A/C Compressor Noise?

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Aug 26, 2015 | 11:08 PM

meyerweb

Thread Starter

Safety Car

Joined: Jan 2015

Posts: 3,941

Likes: 499

From: Northern Virginia

A/C Compressor Noise?

Is everyone's A/C compressor really, really loud? My screams like a banshee if I have the temp set pretty low. I've never owned a car with a compressor this loud.

Aug 26, 2015 | 11:18 PM

Steve_R

Team Owner

Joined: Mar 2012

Posts: 49,321

Likes: 3,920

From: Best Island in the U.S.

St. Jude Donor '12 thru '17

Can't hear mine.

Aug 27, 2015 | 12:11 AM

WelderGuy

Burning Brakes

Joined: Jun 2014

Posts: 981

Likes: 157

There are several things that could cause this...some minor, some not so. You need to get it checked out.

Aug 27, 2015 | 02:53 AM

kevincol

Drifting

Joined: Sep 2014

Posts: 1,267

Likes: 119

From: Bellevue WA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve_R

Can't hear mine.

Aug 27, 2015 | 07:52 AM

Red C8 of Jax

Safety Car

Joined: Sep 2001

Posts: 4,495

Likes: 1,263

From: Jacksonville FL

Sometimes my fan is loud with the A/C on but not my compressor.

Aug 27, 2015 | 08:14 AM

Lawnmower7200

Advanced

Joined: Jun 2015

Posts: 63

Likes: 0

I've tried but have never had any luck trying to hear whether the compressor in either my '14 Silverado or '16 Corvette is running. If yours is that obvious you can safely assume that it's in some kind of distress.

Aug 27, 2015 | 08:36 AM

NSC5

Safety Car

Joined: Aug 2012

Posts: 3,960

Likes: 1,106

As others have said it definitely shouldn't be loud. Are you sure the noise is from the compressor and not from a combination of high blower speed plus some combination of the air flow control "doors" in the ventilation system? With the system set where the AC is operational the compressor is either on or off depending upon vehicle temperature and desired temperature and it doesn't work any harder (though it will be on longer) when the desired temperature is set lower. But with the desired temperature set much lower than current vehicle temperature the blower will be commanded to the highest speed allowed in your vehicle personalized settings and it will be commanded into a recirculation mode which will change the airflow noise characteristics. Screaming like a banshee sounds like one of the air control dampers is almost but not quite closed and is seeing a very high airflow rate.