Subaru AC Not Working (Easy Fix)
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- Опубликовано: 22 июн 2023
- AC cold air stops working on my 2015 Subaru Forester, thankfully it's an easy fix. Same compressor design is found in Subaru Outback and Impreza.
Feeler gauge kit - amzn.to/3CKWySC
Clutch holding tool - amzn.to/3CFqIa5
OTC Variable Pin Spanner Wrench - amzn.to/3pgtC1T
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This is unbelievable. I’m going on the fourth spring/summer with intermittent a/c in my Forester. My daughter hates riding with me. I finally broke down and took it in to have it looked at. They told me they couldn’t reproduce the issue, it could be the expansion valve, and gave me a $555 estimate. I watched this video, spent $29 on feeler gauges and a clutch tool, and I’ve been driving around in AIR CONDITIONING FOR A HALF HOUR! You, sir, are a hero!!!
Can we all just appreciate that this man one hand this operation to hold his phone and show us? Thank you sir, we appreciate the effort it took to film this for us.
Dude look at all these people who you saved hundreds. You're like the car messiah. Thank you so much man.
Add me to the list. Two years not working even after bringing it to a mechanic. Thanks for saving us.
Thank you for saving me hundreds. I did it today. It took about 20 mins and now the car’s ac is running perfect.
Thank you! I completed this fix on my wife's 2016 Subaru Forester yesterday and now the A/C is ice cold and working perfectly.
Just another person checking in to say you likely saved me hundreds today. Thank you for making this video!
Just tried it and it worked, You are the man. I would have never thought of that. Been in upper 100's for over a week now. My daughter is loving it👍👍👍👍👍👍
Same problem here. I realized that the problem was on the clatch because sometimes when I was going down the hill the car was able to start the compressor and the cold air was coming up again. Thank you for this video. I took the car to numerous idiots that only want to take money from you for nothing. I think that I can do this myself. I will keep you posted
Having seen your video, I took my car to a repair shop and requested they do this repair. The A/C tech there said they would not do that. They only replace parts. I said that had to be $300. He said it was way more than I would think. I bought the gauge, some picks, a magnet and the variable pin spinner wrench. Didn't need the picks. The O ring shims came off with the clutch. 10 minutes of work and done. Drove the car 430 miles over the following two days without a break in A/C. Thanks so much!
This short video saved me hundreds - got the tools off Amazon, and 30 minutes of work fixed the problem. Many thanks! (PS. I had three shims in there, and left in the thickest and thinnest, and brought it just to 0.4mm.)
This fixed my ac in 5 minutes!! Thought I had to deal with a new compressor, amazing fix and tutorial! I used the same variable spanner wrench worked fine
An informative video of removing and returning the clutch to the AC compressor at the very least. Good job and thank you.
Thanks for the video! My blower motor was dying, but I was also way outside tolerance. Fixed both today in about an hour. 95 degrees outside today, but my AC is working great now!
Thank you so much, I've never had an easier problem to solve. It's such a simple process.
I rarely comment but just attempted this fix after watching your video and it’s working perfectly! Hats off to you good sir.
Worked perfectly. Thank you! You saved me a bundle. I just gently wedged a screwdriver in to hold the clutch while I removed the bolt. Took 15 minutes tops, start to finish. Took longer to find my feeler gauge.
Just ordered parts! Subaru Impreza limited 2015. Same issue to the tee! Wow. Fingers crossed; will follow up. I sincerely thank you for your expertise and sharing your video…. I’ll be having it on repeat when doing the job lol.
thank you!!! I did this 3 weeks ago and it works great. ICE COLD.
Thank you for sharing this.
