My A/C Compressor fell off. I went to the hardware store sunday and when I started my car the A/C sounded like the belt was loose. I popped the hood and saw the A/C compressor shaking back and forth. Shut it off real quick. I could move it with my hand... Not good. I jacked up the car in the parking lot. I realized that I had lost all 4 bolts that hold the compressor mount to the block.

Long story short I found 2 of the bolts stuck between the mount and the compressor. One was fine not a scratch the other is broken in half. The other half is in the block. The broken one is the lower mount bolt closest to the firewall.

How can this happen? How can all 4 bolts vibrate out? Could this have anything to do with some front end damage I had repaired recently?

:|note that post here|:

That front tire hit the curb sideways first, the compressor is right on the other side.

 

Hmm... were you in some kinda crash? that could have broken the first bolt, as for the others, maybe they were vibrated out... check the pulley alignment and make sure they're torqued down correctly.

Do those bolts require washers? Cuase that would help too.

 

Yeah the crash could have broken the first bolt. Man I just didn't think the mounting bracket bolts would just vibrate out like that.

I have no idea if there where ever washers on the bolts.

Question: Does anyone know if it will be safe with only three bolts? I can put in three but the last one is broken off in the block. (I'm driving with just the top two in right now because I have no time to get to the bottom bolt)

Question 2: Should I get that other half of the bolt out? That sounds like it would require drilling the old bolt out and re-tapping the block...

Question 3: If the answer to question 2 is yes then that should be expexsive right? Anyone have any idea how much that might cost me.

I live in Florida... I kind of need to keep my A/C for the summer months or I would just take the damn thing out and be done with it.

Thanks for the reply,
Tanshin

 

what i would suggest is thet you first remove the ac compressor and the mount and find out if the bolt is broken off all the way in the block... sometimes you have a little sticking out that you can grab with a set of vice grips... if you can get ahold of it then you might be able to remove it...

if that is not the case then there are a few ways you can try... one way most likley the easiest is go to napa and buy a reverse drill bit... it is just like a drill bit but it cuts in reverse on a drill... put that in a drill and see if that will grab and remove the bolt...

if that fails to work then you will have to drill... get a good set of drill bits and an easy out bolt extractor... you will need a pretty big one for this bolt... take the bolt to napa and get one that is close in size to the threads... then start with a small drill bit and drill throught the center of the bolt... it works best to drill all the way through... use pb blaster or wd 40 to lube the bit as you drill... go slow and try to drill in the middle of the bolt and straight... go all the way throught the bolt if you can...once the first hole is started continue going up in size until the eazy out tip just fits into the hole you drilled... then turn the easy out left with a wrench... as it digs in it will start to remove the bolt... and you are all done...

when drilling make sure not to hit the threads... or you will have to retap the hole...take your time and it should work out alright... it does not have to cost a lot to do this and with a few tools you can fix it yourself...

 

Thanks for the info! I knew about drilling it out and NOT wanting to have to re-thread the bolt hole. I was lucky enough to watch my grandfather do it when I was a kid and he cussed every minute of it.

I did not know about the reverse bit though. I may have to give that a try. Sounds like a starting point IF I can get a drill in that area. Hmm... Maybe if I take the drivers side wheel off. I'll look tomorrow.