ntheath

Hey all,

So I replaced my AC compressor, had a shop recharge it and confirmed it works and I thought all was well. But, now the AC system growls and whines at me when I turn it on. Funny thing is that it usually only happens at the start, and after a few minutes the AC blows real cold and the noise goes away. But, sometimes if I start from off to high RPM (like getting the heck out of work at the end of the day) the noise will persist and sounds downright loud!

The only thing that was different when I installed the new AC compressor was the belt autozone sold me was slightly larger than the old one. Could this cause this noise? It seems to only happen at the beginning, but if I don't give it time to work things out it will stay pissed at me.

Any ideas?

thanks,
nick

73shark

Could be some liquid refrigerant slugging the compressor on startup.

ntheath

OK, what might cause that? The shop put in a total of 3 lbs. of 134A. I agree, kinda sounds like the compressor has more resistance on startup. I had a buddy start the motor and rev it last night while I watched the compressor clutch. I noticed that when it starts to make the noise the clutch disengages and then waits a few seconds and tries again. Maybe this is the computer sensing no compression due to the liquid and then trying again?

This morning, I let it sit at idle for a minute or so then gave some gas. Only one noise during idle after that it blew ice cold with no noise the whole way to work.

nick

73shark

ZX made mention of this phenomenon several years ago. Something about the liquid settling out in the compressor. Try searching on compressor noise or slugging.

ntheath

Sounds good. I'll do some searching!