ludestarbai

Hey everyone.

Tonight I noticed my car knocking from what seems to be the AC compressor. sound only comes on when the AC comes on. Its not the fan, beacuse I unpluged the power to the fan temporarily so that it wouldn't spin to see if the noise would continue.

The car was updated to the new refridgerant in 97 by the previous owner.

Anyone know what it costs to look get this thing looked at? The compressor doesn't look like it too hard to get to from the bottom. but anyone have any experience with either compressors or work on their ACs?

on a side note, the car blows ice cold air....

any thoughts?

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G_Loc

Could be the bearing in the pulley. With the car running and A/C off, watch the pulley and see if there is any noticeable wobble. Turn the A/C on and then check again. If the pulley wobbles, then the bearing is on its way out. Get it checked out ASAP. You might be lucky and only the bearing will need to be replaced. Worst case, the compressor will need to be rebuilt or replaced.

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ludestarbai

My assumption would be the same amount of hours in labor to do either of those two things... but I could be wrong...

any idea how many hours it would take to do a job like this? the compressor doesn't seem very difficult to get to at all...

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G_Loc

Well IF its the bearing, NAPA lists a clutch / coil /pulley combo for $199. Not sure if that includes the bearing. Check the pulley for wobble first. If it doesn't visibly wobble with the engine running, pull off the accessory belt and see if there is any play in the pulley.

The compressor isn't that hard to remove, just keep in mind that you will need to take it to a shop to have the system drained and then refilled. Also, you will need to replace the dryer, which if memory serves me right is somewhere behind the bumper.

If you don't want to deal with repairing it right away, might as well buy a shorter belt and bypass it completely. Its not too warm down here yet

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ludestarbai

Well for right now, the thing still blows ice cold. and the noise isn't rediculiously loud its just kinda annoying. with the music up i dont even notice it so I'll probably just leave it alone for now.

When I do decide to get it looked at though I think i'll take it to get it diagnosed first and see where I'm at after the dust settles there. If its a matter of replacing the compressor I see them on ebay for about 160 ish and will probably go that route and attempt to do it myself.


On another note, I've had a bad oil leak for a while that the dealer has been trying to fix. I think they may have finally got it this last time, I picked the car up yesterday and thats when the noise started.

Is it possible that they sprayed degreaser some place they weren't supposed to and now that belt or area needs some lubrication?

The only thing that leads me to belive that thats probably not the case is that the nose only starts when you turn on the AC. And I'm positive its not the Fan.

Any ideas?

I was thinking about spraying some like wd40 on the **** but I'm not sure if theres any adverse effects to that... Dont wanna be inhaling that crap in the car for weeks...

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