Praying for tomorrow 🙏 to fix mine
Many, many thanks to you! Watching your video, 10 minutes work to fix it. I’ve a Forrester xt from 2013 with this problem.This version has 3 rings. Removed the 0.3mm so we’ve a nice 0.4 mm slack. Today driving from Holland to France in 32 Celsius with a nice working AC.👍
This worked on my 2019 Subaru Impreza sedan. It was such an easy fix and took 10 minutes tops.Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
2014 Crosstrek - you are absolutely the best ❤ thanks so much for the video.
I’m going to check this out. My AC would make that noise too when starting it. I’m going to check the Relay first to be sure. The funny thing is though, my AC light blinks or is very dimming m at times but literally no cool air really, I don’t ever hear the AC kick on. Before I would have to hold the button in for the AC to work. I don’t noticed any leaks and has been recharged. Let’s hope this works. Love the video regardless, simple terms and well explained and not to fast either. I hope you got your kids their Ice Cream!! Awesome Dad!!
Wish me luck!
My 2015 Forester is beyond 0.635 at the moment, but that’ll change soon.
Thank you for the amazingly simple fix!
This fix is good. Quick. Somewhat easy. The spanner wrench and the socket is the toughest part but once off....Easy sailing..
Cold air stays in the car now!
The clutch on my 2004 Subaru Forester wouldn't come off. The center bolt was easy enough to take off. But the clutch was royally stuck. Putting 3 screws couldn't push out. You used 2 holes out of 3 to hold the clutch. (I used visegrip to hold the clutch.) Those 3 holes used to have screw threads in older Subaru AC clutches. You could put in 3 bolts to push the clutch out. Since I couldn't take the clutch off, I just put pieces of cardboard under rubber grommets to reduce the gap. On your clutch, there are 3 stubby arms with holes that used to hold grommets. But I see that there are no grommets on yours. It's been a year since that impromptu-fix, it works fine. Except for one time, it wouldn't disengage. But it's been working fine again.
Thanks for letting us know about your older style clutch hack! Every dollar saved in these inflated times helps!
I just started having these issues on a 2014 Forester with right at 70k miles. Intermittent cold air, wet hot air, noisy ac clutch engagement, additional strain on the engine. Checked the relay and it was functional. The ac clutch was out of tolerance similar to the one in your video. Removing the thin spacer brought it back into spec. I was able to use the wrench for my angle grinder to hold the clutch in place. I also cleaned both surfaces before reassembly. It would appear that Subaru intentionally designed the ability to make this repair. AWESOME VIDEO! Saved me a ton of money!!!
You just happened to have the same vehicle as the one he is talking about
@@SncedayoneThat's because when we search for videos we use the year make and model in the search..lol
Angle grinder wrench for the win!
Thank you so much for this video! Quick fix ! I was able to do this i the Auto Zone parking lot and loaned an ac clutch tool. 💪🏾🙏🏾
Took literally 5 minutes to remove the bolt, clutch and shim then re assemble. A/C is now fixed and back in spec.
Mechanic was trying to quote me a new compressor $$$$, Thank you.
Thank you for making this video, definitely saved a lot of people money
Thank you bro, Christian Bros quoted me $3400 to replace the damn thing, this worked, mine was making a terrible sound like you describe, after doing this and putting some coolant in I heard the noise vanish before me, it was a beautiful moment. God bless
That shop is such a rip off!!!
Thank you for this video - I had the exact problem you described on my 2015 forester and this fixed it.
Same problem here
XT 2015 uk
Now I’ve seen this …going to investigate.
Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2014 impreza wagon same exact issue
It’s too bad youtube doesn’t reward people for providing info like this, as opposed to the crap ‘influencers’ get paid to create today.
You have collectively saved people tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) with this one video. And we have no way to reward you for your work.
2015 Impreza, same issue. THANK YOU.
Thank you so much for this video! Saved me a TON of money.
Thank you works great now I can hopefully get another ten years out of it without replacing
I’m going to try this tomorrow fingers crossed. 🤞
My wife's Subaru Forester is having the same issue. I am going to give this a try.
You can check ac clutch function by pushing on a stopped one (with ac on)with a stick, if it spins air gap is worn too large. A common problem with a no parts fix.
This just might be genius - I'll give it a try !!!
