Well my air con gave out the other day. My fault was pretty obvious as seen below. Don't buy a compressor from Porsche - I got a new one for under £200 - they are the same as fitted to many cars (but with different pulleys), the 996 shares its pulley with many Audi V6s.
With air con faults, the first thing to check: Is there pressure in the refrigerant pipework? You need to hook a gauge up to the valves next to the screen washer filler. If not get a specialist to pressurize the system with nitrogen or UV dye and find the leak, fix and refill.
In my case I had a leak from the compressor.
The compressor is a pump that the engine turns which compresses refrigerant to a liquid and pumps it to the condensers at the front of the car.
The compressor doesn't run all the time. There is an electrically operated clutch, which switches it in and out. This clutch is mounted to the compressor by a hub and a rubber isolator. If the compressor seizes, the isolator will give out to save the rest of the accessories (alternator, water pump etc).
In my case the compressor had seized and the isolator given out. New compressor time!
You can remove and inspect the clutch and isolator without removing the compressor - no need to take belt off. Just undo the 10mm bolt on the front and slide it off.
If your compressor bearing is grumbling (while aircon off), just remove the drive belt, clutch hub, snap ring and the pulley slides off complete with bearing - any local supplier should be able to get you one.
My compressor, as you can see the isolator has given out and melted after the compressor seized.
The hub, and clutch plate should be one piece but mine was separated:
You can remove the drive belt by relieving tenson with a 24mm socket on the pulley and slipping the belt off:
Here you can see the pulley held on with a snap ring.
Pulley removed showing bearing code- you would need to grind the indents out and press the bearing out to replace a grumbly bearing:
With the belt removed you should be able to turn the compressor (clockwise) by hand. I couldn't so determined my compressor was seized.
So now I needed to get a new compressor!
I found out the originally fitted Denso 7SB16C fitted to a 996 is fitted to loads and loads of other cars. If your pulley / clutch is fine you can swap it to a used 7SB16C from a zafira, whch you can get used for as little as £20. Since both my compressor and clutch were shot, I needed the lot. And since I was paying to have the system checked and refilled by an air con guy, I opted for a new one.
The 996's pulley setup is shared by a load of VAG cars with V6 engines. I found a Nissens 8904 compressor brand new with 2 year warranty for under £200 by an ebay seller, here it is:
http://webshop.nissens.com/LandingPage/ShowLandingPage?LandingPageCode=NISSENS&NissensNo=89054#
See those 2 little O ring seals? They are for where the pipes joining the compressor. Porsche wanted £9.50 for those two seal alone! Those came with my new compressor.
I'm going out to fit it now..... Obviously I'll need to find why my old compressor seized, and flush the pipework of any debris before fitting the new one.
With air con faults, the first thing to check: Is there pressure in the refrigerant pipework? You need to hook a gauge up to the valves next to the screen washer filler. If not get a specialist to pressurize the system with nitrogen or UV dye and find the leak, fix and refill.
In my case I had a leak from the compressor.
The compressor is a pump that the engine turns which compresses refrigerant to a liquid and pumps it to the condensers at the front of the car.
The compressor doesn't run all the time. There is an electrically operated clutch, which switches it in and out. This clutch is mounted to the compressor by a hub and a rubber isolator. If the compressor seizes, the isolator will give out to save the rest of the accessories (alternator, water pump etc).
In my case the compressor had seized and the isolator given out. New compressor time!
You can remove and inspect the clutch and isolator without removing the compressor - no need to take belt off. Just undo the 10mm bolt on the front and slide it off.
If your compressor bearing is grumbling (while aircon off), just remove the drive belt, clutch hub, snap ring and the pulley slides off complete with bearing - any local supplier should be able to get you one.
My compressor, as you can see the isolator has given out and melted after the compressor seized.
The hub, and clutch plate should be one piece but mine was separated:
You can remove the drive belt by relieving tenson with a 24mm socket on the pulley and slipping the belt off:
Here you can see the pulley held on with a snap ring.
Pulley removed showing bearing code- you would need to grind the indents out and press the bearing out to replace a grumbly bearing:
With the belt removed you should be able to turn the compressor (clockwise) by hand. I couldn't so determined my compressor was seized.
So now I needed to get a new compressor!
I found out the originally fitted Denso 7SB16C fitted to a 996 is fitted to loads and loads of other cars. If your pulley / clutch is fine you can swap it to a used 7SB16C from a zafira, whch you can get used for as little as £20. Since both my compressor and clutch were shot, I needed the lot. And since I was paying to have the system checked and refilled by an air con guy, I opted for a new one.
The 996's pulley setup is shared by a load of VAG cars with V6 engines. I found a Nissens 8904 compressor brand new with 2 year warranty for under £200 by an ebay seller, here it is:
http://webshop.nissens.com/LandingPage/ShowLandingPage?LandingPageCode=NISSENS&NissensNo=89054#
See those 2 little O ring seals? They are for where the pipes joining the compressor. Porsche wanted £9.50 for those two seal alone! Those came with my new compressor.
I'm going out to fit it now..... Obviously I'll need to find why my old compressor seized, and flush the pipework of any debris before fitting the new one.