ac compressor smoking??????

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:12 pm

Ok guys, I drove to the local carquest for some spark plugs and on the way home I smell smoke. I pop the hood and start looking for the sorce(sp), smoke, flames, belts rubbing the usual and i see smoke comming from my ac compressor. When I turn on the ac or the defroster it starts to smoke just to the right of the belt, where the wheel attaches to the compressor. Now when I turn them off the smoke goes away, so I assume I need to replace the compressor. So can I just remove the whole ac system? I did this on my first gen, but there is a small iddler pully so im thinking I cant just remove the compressor and just get a smaller belt? also will cause any dammage if i drive the car with the ac/defrost off.

Post by **racer12306** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:21 pm

how many miles are on your car. if you are still under the 36000 mile bumper to bumper warrenty (even if you are a little over) then take it to a dealer if you want to get it fixed and see what they can do about it. an a/c compressor should not die in that short of a time imo.

never heard of a compressor smoking, thats a new one. i wouldnt think it would cause any more damage than what is already done to the compressor.

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:34 pm

i got just over 50,000 miles on the car.

Post by **racer12306** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:49 pm

hmmm, that might be a tad late.

if you are going to do it you would want to replace/clean any filter thats in there and be ready to do an accumulator and such in case any pieces went through the system and damaged other stuff.

hopefully someone with a little more experience will chime it to validate what i said or say im full of shit and dont know what im talking about

lilolneon · Post by **lilolneon** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:09 pm

I say take it to the dealership and have them look at it and evaluate the problem. Then from there decide what you want to do.

kirktalife · Post by **kirktalife** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:23 pm

mine went on my car and it was covered under warranty, and i am sure glad it was cuz it cost almost 2000 bux to replace it, good thing i got an extended warranty, got my moneys worth

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:03 am

4668249AD - PS belt w/o AC - $9 msrp
When I had a bearing noise, I slapped a napa equivelant on the car to rule out the ac compressor. 17mm wrench is all that is needed to install it. And it will clear the AC clutch, no interference...

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:31 pm

thanks BRR i will try that today.

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:50 pm

no problem, when I tried it I picked up the cheapest belt I could get my hands on then went from there....
Hopefully that helps you for now, cheaper than replacing the $220 AC clutch or the $400-$500(dealer price) AC compressor

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:53 pm

My AC compressor was toast when I bought my car with 50,xxx miles on it... Sucks. Go to a scrapyard, that's what I'm doing.... A lot better deal than getting one from the dealership for about $300.

caustic neon · Post by **caustic neon** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:44 am

hell if it wasn't for my kids i would just rip out the whole ac system. but yea im gona start hitting up the bone yards.