air pump

I would like to remove the ac/air pump belt so as not to have to replace the ac clutch, as I do not need the ac. Will this do anything to the way that the car operates, some say yes, some say no. please help. thank you
john adams :confused:

...Will this do anything to the way that the car operates, some say yes, some say no....

Well... that could be Yes, or No.

In my TC, there's only one belt :smile: that operates everything.
What year TC are you driving?

FYI I drove my 68 Ford Galaxy 500 for 11 years without the AC belt. It had a single belt driving just the AC clutch. Being a young stoner :smokin: other things had higher importance than the AC system.

Another car, I guess it was my bro's... had dual belts around the AC clutch, one was dedicated, the other drove the power steering pump too. We just added a smaller belt to to PS pump.

Thanks for answering. I have a 1989 TC cartier. We just got laid off at work after 12 years and unemployment is barely enough to pay the bills. Since it is winter here I do not need ac. The dealer (which has gouged me several times) said that it does matter on this model whether or not I use the air pump. On another forum someone said to remove the compressor and clutch, replace the pulley and it would be fine. Don't see how this would work, as the bearing is on the pulley shaft.
I trust this forum and the people here and am hoping that someone has done this and could enlighten me
thankd
John Adams

...The dealer (which has gouged me several times) said that it does matter on this model whether or not I use the air pump. ....someone said to remove the compressor and clutch, replace the pulley and it would be fine. Don't see how this would work, as the bearing is on the pulley shaft.....

The only reason's I can possible think of to retain that belt is IF it's driving some other component(s) too. Or, if there's a heavy flywheel on the compressor that's helping balance the whole system.

If niether of those is the case here, and you decide to remove the belt, keep in mind that by not allowing the compressor to cycle may cause more expensive repairs when you finally decide to get the AC system running again. When the compressor sits idle it can freeze up, and the lack of circulating the system might cause problems in the other components. I would leave the electrical connections in place just in case their interlinked with other operating modes, besides AC.

As for removing just the clutch, and replacing the pulley...
:screwy: That may be possible if you wanted to retain that flywheel effect (if that exists) providing the pulley bearing isn't the problem. Other than that, I can't imagine the difference between gutting the clutch and removing the belt, either way the compressor wont turn.

While we're on the subject, IF the only problem is that the clutch wont engage, why mess with it at all?

Am I reading this wrong, and the clutch wont dis-engage? And/Or is the pulley bearing frozen?

The clutch bearing/pulley bearing is making noise and getting louder by the minute and the belt also runs the air pump which is what I am concerned about. Will it cause any problems by not running the air pump? Two ford dealers told me that on the 1989 TC it would make no difference, but others have said that it would give different readings to the PCM (not sure what that is). It seems that the people on this forum have alot of information and I am hoping that I can learn what to do. The cost of replacing the bearing by myself is only $20, but it takes two different pullers (which I do not have, and cannot afford to rent right now). I would really like to just remove the belt until money gets better. Not running the air pump is the only problem, if it is one.
thanks for answering
john adams

The Autozone's around here loan pullers and some other tools for free.

I don't know jack about your Air Pump system.

I've disconnected many airpumps back in the days when they were popular, the only thing that suffered was the emissions test.


There may be a chance of your Cat's getting ruined prematurely, and you may get warning signals on your dash re: engine emissions.

Short term, no problem. Long term, you may be causing some expensive repairs. ie New Cat's, AC Pump, ???

i had a 1990 lincoln tc with the same problem the bearing on the ac compresser is going bad... i took the belt off the ac compressor and the air pump and thought my car actually ran better... the purpose of the air pump is to pump more o2 (oxygen) into the cat converter to help the car meet the emmisions test.. but to answer you question the car will run fine but may have problems passing the next emmisions test without out this belt.
hope this hels
lincolnss

After reading the posts, I have decided to just remove the belt, since I cannot afford to fix it right now. I hope that it does nothing to the way that the car runs. If I ruin the compressor then I will just have to do without air, actually I only used it once last year as it is not that hot here. Thanks for all your advice, I really love my tc, but the lack of pullers prevents me from changing the bearing, also it is 20 degrees and I would have to do it outside, so off with the belt. Thanks again and I will continue to use this forum as I really enjoy the posts.
Lincolnss, thanks, you helped make my decision, did you leave the wire plug on the clutch bearing on or did you unplug it? Did your check engine light come on? Were there any noticable differences after you removed the belt? Thanks in advance for any follow up answers.
John Adams

yes it did cause the check engine light to come on... but no difference that i noticed in driveabilty... i did not bother to disconnect the ac clutch plug as A. i did not know if it was tied into anything else electrically. and B. the compressor with out the belt will not turn so it will not matter either way if the clutch on the compressor is engaged or disengaged ( it will engage when you turn on the front windshield defrost or if you have any of the "ac" modes selected on the temp contol thingy for lack of a better word ...but again with the belt removed it wont make any diffrence) shortly after i got rid of the 90 in trade for my 97 i probably ran it for approx 6 mos give or take in this fashion and did not notice any effects aside from the check engine light coming on, so i cant say what if any.. long term effects there will be.
hope this helps
lincolnss