I was able to change out the coil. But I had to take the compressor out to do it. There just isn't enough room in there to do it right. A couple of people told me they were able to do it with out removing the compressor, but I couldn't. I tried and tried. In the end it wasn't that bad taking it out and actually if I would have taking it out in the first place it wouldn't have taken me near as long to do it.
The whole reason why I didn't want to remove it compressor was to avoid discharging the system. But in hind sight, that really wasn't as big of a deal that I was making it out to be. You can take it to a repair shop and have them drain in for you, or you could just hook up the hose from a recharge kit and blow it off. This new refrigerant isn't bad for the environment like the old stuff was.
Not a lot of room in there to work. I removed the right wheel, the splash guard, the wheel well plastic and the undercarriage splash guard. I also had to remove the idler pulley that sits right above the A/C compressor, I couldn't get compressor out with it still attached. Try not to loose to much oil from the compressor when handling it, a little is fine because most refrigerant cans has some oil in them that gets put in to your system when you charge it. Cover the hoses and the ports on the compressor to keep dirt out and to keep most of your oil in. I also changed out the o rings on the hoses. The only place that had them in town was NAPA and I had to bring up the old ones so the could size match them for me.
I used a chain wrench to hold the clutch plate so I could remove the bolt holding it on. Don't tighten the chain wrench down to tight, it can bend the metal real easy, the bolt isn't in there that tight any way. Once the bolt is removed, the clutch plate should slide right off. Once the clutch plate is off, make sure you have your spacer washer and don't lose it. It is between the spline shaft and the clutch plate. Mine was at the bottom of the female spline in the clutch plat. Reuse the spacer washer on the new clutch plate. It sets the correct gap between the clutch plate and the pulley. Next remove the spring clip holding the pulley on the compressor. I rented an A/C compressor pulley puller from Auto zone to remove the pulley. Next comes off the coil. I thought there would be another spring clip holding it on but mine did not have one. Apparently some have it and some are just pressed on. I tried to use the same pulley puller on the coil but it kept slipping off. I ended up using the claw of a hammer and a small wonder crowbar tho pry between the coil and the compressor. Just work your way around it to try to keep it coming of evenly. There are two metal tabs on the back side of the coil. There is also an indentation on the compressor on the top of it just below where the wire holder screws to compressor. Line up the tabs to match the indentation on the compressor. I used a rubber mallet to put the coil on. Just work your way around the coil tapping lightly. Make sure the tabs line up and the coil is seated all the way down. Next comes the pulley. The kit I purchased come with a new bearing but I decided not to replace it. My old bearing was still fine. I put the pulley back on in the same way I did the coil, with a rubber mallet, tapping lightly, working may way around the pulley. Then bolt the clutch plate back on, don't forget about your spacer washer. That's it. Put the compressor back on and hook up the hoses. Then recharge your system. One note on recharging. I bought a recharge kit that came with two cans for a total of 34 oz of refrigerant. The guy at the store said the Sedona holds around 30 to 36 oz. I put in both cans and tested the pressure. It said I was still a little low. So I bout another 10 oz expecting to only have to put in a few oz. I checked the pressure every so often to avoid over charging it, but every time I checked, it still said it was a little low. I ended up putting the entire 10 oz can in there. Thinking I was finally done and satisfied that everything was working properly, I turned off the motor and went inside to cool down. When I went back out to clean up I started the van and tried the A/C. It wasn't coming on. The clutch would engage for a few seconds then disengage. Then after about 15 seconds, it would engage for a few seconds then disengage. I just kept doing this. Well apparently I had overcharged the system. I had to blow off some of the refrigerant then it finally engaged and stayed engage. I should have just added a little bit, let it rest for 20 min or so then checked the pressure.
All in all it wasn't that bad to do.
You really shouldn't be allowed out if you believe that they aren't bad for the environment 1 It is totally illegal here in the EU to release7vent even the minutest amount of any gas & has been since '92 when we all signed up but you lot
