Car AC help... HELP!!!

[Indy_Guy_77]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to describe the issue in hopes of gaining insight into the problem.

Car: 1991 Buick Regal w/ 3.8

Issue: Yesterday afternoon as I was on my way home from work (in the scorching heat!), my AC quit working. Car started as normal and ran just fine. I switched the AC to "max" to get a little more grunt out of it. It was running A-OK / nice & cold for about 5 minutes.

At that time, I felt a little shudder coming from the front of the car...then warm air coming out of the vents. Blower still works just fine...

Car ran fine the 18-ish miles home. Couldn't hear any rattles nor feel any shudders above & beyond what's normal for this 20-year old car.

As I pulled into my driveway, I rolled my window down. Upon slow speeds + down window, I heard a mechanical whine / gravelly rattle.

That same sound re-appeared this AM as I started the car to come to work. I did not drive this car to work out of fear I'd screw up more parts and cause a catastrophic failure.

I think: AC Clutch and/or compressor... I've never had one of these go out in a car I've had. Just presuming it's one or the other of these because of the sound when car is on, warm air out of vents, & HVAC blower still working.

Please help!

(And if anyone knows how to fix this, I'm in the Greenwood area!!)

-J-

 

[danielocean03]

With the information you've given, I agree with your idea of compressor failure. As long as the clutch or pulley aren't messed up, you should be able to switch off the a/c and silence the noise, removing the compressor from the equation. If the noise is present with the a/c switched off, then you may just be in need of a clutch assembly.

 

[lovemachine]

My first guess is the compressor. IME, it's normally the compressor.

If it is, you'll have to take it in. Unless you know somebody thats certified, like I am!, and has a vacuum pump and a recovery system. Which I don't have for that type of refrigerant.

 

[lovemachine]

If I remember right, my brothers girlfriends car had the compressor go out. It was around $200 to fix it.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

The noise is still present when the interior switch is "off". It's a push-button panel. So it's probably the clutch then...

Also, the AC system has been converted from what I'm told. This was my grandmother's car; my dad told me that he had it serviced/converted for her a few years before she passed away.

I just don't want the bad clutch to ruin anything else. If it were as simple as removing the belt, I'd do that. Fortunately or unfortunately, this car just has the one serpentine belt. It'd suck for that pulley to seize up and ruin everything else.

Oh, and my home AC is going out, too. *sigh*

-J-

 

[jgressley2003]

I would say your compressor is bad. A new or reman compressor will come with a new clutch. Some parts stores offer an ac by pass pulley to put in place of the compressor if you want to do away with your ac.

 

[eldirector]

With the information you've given, I agree with your idea of compressor failure. As long as the clutch or pulley aren't messed up, you should be able to switch off the a/c and silence the noise, removing the compressor from the equation. If the noise is present with the a/c switched off, then you may just be in need of a clutch assembly.

^^^^^ This.

If the clutch is bad, you may as well replace both it and the compressor. Most times I've seen the clutch die, it was because the compressor was on the way out (locking up or getting way too hard to turn).

$250 (reman) to $350 (new), plus refrig. and labor. Could be worse....

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

^^^^^ This.

If the clutch is bad, you may as well replace both it and the compressor. Most times I've seen the clutch die, it was because the compressor was on the way out (locking up or getting way too hard to turn).

$250 (reman) to $350 (new), plus refrig. and labor. Could be worse....

Been in contact with a fix-it place not too far from my house.

Once my wife gets up / about, I'll give her the phone number to the place and see if she can drop it off. Close enough for her to walk home, which is good. Even with the baby / stroller, it's still a relatively easy walk! Hopefully she gets back with me before it's a brazillian degrees outside.

$400 for new fuel pump a few months ago... $400 for new compressor...

That and a full tank of gas and my car will be worth twice as much!

Thank you to everyone for your help with the the issue.