Haven't been here in awhile but I still check in from time to time. Recently my A/C just stopped working and it began making a funny clanking noise, comming from the compressor. Finding out that the compressor is about $650 list (able to get $300 my cost working at a garage) was not fun. Considering its winter and I wont be using my A/C for awhile I decided not to fix it and was hoping that noise would just stop when something in the compressor broke and it would end. Well it didn't work that way. About 2-3 days ago it sounded like grinding brakes from the compressor which told me that something was even more wrong, I imagine the clutch plates were touching and rubbing and now they were just starting to grind. So needless to say I needed to bypass the compressor by changing the belt.

This was a super easy fix once we figured out the proper belt size. It was a 360K6 I believe (length 360 and 6 tooth). Routed the belt the same way bypassing the A/C compressor and no more problems.

Have no idea if this has ever been done or mentioned but I thought I would throw this info up for anyone else that may need it or is having similar problems.

 

You don't use your defroster during winter?

 

the defroster is based on the A/C compressor?!

 

Good point, but it still works, I use the same set-up during winter.

 

Yes. The A/C system removes the moisture from the air to prevent your windshield from fogging over.

YOu will notice the A/C light on when in defrost mode, well at least in mine I do.

 

well my main question now is, will I be bale to defrost my windows int he even i need to or not? having the AC light on wont bother me nearly as much.

 

Normally when the AC is not selected ON the compressor clutch is de-energized and the compressor drive pulley is not mechanically connected to the compressor shaft. The drive belt is rotating the pulley but the pulley is effectively "freewheeling" on it's two bearings. This will also occur when "the system" won't allow the compressor to operate to protect the compressor. Are you sure that the compressor pulley bearing(s) aren't the problem here?

 

i honestly couldn't tell you. the pulley itself was spinning and for about 1-2 months there was a clanking comming from int he compressor. about 3 days ago it started making that noise which sounded to me like grinding and the clutch plates were the only thing i could come up with, assuming that they were stuck engaged, i did get horrible gas mileage this week. today i finally decided something needed to be done because it made a HORRIBLE smell, and when i popped my hood i could see smoke(not alot) comming from the compressor. the main tech said it was probably oil comming from the compressor because it had been over worked for so long and that was the burning smell and smoke.

 

Yikes, definitely sounds like some kind of catastrophic failure of the compressor itself and like you've suggested......this may have effectively "fused" the compressor shaft to the pulley. Mine just won't kick the compressor on (probably loss of refrigerant), and it was noisy for awhile, but at least the compressor pulley is still intact etc.

 

ya, at first we thought the pulley was frozen and it was the belt slipping across the pulley causing the smoke, but it turned out the pulley was in fact spinning freely. The noise was horrible and loud. I was audible outside my car and very loud inside, i'm kinda guessing because it was the A/C system and it was circulating through the vents.

driven it a few times since and the noise is 100% gone so all i have to do is hope my defogger works the next time i need to use it.

I'm not exactly sure what caused this problem either. last summer my A/C went out and all it took was a refill bottle to get it back up and running, but it wasn't as cold as it used to be. So while i was driving with the A/C on it just all of a sudden get warmer and I could smell damp air(it was raining outside). I figured i ran out of refridgerant and tried to fill again and when i did that built in gauge was in the danger zone. So we we not able to fill it and i just left it as is from then till now.