Looks like you’re in the Chicagoland area, any recommendations to take my 2013 Forester for A/C diagnostic and service? Bought the car used 5 years ago, a/c worked fine till the end of last summer, but some small repair shops are not eager to work with boxer engines with some I spoke with.
Same car, same problem, same fix, thanks so much.
Nice man. Thanks for the information and sharing
My goodness !!! God bless you man. This is very helpful and very educational. THANK YOU VERY MUCH
You saved me hundreds of euros. THANK YOU!
Thank you for your service.
@TDR Auto Thanks for this video. Need more folks like you helping us out. Do you know if those specs of 0.3 ~ 0.6 are the same on a 2017 Crosstrek?
I have a 2014 Crosstrex, replaced the compressor less than a year ago and my ac is out again… hoping this is the issue
Is this an fa20? With the oil filler in top instead of above the headers? Any info would help I have 2016 impreza
Thank you so much for this video!
Wow, finally someone figured it out., good job and thank you! Has your fix since this video held up fine in your forester or have you had to tune it or do any additional fixes?
Almost two years ago, I brought my new-to-me 2015 Forester (mines the 2.0xt) into my mechanic with the EXACT same issue, how you described it was exactly I described it to them, they ended up having my car for about 4 weeks off an on trying to diagnose, luckily (I guess) my car was under a used car warranty I purchased when I got the vehicle, so they ended up replacing essentially the whole system, it still put me out around $600 bucks with my deductible and such. Fast forward to this week and my car is at it again with this same issue, and I have only put maybe 9K miles on it since then, and even after they did the replacement I never had nice cold consistent air on extemely hot days. Your video wasn't around back then, and I couldn't find ANYONE with the exact same issue online, but now that I have found this, I have hope and will definitely be trying this. Thanks again.
hi, friend! I have a 2011 Forester and it was impossible for me to remove the AC clutch. Should a lot of pressure be used to remove it? Should I keep my battery disconnected? greetings and thanks (from Chile)
To address your question regarding a comparison to the reliability of the AC system on older Hondas to that of contemporary Subarus, my experience owning and maintaining my 1981 Honda Accord LX (run to 250,000 miles) and 1988 Honda Accord LX (run to over 350,000 miles), I never touched anything associated with those two vehicles. In my opinion, it is just the "reduction engineering" being done to most mechanical systems (and not just that of automobiles) today which results in a higher failure rate.
I have a 2018 Forester. Had I seen this video a few minutes ago I might have saved $300. Now that the compressor is replaced with a new one, cooling is still intermittent. Will cleaning the A/C system solve the issue? It has a new cabin filter already but I suspect it has not been cleaned for a few years (maybe since it was new?)
im going to give this a try I'm hoping this is the problem since my pressures are good
Hey TDR! Thank you for sharing this video. If you still have the car can you give us an update on if this fix fully solved your AC issues over the past year? I am running into the exact same issue on my 2010 Subaru Forester
I may just have to get a Subaru due to how incredibly accessible the A/C compressor is. As opposed to every other car brand on the market.
A very big thank you!!! to you! So grateful!!!
I got the needed tools and made this fix today - the air is blowing steady cold, joy! Thank you again! My 2016 Forester had 3 shims - one fat and two very thin; removed one thin shim, hand tightened the AC clutch back on with the feeler gauge dragging at .610 (but upon tightening the AC clutch with socket wrench and AC clutch wrench, the feeler gauge .610 would no longer fit the gap, but rather the .584 fit the gap with drag. I hope that is ok. God reward you very much!!!
I might just have the exact same issue with my 08 impreza.. Waiting for the clutch holding tool to arrive so I can fix mine.
How's your AC holding up tho? Hope this is a long lasting fix!
I have a 2014 Crosstrek that I just bought recently. A/C had weak cooling back in May, so I took it to a place to check the coolant levels, which were low, so they got filled then. At that point the cooling power was fine. We get into June and some of these hotter days, A/C works fine, but I notice that sometimes near the end of 10-15 minute trips, the A/C kind of dies and starts blowing outside air in uncooled. Not sure what to do, brother-in-law suggests that it could mean the coolant is overpressurized. I initially tried to take it back to the place that filled the coolant to have them check the pressure, but the A/C tech wasn't there and they couldn't do it.
