I decided to pull apart the clutch on my a/c pulley before buying a new compressor to see if I could save some money. No pics since I always forget to take pics, but I discovered some interesting things. First, someone has definitely pulled this apart before (or tried to). My first indication was that there was one shim remaining behind the clutch (I think stock there's 4?). My next indication was bits of broken snap ring pliers stuck in the first snap ring. I was able to clean it all out and get it fully apart. The compressor itself seems good since the shaft spins smooth. The bearing on the pulley was totally fucked and made all sorts of lovely grindy noises when I spun it off the shaft. The clutch didn't look great either, but probably functioned fine... either way I ordered a replacement clutch kit. Figure I can save myself the cost of recharging the system by not replacing the whole a/c compressor. Hopefully this cures my issue so I can get back to driving it!
