Compressor wiring bad?

[DeanFS]

OK, I tried to find whatever I could but I couldn't find any problems similar to mine.

I have a 98 Lumina LS which has some faulty wiring.

About 2 years ago I noticed that my AC didn't work. This isn't a big deal to me, I usually just drop the windows anyways. But at the time the heat was pretty bad, and I was going to take a trip soon with the car. The fuse for the compressor kept buring out, so I inspected the compressor.

I discovered that the wiring was in such bad shape that while trying to seperate and tape up bare wires which had melted against each other, the wires literally fell apart in my hands. This is specifically the bundle which goes from the compressor to a thicker bundle - about 6 wires to different components.

I did what I could to replace the wires properly. But the compressor still burnt fuses, so I ran a wire directly from the battery to a switch and a fuse and the compressor. I checked the diagram and it should work.

And it did for about 15 minutes. When I went to turn the compressor back on, the fuse blew. Since then the unit hasn't worked. This happened when I tried routing the power through the wires I replaced, too.

I tried getting a mechanic to look at it but nobody wants to touch it. I don't want to know what it would cost for someone to fix the wiring, honestly!


What I'm wondering are a few things. First, what would cause this? Is this just a wiring problem in the compressor, or something else? If I replace the compressor, should it work? I also took the diode out of the circuit - is this a problem? I'm wondering if others have had bad experiences with Lumina wiring as well.

[rhandwor]

Your best bet is to go to a junk yard where you can pull your own parts. Start at the compressor and go back as far as needed then make good connections.
Use silicon on all butt splices to keep out moisture and dirt.
You need all parts for it to work properly. Inspect the compressor drive as it maybe the cause of the origional problem