I started looking for videos on if there was anything I could do myself to check the pressure, but somehow I ran into this video instead. It seemed to be exactly the issue I was having. I checked the gap of the clutch plate at rest and found it to be wider than 0.6mm, so I rented a clutch holding tool from AutoZone and we proceeded to take the plate off, I had the same thin and thick shim washers, so we put the thick shim back in, put the thing back together and took it for a 25 minute test drive with the A/C blasting and it worked fine the whole time.
Which was just in time, because I was just about to have about 4 hours of driving ahead of me in the summer heat and I really didn't want my A/C turning off every 10-15 minutes. Luckily for me, the fix held up throughout the whole trip, A/C had no problems at all now that the clutch plate back in spec.
So huge thanks for this video and how detailed you were in showing the process!
would this work for a 2020 subaru crosstrek?
Had also an intermittent working AC, checked the clutch gap, and it was 0,7mm. I changed it to 0,35. At first it looked if the problem was solved, but it turned out it was not. Then I replaced the AC relay with the Horn relay (these are the same) and guess, now the AC works. So the AC relay was bad, it worked but not always, that made it confusing.
Still on the ridiculously cheap fix list
My AC compressors out too, but I’m wondering if it’ll work on a 2015 Honda Odyssey EXL
Its sad to think about how many customers got sold new a/c compressors because of lazy mechanics.
Yeah they quoted me over a $1000, I will be trying this soon! 🤞
Greedy*
Correct. Greedy.
2016 Subaru Crosstrek, AC had the same noise and took power away, just as yours did for the last 2 or 3 years. Now the AC compressor doesn't even engage, although the light's on. Hopefully this is the issue and I can remedy it. Might be a combo of this and in need of a recharge
I have a 2017 crosstrek that started making noise and today it wouldn’t engage, how did yours turn out?
What number on the condensor is the recall number
I am having the exact same issues as of recently with my Forester and I have read so many different things regarding what my problem could be and this must be it. I have searched for leaks and nothing. When I’m driving and it’s gets hot out, 80-90’ or so, I notice my A/C cut out and it spits in warm humid air that feels so gross… then I’ll accelerate and it begins to kick back on. I have a feeling that the clutch isn’t engaging properly and this might just be my one way tix to fixing an otherwise very pricey problem! Fingers crossed! Thanks for the video 🤙
what to donif air isn’t coming thru vents at all
@@prockalldayClogged CABIN AIR FILTER
@@et4615 i already took tht out
I have the same problem with my 2015 forester. It works for about 15 or 20 minutes and then it stops. I am happy to see that I am not alone having the same problem. If I understood correctly it is a .3 mm gauge that is the correct gap? I will try this out and let you know.
i wish i could like the video twice!
Nice video! So I have a question! So on my 2014 Subaru forester clutch doesn’t go on when I put the ac on but I notice that doesn’t have any gas that could be a reason for the compressor not working?
For sure, if there is no pressure the PCM will not trigger the clutch.
Thank you so much! I will give it a shot!
great vidio as far as ac fix goes but i noticed the oil filter is inverted as to most oil filter orientation and you cannot pre- fill the filter as one would normally do during oil/filter change. which means there's a gap in oil delivery until the filter catches up.
It is an interesting design, having oil filter right on top next to the oil filler. Makes it for the easiest oil changes ever. These cars do start up little rough, not sure if this affects the longevity of the engine. My Forester now has over 90000 miles and I only replaced brakes and rear wheel bearings in it's life so far, which compared to any other manufacture is still outstanding.
The filters still have an anti-drainback valve that keeps the oil filter primed with engine oil. And when you do an oil change you floor the accelerator while cranking the engine and that primes the filter after the installation.
@@villadelrefugio still say it's an back asswards design. i like new oil in my new filter before initial start up. call me old school.
