Compressor replacement (Opel Frontera B)

Warnings:

• When handling liquid refrigerant, take special care to avoid contact with your skin and especially your eyes. Always wear safety glasses when servicing the air conditioning system. Also keep a bottle of pure, sterile mineral oil on hand. If liquid refrigerant gets into your eyes, rinse them immediately with a few drops of mineral oil. Oil quickly absorbs R-134a refrigerant. Then rinse eyes with plenty of cold water.
• When disconnecting air conditioning system components, immediately close the connections with appropriate caps to prevent moisture from entering the system.

Removal

Disconnect the cable from the negative battery terminal.

Disconnect the connector from the engine air temperature sensor.

At a specialized station, discharge the refrigerant from the air conditioning system.

Remove the bolts and air cleaner cover and air intake duct.

Loosen and remove the air conditioning compressor drive belt (see the relevant chapter).

Disconnect the connector from the compressor electromagnetic clutch.

Remove the bolts, disconnect the air conditioning pipes from the compressor and remove the pipe sealing rings.

Remove the bolts and remove the air conditioning compressor from the bracket.

Installation

Notes:

• The new compressor is filled with 150cc of compressor oil and nitrogen gas, so release the nitrogen slowly from the suction side, while not allowing the compressor oil to leak out. Turn the compressor shaft manually several times until the compressor oil is evenly distributed across the rotor.
• When replacing other components, maintain the balance of compressor oil in the air conditioning system.

Install the compressor on the bracket and secure with bolts, tightening them to a torque of 22 Nm.

Install new O-rings on the air conditioning pipes and lubricate them with compressor oil. Connect the air conditioning pipes to the compressor and secure with bolts, tightening them to a torque of 15 N·m.

Connect the connector to the compressor electromagnetic clutch.

Install the air conditioning compressor drive belt (see the relevant chapter).

Install the air cleaner cover and air intake duct and secure them with bolts.

At a specialized station, charge the refrigerant into the air conditioning system.

Connect the connector to the engine air temperature sensor.

Connect the cable to the negative terminal of the battery.