Problem with engine vibration on Intrepid...

Cant explain why your compressor quit, but if you jumped it as you say you did, I would guess the coil is bad. Your intermittent vibration could be a water pump/idler pulley getting ready to take a dump or one of your radiator fan motors/blades are getting ready to go out. Depending on how mechanically inclined you are......it is a relatively easy job to do, both a/c coil and water pump Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Yes, I've got tools and everything, I just always need a little help in the troubleshooting department. :) How do you replace the coil, is it external to the compressor or do I need to change the clutch while I'm there?

Also, is there a convenient way to cycle the fans on and off to see if they are causing the vibrations? Also, if the water pump was bad, wouldn't the problem stick around if I turned the car off and back on again? It seems to me like it would be happening all the time and at approximately the same RPM, which it's not.

Jeff

I find the simple expedient of a jumper wire with flat spade connectors on each end inserted in the appropriate sockets of the fan relay (low speed or high speed) works great :-)

I store my little jumper wire in an unused relay socket in my wife's car, and its served me well both as a diagnostic tool whenever I suspect ANY of the relays of being bad.

Just to be clear - you connected one wire from ground (which could be the negative jump post) to one terminal of the compressor, and another wire from the positive jump post to the other terminal of the compressor? I think that's probably what you were saying - I just wanted to make sure.

RE: vibration: How long since plugs were replaced? Checked the battery voltage (positive jump post) with the engine running to see if alt. is charging? Ever cleaned the throttle body? Could be fan motor bearings going out as others suggested.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Well technically all you have to do is pop off the relay cover and push the contact to activate it

Thanks everyone for the replies...

I went out last night and tried testing out the fan. I ran the engine until it was waaay too hot and guess what, the fan never came on. I checked the fuse and it was blown, so I moved another good one in the test it. The fan still didn't come on. Unfortunately, it was getting late and I wasn't able to get the relay tested, but that's my next step. It makes more and more sense that the fan was/is trashed since the radiator was shaking violently. It just didn't occur to me to check it since I guess it was running all the time (This is Texas, and it's hot. :)

The plugs haven't been changed since I've owned the car (32k to 94k now) so I'm going to change those out soon. I haven't cleaned the throttle body, but will look at giving that a go over too since I'm sure it's probably dirty.

Is it really best to go with a complete reman compressor? I would have to have the system evacuated and all that stuff, plus the cost of the whole compressor is pretty high. When the system was working, it was blowing good cold air, and I also put dye in the system. I took my blacklight out and looked for leaks and I couldn't find any. The compressor didn't seem to be making noises internally. I checked the relay for it, by the way, and it seemed to be okay (swapped another one for it). Still didn't cycle. (And yes, I connected a complete DC circuit to the compressor connector to test it the other day, and it didn't engage the clutch, or even click).

I'm going to play with it some more. :)

They must've changed relay vendors if you can do that- the relays in wife's 93 have a bead of glue holding the cover on them and sealing out moisture.

I've forgotten which YEAR LH car this is, but if its a first-generation its very likely that the plug WIRES need replacement as much or more than the plugs.

I'm with you on that one- a clutch coil is a lot easier job than needlessly replacing a whole compressor.

One of the fan motors is locking up and drawing too much current. Here's a little trick on the LH cars: If the passenger side fan is the one that is the problem (i.e., the one blowing the fuse), you can disconnect it electrically at a connector on the fan assembly. Your engine will cool adequately on just the one (driver's side) fan. This will keep the fuse from blowing and buy you some time until you can get a new fan assembly and install it. Just watch your temp gage, and minimize use of the a.c. - I limped along fine on mine on one fan - even using the a.c. as normal - for quite a while with no problem. With only one fan running, the temp. gage stayed where it normally does with both fans working.

**HOWEVER** - if the driver's side fan is the bad one, then you can't just disconnect that fan - the connector that suppplies that one supplies both.

Anyway - just a little trick from the 300M Club that might help you out.

**ALSO** - You can get just the one fan motor to replace the bad one from the DC dealer. **BUT** you should expect the presently working one to fail not too far down the road (the fan motors have a finite life). Any savings from only having to buy the one motor will be eaten up by the labor of having to do the same work all over again (plus you will avoid the additional labor of removing the one motor from the assembly.

There is a police version of the fan assembly available from the dealer

- and, believe it or not, it sells for less than the regular version.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')