2016 Honda Fit A/C clutch replacement + more

Rollei 35 + Fomapan 100 in Rodinal

In early August, Tish came home from grocery shopping with a hot head. Literally!😄 It was an absolutely sweltering summer afternoon and the A/C in our 10-year-old Honda Fit GK5 stopped cooling on her drive home.😔

Hmm...there was enough refrigerant according to this A/C pressure gauge.

My brother, who replaced the front brake pads on this car during his last visit, sent me this diagram for more troubleshooting tips. The A/C fuse, relay, and pressure sensor were all good!

I took the car to a local shop for an estimate. $1500 was way over our budget! Besides, I've owned Japanese cars since the 80s, drove them over 100,000 miles, and never experienced a dead Nippondenso or Sanden A/C compressor. I suspected the problem was simpler...🤔

I just changed the CVT transmission fluid on this car this past spring. Whenever possible, I've been DIY'ing maintenance on our cars to save hard earned $$$s. After restoring a classic Austin Mini, I can sort of wrench my way around cars.

I lifted the car up on Harbor Freight ramps and chocked the rear wheels for safety.

For easier access to the A/C compressor, I removed the front bottom shield, then brought the car down. 

The passenger side front wheel had to be removed to further facilitate access to the A/C compressor. So I lifted the car and installed a jack stand support under the sub-chassis, an ABSOLUTE MUST for SAFETY!

 

With the plastic fender shroud removed, I got a full view of the A/C compressor clutch. As I suspected, it wasn't spinning when the A/C was turned on. I also noticed cracks in the serpentine belt, which I also had to replace.

REFERENCE VIDEOS

These YouTube videos were very helpful and provide a lot more details than I could offer. 

I highly recommend watching and studying all these videos carefully before attempting the repair.

Consider my pictures and notes below as mere supplements!

REPLACEMENT PARTS

A/C compressor clutch kit = $60 from A-Premium

It would've been nicer to use an OEM Honda A/C clutch kit but at over $400, that was also more than what I was willing to spend. As you'll see, I had no problems fitting this generic clutch kit on the original A/C compressor. The only catch was the slightly larger (by 10mm) diameter of the A-Premium clutch pulley compensated by the longer belt below. 

A slightly longer serpentine belt, $25 from AutoZone!

ESSENTIAL TOOLS

This Channel Lock retaining ring pliers from Lowes was essential for getting the job done right! I initially tried a cheap Harbor Freight clone, but that was a waste of $$s, time, and energy. 

Throughout the whole process, I used PB Blaster liberally!

figure 1

I used this Harbor Freight oil filter wrench to hold the front rotor of the A/C clutch in place while loosening the 10mm bolt at the center.

Then, I carefully pried off the front rotor. I made sure I kept all the spacers/washers that set the proper clearance between the front rotor and the clutch pulley, which will be discussed further below.

This retaining ring was relatively easy to remove. I tried to spin the pulley but it was very tight and I could feel rough spots in the bearing + rubbing.

Since the shaft had been soaking in PB Blaster, it didn't take much coaxing or tapping from a long screwdriver + rubber mallet to remove the pulley.

Removing the retaining ring from the rusty field coil was the toughest part of the job. It was an exercise in patience and resolve. The Channel Lock pliers was indispensable for this job! Also, note the ground connection screwed into the A/C compressor body. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough space above the screw for any type of screwdriver. So I had to cut the wire as close to the base of the field coil so I'd have enough leeway for soldering connections later.

This was the main reason why the A/C wasn't cooling. The A/C clutch wouldn't engage the compressor because the field coil was dead = open circuit!

I cleaned the A/C compressor shaft thoroughly. Now it was ready for the A/C clutch kit. While I was there, I also checked for noisy bearings in the alternator, tensioner and water pump pulleys. Fortunately, they all spun smoothly!

I soldered the two ground wires together and insulated the joint using heat shrink + heat resistant tubing. Then I routed them safely away from the pulleys. I made sure that the notch from the field coil matched the one on the A/C compressor body. Just for good measure, I covered the mating metal surface of the field coil as well as the A/C compressor with Lithium grease prior to mounting the retaining ring.

The new field coil is fitted snugly using the new retaining ring that came with the kit. If the retaining ring is fitted properly, the field coil should be seated with absolutely no play in any direction.

12V supply connection

Location of the 12V supply in the engine bay

The brand new pulley is held in place by a fresh retaining ring. All these parts were supplied with the A-Premium A/C compressor clutch kit pictured above. 

New A/C compressor clutch fitted with a brand new 440K6 serpentine belt 

Honda specifies a clearance range between 0.35mm - 0.65mm. The washers that came with the A/C clutch kit didn't provide enough clearance. So I reinstalled the three spacers I removed from the original A/C clutch. I tightened the 10mm center bolt while immobilizing the front rotor with an oil filter wrench just like in figure 1.

So far, so good!

Fuel Gauge Cluster Repair

Over a year ago, this car also had an issue with the fuel gauge/odometer cluster, which is a common failure in the GK5 according to the Honda Fit Forum.

 

The video above was a great help in getting the instrument cluster out without damaging the plastic parts of the dashboard.

Carefully removing the instrument cluster was the toughest part of this job.

The audio test bench is also useful for car repair.😊

Highlighted in red are the solder joints that have developed micro cracks, causing intermittent connectivity, especially during moments of drastic changes in temperature. After judicious reflowing of solder at those joints, we could rely on the fuel gauge and odometer cluster again.

Now I can focus on building the stereo version of my WE-inspired PP amp project. 😉

Happy Motoring!