Hey guys I noticed a rattling noise which I thought to be the belt tensioner, but today I noticed the ac wasn’t blowing cold at all. Appears the compressor isn’t turning on, I’m guessing it went out. Should I order my own and bring it somewhere or where should I start? Thanks

 

It might be mechanically okay but out of refrigerant. Or it might be mechanically kaput. Or it might be something else entirely like the expansion valve. I would start by verifying the drive to the compressor. Is the belt intact? Is the clutch attached? Is the clutch wiring ok? When you cycle the A/C does the pulley start to turn?

 

I would start by taking it to a qualified shop and ask them to diagnose it. They will figure out what the problem is in short order. You won't know what parts are required until the diagnosis is complete. Many shops don't want you to provide your own compressor if that happens to be the issue, because they want to be able to stand behind their work.

 

I'll add that shops won't warranty work when you provide parts. A/C systems are tricky even for really good certified mechanics.

 

Well guys the compressor is toast, belt was shredded off. Bought a reman kit off the auction site for $209 with everything included. It didn’t include the radiator looking piece (condenser?), will the old one be okay to use?

 

Old condenser should be fine to use, though since it'll be disconnected, may want to take it out and clean it/blow it out because they get build up in the fins. Just some recommended preventative maintenance.

 

If your compressor seized and caused the belt destruction, you probably have a bigger problem than just changing the compressor. Your whole system could be contaminated which will need to be flushed and additional parts changed. You should take your Vette to a reputable AC shop and have them do the repair correctly.

 

Well I am looking at $1200 labor alone, sound right? 5 hours for the compressor, 4 hours for the expansion valve and an hr for the condenser plus $140 for recharge. Does that sound right for labor?

 

Luckily, I haven't had to have any AC work done on my car yet so I can't give you any personal experience. Maybe some others can chime in here. I have ALLDATAdiy and your numbers are close to the ALLDATAdiy numbers. I've always been told when you have this many component changes and especially when you have a compressor take a dump on you, always change the receiver drier. Maybe others have a different opinion. Keep in mind that once they open the system and happen to find junk in the lines, they will probably have to flush the system and maybe more parts will be required. Good luck.

 

That sounds about right. I had a compressor issue but it didn't blow apart. My local Chev dealer was OK with me buying a NEW ACDelco unit from Rockauto. They installed it AND would warranty it since it was new and a GM part. The dealer wanted almost $800 for the compressor, Rock only wanted about half of that. And as said above, you are already going into the system, so for a few more bucks do it right. You don't want to have to pay to evacuate and recharge again in a few weeks when something else goes. I also don't think that any reputable company will stand by their compressor warranty if you DO NOT change out the receiver. In my case the evaporator core had a leak first. That was lots of hours labor. You practically have to empty the whole cabin out to get to it. The hard part for me was I know how to do it. I have done it. But my wife wouldn't let me near this car with a tool in my hand! Once that was done we realized that the compressor was leaking when it got to a certain pressure. Which was not obvious when the evaporator was leaking first. By the time I was done it was about $4K for everything. I think the dealer felt sorry for me and was OK with the Rock part. Suck it up and do it right the first time. Especially with summer coming up.

 

$1,200 is cheap.
Return the parts you bought. Buy everything from the shop. Compressor, drier, expansion valve, and condenser. These items can not be flushed. Have them flush the rest of the system, hose, etc. You'll be in the $3k range. However, it'll be worth every penny. It'll work like new. You'll get a warranty. Probably 24 months 24k miles.

 

Flush out the system? The last thing you want to do is add moisture into a closed refrigerant system. We are not talking about radiator coolant here! The system is under high pressure when running normally. The only thing you will find inside the lines is compressor oil besides refrigerant. Usually when a compress worn-out you will have a difference in cool air when idling, It's very easy to have a blockage in the system at the expansion value causing a no cool. Because of moisture, you need to pull a good vacuum on the system and holding 10mc on the gauges before recharging.

 

Most shops have proper equipment for flushing the system, but this is to illustrate the point. Any shop that would replace a compressor that was damaged internally and not flush the system, is a true rip off. They're the shops that have 3 defective compressors to return to the Delco warehouse for every car they change a compressor on. It's not defective, they're just using it to filter the trash out of the system that they should have flushed out.