A/C comp howls

Well, since yesterday, my air conditioning compressor started howling a bit....sort of like a sick cow. I took the belt off today to check the compressor. The pully spins freely, and I can rotate the clutch by hand.

I have successfully traced the source of the noise to the air cond. Also, it goes away when the clutch locks up (when the A/C is on).

Any words of advice? Does it sound like the clutch is on its way out, or ??

Sounds like the compressor is going out.

Here is the howling it is making. A/C was off for the video.

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b210/bbugaski/Automotive/?action=view&current=AC.flv

Sure sounds like a bearing........mind you I have never heard a compressor bearing (mine have all locked up ). Make sure its not the alternator bearing you are hearing!!! Hate to see you trash the compressor and then find it was the alternator!!!

Good Luck!

We're gonna take a better look tomorrow. I replaced the Alt in August so I kinda doubt it, but ya never know. The AC vibes a little bit even if its off. I find this disturbing based on the fact that the pully spins freely if the belt is off. But I wasn't spinning it at 750rpm minimum, either.

hook a drill up to the pully and see what happens.

How? The only way I could see would be to engage the AC clutch and use the nut on the front?

Or is there another way I'm not seeing.

I want to throw this out to the readers, but after I thought about it for a minute I came up with this:

If this noise is coming from the compressor.......only when its clutch is not engaged, your compressor could be fine......the bad bearing would be in the pulley itself. Not sure what year model he has, and not had a lot of luck with Sandon compressors in general , but there should be internal bearings for the compressor and a bearing in the clutch/coil/pulley combo.

If I am thinking correctly, you might only have to change the bearing in the pulley, but I would change the clutch and coil as well........heck you have to remove them, why not........other then cost!!!

I even looked on a online parts place and sure enough, they sell the clutch bearing separately.

Any special tools necessary, etc? Evacuate system or no?

no you shouldn't its just like replacing a pulley.

I don't think you would need any special tools, and for sure you don't have to lose your charge on your AC!!

I have done a bunch of Fords and if they are similar, you just remove a nut on the front face, remove the grill looking thing, then look for a snap ring (Ford has them, don't know on your application) then take two long handle screwdrivers and with one on each side, gently work the pulley off by prying. Of course all the caveats apply......

On my Ford F-250, it took about 30 minutes to replace everything.

Note, there may be "spacers" between the "grill" looking thing and the pulley as that is what is magnetically locked in by the clutch when you turn the AC on, they will look like tiny washers. If you have the time to wait, I have a Sandon compressor at work....locked up internally with a good pulley, that I could take down to make sure I didn't miss anything. Again, don't know your year or compressor brand......but its a thought.

I just pulled an a/c compressor out of a 96 XJ for $52.00. Drained the oil and filled her back up with 7 3/4 ounces of oil.

Installed, and the whine is gone. I had both compressors on the ground. Spun the old one's pully as fast as I could and you could hear some tiny rubbing......the new one seemed to spin smoother overall. Well it's not new, but ya know what I'm saying.

Rebuilt was still $300.00 so I opted for the Pick-N-Pull approach along with new orings for the high/low side connections on the compressor itself.