Do you have a torque spec for that center bolt? I can't find it anywhere, even on ProDemand
6mm bolts (10mm head), usually require only around 8 -12 NM
I know this video is old but what tool was that at ? the measurement.
Too bad my 2015 outback doesn’t have that nice easy 10mm bolt to hold the clutch on. Tested the gap and I can get the .07 gauge in there.
My 2020 Subaru Wrx isn’t blowing cold air would this work on it as well!? Someone please help
I am having this chemical smell from my 2017 forester. AC is cold though and verified refrigerant charge is full.
I thought the heater core could be leaking coolant and have that bypassed. The smell seems lesser but it’s still there. Any idea?
What if after removing one of the shims, you still get 0.7?
Hello, please explain, it turns out you changed the washer gasket to a thicker one, I don’t understand English well.
Hi, I took 2 spacers/washers out and only put 1 spacer back in.
Whats the name of the tool you used to dig in the shims
O-ring remover is what I found them under
I had same issue . But I change compressor radiator hoses . Valve . 6 times change compressor after 2 day's compressor not cooling also clutch change but still not cooling
Sounds like it might be loosing refrigerant, Were the AC pressures checked?
What’s the torque spec for the bolt?? Thanks 🙏🏽
From my experience as a tech I'm guessing 14-18 pounds. It's a light load pulley and usually made with aluminum parts. Basically bottom it down and snug it up. No gorilla hands.
Howdy. I have the same exact problem as you described. Air works then stops working, turn off for 5 min, turn back on and works. Gap is .7, took out small washer but now gap too thin. Advice? Pressure great.
I would try finding a thinner washer either at hardware store or at the dealer.
Did you have any luck finding a different shim? I’m having a similar issue: took out the thin washer and decreased the gap, but I’m still at 0.61+. The ac definitely gets colder and stays on longer but still gets warm after about 20 minutes
You saved people, just from these comments, a collective $70k easily, if not double.
What size are the shims and where would I get them? I imagine an auto part store
I need to know this too
how many km shown on your odometer?
I believe I had around 60000 miles so close to 100000 km at that time
you make it look so easy!
Bro explained my problem down to the noise 😭
Is that 0.3 mm. Or inches Thanks
0.3mm -0.6mm are the specs. 0.3" would be over 7mm .
@@TDRAuto thank you.. ya they fit so my issue may be something else? Mine comes in and spins intermittently
So it your bearing
Lol is that someone on the intercom saying “bruh”
We really dislike our 2014 Forrester since we bought it new! Always fixing something, A/C, ww wiper line fittings, wheel bearings, CV axel stuff.... On and on. Never had these problems with our Hondas or even a 2010 chrysler 300 for a dozen years. Toyota or Honda Period!
Sorry to hear that, I loved my Forester, in the 5 years I owned it I only had to replace the rear wheel bearings, brakes and fix that AC
Big Channel Locks around the circle cover ... Then looser leftry
To free clutch wheel from compressor?
@@derricklee6928 oh yeah.. But the system needs the correct freon pressure in order to work right. That needs to be done first and checked by a mechanic
ok i’ll check pressure and then try again see if comes off with easy appreciate that info
@@derricklee6928 Yeah if the system is not pressurized right none of it will work correctly... I wish I would have read it that before I took it apart 👍
@@derricklee6928 oh yeah you can wash the condenser in the front of the car It's full of bugs and dust and little rocks in that sucks in the air initially
I'm convinced these chinese made ac compressors have a built in planned obsolesence because HOW are all these vehicle brands having the same issue with the ac compressors. I have a Volvo with this exact issue. and we say put a ziptie on it in 3 places to gap it back to spec
Why didnt you add or remove any shims? You just put the same shim back in there
I removed 2 shims and only put back 1
@@TDRAuto outstanding my man. Best of all videos I've watched on this repair.
Fake the ac clutch doesn't come right off
what in the world is a "shim"?? is it the same as a washer? spacer? is it made out of a special metal?
shim would be same as spacer, basically thin washer. I think it's made out of steel, but can't tell you the exact composition. 😉