space. Then we pulled the mounting plate out to clean it up.
The filter dryer / accumulator is mounted behind the drivers side headlight. Started by removing the marker light on the side of the headlight, then removing the headlight bolts on the top and then using a ¼ in drive extension long enough reach under the headlight and push the latch that holds the back of the headlight, push the latch and lift the headlight at the same time and it comes loose.
The orifice tube is mounted on the firewall next to the brake booster. One bolt in the middle will release the hoses that connect to it. Then after that there are 2 torx screws holding it to the firewall.
We cleaned the mounting plate and got ready to put it all back. For the compressor the mounting plate went in first placed on the bottom of the space then the compressor, then we mounted the plate, then the compressor mounted to the plate. Then the alternator was put back in place. Installing the rest of the parts was the reverse of the removal, after that just put the car back together.
#HowWeDoIt #AirConditioner #SaturnVue #ACCompressor
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