Blown A/C fuse

[nameskreen]

I have a 97 Mountaineer 5.0. My son in law borrowed it last week. He noticed the a/c stopped working and the check gauge light was on and the temp gauge almost on H. I found the radiator leaking and replaced it yesterday. Now the a/c fuse keeps blowing. If I unplug the compressor it doesn't blow. I can turn the compressor by hand, so it's not siezed. I read online some vehicles have a diode in the wiring harness, but I don't know if that's my problem. I would appreciate any help. Thanks

 

[J_C]

With an intact fuse, does the A/C compressor clutch work to cycle it on? The diode is there to prevent a large voltage spike on the power feed to the clutch when it cycles OFF. You could check the diode using a multimeter in diode check mode, on the clutch ground wire and the clutch power wire before it gets to the diode (at A/C relay pin 5), or just unplug the diode and test it directly with a multimeter. I assume it's in the under-hood power dist. box on a 5.0L ??

However with it not blowing the fuse when you disconnect it from the clutch, this should eliminate the diode being shorted and so the odds are your clutch coil is shorting out and needs replaced.

The one other thing I can think of is if the power lead to the clutch is damaged and shorting out against the engine or body and by unplugging it you are shifting its position so it doesn't short out. It seems plausible but far less likely than a bad clutch.

 

[nameskreen]

Thanks. I guess I'll see if I can switch out the coil