Long story short: As soon as I moved to Florida I lost my AC. Took her to the shop and found out that clutch on compressor was blown. After replacing the compressor and dryer (cost me $560) the car was fine for about two weeks, AC blowing icy-cold air. Yesterday I was driving down the street and out of sudden lost my AC again, on the top of it the car started jerking while under power.

The best way to explain it: when I'm driving with the AC on, it acts like it wants to go, then almost feels like bogging down (but without loosing any noticeable speed) and the speeds up again, resulting in noticeable jerk. This repeats in about 5 sec intervals. When I turn the AC off it completely disappears... WTH?
Also I noticed when I was slowing down to complete stop I hear this funny sound: sounds like "chit-chit-chit" and it speed variates with the speed of the vehicle... I remember the same sound shortly before I blew the clutch on the old compressor.

Can somebody explain to me what is happening?

I'm taking her back to the shop now, but would like to get second opinion.

Thanks.

was the old compressor damaged or just the compressor clutch. there could have been debris in the system from the failed compressor which is causing blockages to flow and has damaged the new one.

It sounds to me like the new compressor is seizing. I wouldn't run the A/C until you get it and the drier replaced again. If you take it to the shop they should do it under warranty.

Take it back to the shop. They probably installed a rebuilt compressor that is defective. They should replace and repair it for free since you paid for a working one.

This post has been edited by lagos: Jul 17, 2010 - 10:47 AM

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I was told that the clutch was shredded. The system was completely cleaned out before the installation.

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That's what I am afraid of, just waiting for the shop to call me back.

This post has been edited by conus00: Jul 17, 2010 - 10:40 AM

I've never seen a compressor clutch shredded. I've seen the bearing fail, the coil fail, or the plate get rusted and not grab/make noise.

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That's what they told me. When I looked at it there were pieces of rubber (or it looked like) sticking out.
I'm not familiar with air compressors, though...

that sounds more like it ate the belt when the compressor seized up.

the bearing in my ac clutch failed and that "plastic" was sticking out from the clutch plate. but i knew it was acting up for over 3 months from the noises it was making (slight click/clack sounds)

Pics are great. Not saying that your mech is dirty, but I had one tell me to my face that hooking up and OBDII Scanner (for my other car) wouldnt allow me to pull codes and troubleshoot. So people will say just about anything i've learned. I have to agree with bitter (even though it gives me chills to do so.....j/k). But since Ive never seen it happen personally....cant say for sure one way or the other. BTW, its not an air compressor.

This post has been edited by Spider77: Jul 17, 2010 - 3:25 PM

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It is when you don't have any R134a in the system you could jump the AC compressor on and use it to fill your tires if you wanted to.

10 cyl 500 psi+ air compressor haha

True I guess it is, although I wouldnt use it to inflate anything. If its not dead before that, it will be.

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oh not exactly, fit an inline oiler onto the intake and you'll be able to lube the compressor while it runs, it can fill an air tank and you can run air tools or inflate tires or whatever.

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That seems like alot of work....not saying it wont (given the fact that I was pointing out the lack of lubrication with the loss of 134), but id rather have a regular 'ol compressor.

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mobile compressor though, powered by the engine. brilliant if you're out on a trail or worksite and LOADS cheaper than a gasoline portable air compressor. less weight, you already have the AC compressor!

I wouldnt take the celica out on a trail. Unless it was like a monster truck celica or something. Maybe then. But the OP, did your mech take care of this yet?

He wasn't available today. Got to wait till Monday...

Just a quick update: won't be able to get her to the shop until Thursday

Wow, so long...hopefully when you get her your AC problems will be taken care of.

Just quick update: Mechanic told me that the AC compressor was running low on oil. All fixed now.

First yes a compressor can shoot the clutch right out of it and in chunks. 2nd your mechanic should have filled the compressor with oil when you got it replaced 4.0 oz of pag 46 low viscosity by the book. Be careful and run the hell out of the compressor in the next few days because running it before with low oil will cause damage.