AC 95 Dodge Caravan 3.0 L

[tractorboy]

My sister has a Caravan. It has a serpentine belt , except for the AC. The belt on the AC keeps disapearing. I turned the pulley / clutch on the compressor and it was moderately hard to turn w/o the belt on. I do not remeber if I had the AC on so the cluch would engage. ... or maybe if the cluch was jammed ,,, what you think

[JustSayGo]

I think you had the clutch engaged.

[tractorboy]

Probably,,, so how difficult should turning the compressor be with the cluch engaged and no v belt, just turning the compressor ?

[JustSayGo]

The ignition would have to be on for the clutch to engage. The pulley would spin free on the bearing if the clutch were disengaged. You would feel and hear a bad bearing turning the pulley by hand. Your moderatly hard to turn discription is accuarate of turning the A/C compressor. Brand new compressors can be very difficult to turn by hand. Having too much freon will make the belt dissapear.

[tractorboy]

Having too much freon will make the belt dissapear.

Hmmm, you may have something there. Although if it had too much freon, in the scenario where it would burn the belt off, would it be 1. impossible to turn
or 2. still possible to turn. ?

... the belt will stay on there for months or weeks then disapear.

[JustSayGo]

A/C pressure varries according to conditions, primarily ambient air temperature and other conditions that affect condensor heat exchange. An over charged A/C system will have higher high side pressure that will put greater load on the belt as well as the compressor and hoses. Then under some type of condition the pressure may go very high and the belt breaks or flips off. System pressure equalizes when the compressor is not pumping and the compressor would turn with the same effort by hand