A/C Compressor

While I had the van apart I took the opportunity to disassemble the a/c compressor to see how they are made. It was interesting to say the least.

The heart of the system is the eccentric plate
that drives the pistons instead of the typical
crankshaft.

The double ended piston. The depression that
can be seen is duplicated on the upper portion
of the piston and bearings that are rounded on
one side and flat on the other are seated here.

A very blurry picture of the bearings. But you
can see the rounded and flat sides of the bearing.
The rounded sides ride in the depression and the
flat side rides on the plate for smooth operation
of the pistons.

A view of the upper cylinder housing. The shaft
seal that can barely seen in this photo is far
different than that of seals in the past which
were made of a carbon ring which was the
rotating element placed on the shaft and a steel
stationary seat that was mounted on the front plate.

A front view of the valve plate.

A side view of the same plate. Just to the right
you can see the roller bearing and one of the
spacers that the bearing rode on. The bearing
is mounted on the shaft and sit against the piston
housing.

The upper valve plate mounted on the upper
piston hosing.

Two of the pistons in the cylinders.

Close up of the pistons and drive shaft assembly.

Upper and lower cylinder sections assembled.

Van Crankcase Senor

The crankcase sensor came unplugged and oh what fun that was to fix. It required that I remove the radiator the A/C compressor and the exhaust manifold. From beginning to end it took a little over 4 hours.

I spent 7 bucks for a 3/4 inch foam
insulation board to lie on the floor with. It's
softer than the floor and since it's insulation
no cold floor.

View of the engine before the fun began.

A close up of the area where the sensor is
located, which is between the radiator hose
and the rocker arm cover. You know the
thingy that the oil cap is.

This is a future project that will take 8 hours.
The knock sensor is located beneath the intake
manifold.

I had to move the box's to make room for
removing the radiator.

After some of the preliminaries you could see
where the sensor is under the exhaust
manifold. Being located under a shield is
why I had to remove the manifold to get to
it.

In order to remove the exhaust manifold
the exhaust pipe flange under the van had
to be broken loose.

After about two hours I finally reached my
goal. This is the culprit that was the source
of my inspection problems. The sensor is
unplugged.

Ain't very big is it? Especially considering
what I had to go through to get it fixed.