My A/C compressor started leaking (literally the day after I fixed my starter...), and I am looking to fix it. I crawled under last night and it looks like it's the seam that connects the pieces of the compressor together, and not the pulley. The A/C works still, but is VERY noisy. At first it sounded almost like a cooling fan is on high, now it sounds similar to how an exhaust leak would sound (that grumbly noise). Its not very loud, but I definitely notice the noise. I had my wife rev it a little so I could pinpoint the noise when it first happened and I saw a couple good drops of that Green Oil.


My question is, with this limited info, How much should I replace. Am I already past the point of the compressor shredding its internals? I can do a good amount of work myself, and the company I work for has a full service truck shop, which will discharge and recharge the system for me. Would I be safe with compressor only or should I do that and the dryer, expansion device, etc.? It's getting hot and my wife would appreciate me fixing it ASAP. Thanks for you help!


Vehicle is a 2003 Navigator 4x4 Ultimate 5.4l

 

depends if you already have the tools for ac servicing..
a vacuum pump and gauge manifold set is necessary ($160 in harbor freight)
a motorcraft compressor is $360 at rock auto, some aftermarket can be had for less than $200. accumulator dryer is $35-$60, cans of refrigerant is $6 at walmart (x4), PAG oil at $10, orifice tube at $2.

check your orifice tube if there are shards of metal otherwise you'll be replacing the condensor too.

 

If it were mine, I would replace the dryer and orifice tube, disconnect all of the lines and flush them clean.

Thats about your only chance to keep the internals from the old compressor out of.the internals of the new.compressor.

Jmho

 

At the very least, replace the accumulator/drier assembly. You may want to replace the expansion valve block as well, but they're usually OK unless the old compressor has failed catastrophically. The OEM service manual actually states not to replace any parts unless there's evidence of debries in the system, but the "oldschool" advice is to replace accumulator/drier and expansion valves, in addition to flushing the rest of the system to ensure it's clean when replacing compressor. The condenser on these can't be flushed, so will have to be replaced if you see any debries in the lines when flushing.