Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting AC Rattle

OK now I have a new problem. I feel like my car is falling apart. When my car sits at idle I can hear a terrible rattle from the front of the motor. I popped the hood and found it coming from the front of the AC compressor. There is a plate or something on the front of the pully that slowly spins and vibrates as it spins. It does not spin as fast as the pully, it just kind of rattles its way around as the car runs. It is real annoying. Also I can hear a loud click from the same area when I am driving and have the blower on in the car, but not the AC. Any Ideas on what to do. Also How hard is it to replace an oil pan gasket and front seal mine are leaking like crazy and ive been told about $500 to do both. By the way I have a 96 GL ATX 2.5 with 101K miles.

It sounds like the AC clutch is about to fall apart. This is what happened with my mom's 97 Ford Escort (which uses nearly the same compressor as the 96 Ford Contour).

If you look closely at that plate in front of the compressor, there are 3 plastic rivets which hold it on. On my mom's car, those somehow broke in a way which caused the compressor clutch to lock completely up, resulting in the serpentine belt breaking (it's a 5-speed--if it had been an automatic, the engine probably would have stalled instead of the belt breaking).

The AC clutch can apparently be replaced separately from the compressor, but it had damaged the input shaft of the compressor so the whole compressor had to be replaced (with a $75 wrecking yard unit--new compressors are way too expensive).

How hard is it to replace the AC clutch On these cars, or is it something I need to take the car in for?