2004 F350 Crew Cab V10
155,000 miles

I was driving the other day and I think I had the air conditioner on. I'm not sure why I would have had it on because for the last year, it has not blown cold air, despite adding Freon. Even when indicating full of Freon, the compressor was kicking on and off every 15 seconds or so.

Anyways, I'm driving the other day and pulled into a parking lot and noticed a bunch of white smoke coming out from under the hood and right (passenger) fender well. I also noticed a pretty strong smell of smoke (not oil or tranny fluid or radiator as I know those smells well) coming from the vents inside the truck.

I turned the truck off (including the AC and fan) and left it sit for about 30 minutes and when I came back and started it, there was no smoke and it seemed to do fine on my way home. I have not had any issues with it since.

I have checked and have not noticed any leaks or anything suspicious under the hood and there is nothing leaking (I have checked on the ground under the truck numerous times after driving it several miles).

Yesterday, I started it and all was fine. I turned the switch to "AC" and immediately noticed an off sound coming from under the hood. Same sound when I turn the switch to "Defrost". Sounds almost like a grinding/humming. Definitely not normal.

Im thinking that the compressor froze up and the smoke was caused by the belt spinning on a compressor that has seized up since it has not been duplicated since because I don't use the air or defroster (not to mention the noise when I turn the air or defroster on.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

thanks,

 

I'd say, yes, it's the compressor

Unplug the wire going to the clutch on the compressor, that'll keep it from trying to come on.

It could also have been the clutch itself burning, but definitely check the belt.

 

That happened in my Ford Taurus I had back in high school on a trip. We unplugged the compressor and later narrowed it down to the clutch, you could see it wasn't centered, it had failed. Unplugged it, rest of the trip was fine, just replaced it when we got home.