E30 AC Compressors: Are They Junk, or Am I Just Cursed?

I bought my E30 with non-working AC, and since it was October I didn't really care. Come summertime, I decided to vac it down and charge it to see if it would work. Long story short, the rubber coupler on the clutch was bad. I went to the U-Pull, got a compressor to swap clutches, or worst case scenario, compressors. Well the clutch is seized onto the old like nobody's business, so I swap compressors. It worked fine for a few months, then it started leaking from the seam where the compressor is bolted together. I picked up another used compressor, and that one worked for a week before blowing out the seal behind the pulley, then I put yet another used compressor on it, and it leaks from the seam where it's assembled. So far I've bought three AC compressors for it and probably had AC for a grand total of 5 months over the last 4 years. They've all been cheap, and I can charge it at work, so it's REALLY hard to justify buying a new or reman for $400-$800, when I can just go get a $20 compressor and hope it works. I'm bound to get a good one eventually, right? I sell used parts and I've NEVER seen someone get three bad compressors in a row. What gives?

If they are just junk... you may be cursed.

I just found an ebay ad for a reman compressor from Austin Baker for $127. Does anyone know anything about Austin Baker? I couldn't find much on them.

Are you swapping the seals to run 134a? Using the right oil... ? Or just bolting them on, pulling a vac and filling them up?

I've never had one go bad on an E30 or E36 but I did have problems with an R-12 to 134a conversion on an old iX. The seals leaked after about two weeks.

Both our 91 E30 and 95 E34 still blow cold--91 was recharged maybe 7 years ago; 95 is still on the original. That one doesn't blow quite as cold, but still pretty good.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Are you swapping the seals to run 134a? Using the right oil... ? Or just bolting them on, pulling a vac and filling them up? I've never had one go bad on an E30 or E36 but I did have problems with an R-12 to 134a conversion on an old iX. The seals leaked after about two weeks.

The car had already been "retrofitted" to R134a, but since I didn't know how far they went with it, I went ahead and changed all the o-rings, the receiver drier, and the expansion valve when I did the first compressor. I haven't had any problems with the AC at all other than every compressor I've put on it has leaked.

Question for you with E30's with working AC, does your car have the Bosch or Nippondenso compressor? Mine has the Denso, but I'm thinking about switching to the Bosch since every Denso compressor I've had leaked.

Why not just rebuild one? O-rings and seal realy can't be that hard to sorce. A pain yes but low $$ fix

Why not just bite the built and rebuild one of your old compressors, rock auto usually care's all the parts you would need

I actually had not thought of that, but now that you mention it I can't seem to find a rebuild kit or seal kit for the 10P15E compressor. I wonder if I can just take it apart and find the right size o-rings?

Actually, just found one.
http://www.ackits.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=01&Product_Code=21-34609&Category_Code=shaftandgaskets

Dunno... mine worked when I bought the car in Spring of 2010, but didn't work the next year. I'm hoping a can of refrigerant will make it blow cold again (was retro-fitted to 134a). If a quick booster every year is all it needs, I'll be happy.

Are you flushing the system with each 'new' compressor?

When a compressor fails it sends metal shavings through out the entire system. and remain in there so when you put the new compressor on it picks up the shavings and shreds the new compressor.

check out this video: (Note: at 4:30 the silver stuff in the bucket) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnu8hA9F9S4&feature=player_detailpage#t=230s

pk386 wrote: Are you flushing the system with each 'new' compressor? When a compressor fails it sends metal shavings through out the entire system. and remain in there so when you put the new compressor on it picks up the shavings and shreds the new compressor. check out this video: (Note: at 4:30 the silver stuff in the bucket) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnu8hA9F9S4&feature=player_detailpage#t=230s

I did originally flush the system when I put all the new parts on it. The compressors send shavings through the system when they fail mechanically. None of my compressors have done that. They all function perfectly, they've just all had a leaky seal. And each one that I've taken off I've checked out pretty well, and they've all pumped out perfectly clean oil.

I think a lot has to do with the fact that they are pulled from non-working cars. A/C systems fail more when not used often. So besides being decades old, the seals are probably just dry rotting away in the junkyard before you get your hands on them.

That's my theory too. It's been a piece of rubber that's failed on all four of them. Sure, three different pieces of rubber between the four of them, but a piece of rubber no less. Coupled with the fact that they've been sitting and they're 22 to 26 years old, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I guess I'll just get a seal kit and see what happens.

If you smart enough to be here then your smart enough to do it! Take your time and have nice clean work surface. For things like this i cover the table top with a new sheet of Craft paper or house wrap. That way any parts on that table came from the part at hand and you know the tables clean.

Seal kit is ordered. Now as long as the clutch isn't seized onto the shaft on the leaky spare that I have, I'll be set!

I went to remove the a/c from the e30 I just picked up and there was no belt for the a/c compressor. The car has relatively low mileage ~130k, so I am going to assume they may not have been the best compressors to begin with.

Interested to hear how the old one works with new seal kit, keep us updated!

-Josh

Well I took it apart last night to rebuild it, and the last thing to go on was the nose. When I installed the shaft seal into the housing, I noticed that it didn't quite fit right. I pulled it back out (destroying the seal in the process) and it is in fact the wrong shaft seal. The place that I ordered it through only had one listed for the 10P15 compressor, and there are actually two different shaft seal styles. centuryautoair.com is the only place that listed both kits, and even their site says that one of them will fit either style, and it doesn't really. I ordered the correct shaft seal last night, so we'll see what happens next.

If anyone else feels the need to rebuild their E30 Nippondenso compressor, these are the correct kits for that compressor: SK-740G - Shaft Seal Kit, KT-10PN - O-Ring Kit (for the body of the compressor). Here's the only place I actually found the correct shaft seal: http://centuryautoair.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=14

And here's some youtube videos that might help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD5lLC5v6PE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MangGmPZc6g&feature=relmfu

There are a few minor differences in the compressor in the video and the one on the E30.

1. The E30 compressor's clutch hub has to be removed with a puller! It will not slide off on it's own! This is quite important, as you can easily screw up the shaft of the compressor by trying to "persuade" it to come of by means other than a puller!

2. The E30 compressor has a woodruff key on the shaft! You must remove the woodruff key from the shaft before the shaft seal housing comes off!

Other than that, it's pretty much the same as in the video.

PS - I have no affiliation with Century Auto Air. They just happen to have helpful videos and the part that I needed. And when I emailed them about fitment of the o-ring kit (they specifically mention it fitting the 10P15C, but don't mention the 10P15E) at 9:00 at night, they responded within 20 minutes.

I'm in the middle of a Denso compressor rebuild - and I let all the pistons and roller balls fall out of the back piston housing - now I have a mess...

Does anyone know how to put the pistons/bearings back on the swash plate and get everything back into the piston bore? Is there some alignment trick?

Can't find anything online in the Denso manuals - they just show you how to change the O-rings.

Help !!!