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Car Forum / GMC Cars / June 2006AC sound on 96 prizm
The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off. It sounds rather mechanical, could there be a bearing in the compressor going south ? Is this fixable or does it need a new compressor ? Car has 135K on it. Thanks > The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. > I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 > seconds off. It sounds rather mechanical, could there be a bearing in > the compressor going south ? Is this fixable or does it need a new > compressor ? Car has 135K on it. > Thanks It is very difficult to diagnose a sound without actually hearing it. A click when the compressor engages is normal. if you are hearing something other than that, I recommend that you have the car looked at by a competent technician for diagnosis.  SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) > The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. > I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 > seconds off. It sounds rather mechanical, could there be a bearing in > the compressor going south ? Is this fixable or does it need a new > compressor ? Car has 135K on it. > Thanks What is bothering you? The sound or the rapid cycling? >> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. >> I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >What is bothering you? The sound or the rapid cycling? The cycling I don't care about, I just want to know if it is normal to cycle that often. The noise doesn't bother me either (this is a 10 year old car), I just would like to know if it means it's going to fail soon or not. >>> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. >>> I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > year old car), I just would like to know if it means it's going to > fail soon or not. I was asking because my 95 Prizm was doing the same thing last summer after a recharge. On-off-on-off about every 10 seconds or so. Turns out it had been overcharged with refrigerant. In alt.autos.toyota RT <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote: > The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. > I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 > seconds off. It sounds rather mechanical, could there be a bearing in > the compressor going south ? Is this fixable or does it need a new > compressor ? Car has 135K on it. Check the sight glass on the AC system and see if you have the right amount of refrigerent in the system. That seems like the most likely culprit to me. Its also a cheap and easy fix. >In alt.autos.toyota RT <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote: >> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >of refrigerent in the system. That seems like the most likely culprit to >me. Its also a cheap and easy fix. Where is the sight glass ? Never spotted one. Does that mean a recharge ? >>In alt.autos.toyota RT <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote: >>> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Where is the sight glass ? Never spotted one. > Does that mean a recharge ? The sight glass is on top of the receiver/drier. The receiver/drier is a cylindrical canister, usually silver or black mounted vertically in front of the radiator. The receiver/drier will have metal refrigerant tubing going into and out of the top, along with the sight glass, which is a small circular glass window about the size of the nail on your little finger. If you look at the sight glass when the AC in on, it should look like water is flowing past the glass, with very few bubbles. If you can see what looks like foam flowing past the sight glass, then there is air in the system and so the refrigerant needs to be recharged. SignatureRay O (correct punctuation to reply) >>>In alt.autos.toyota RT <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote: >>>> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > sight glass when the AC in on, it should look like water is flowing past the glass, with very few bubbles. If you can see what > looks like foam flowing past the sight glass, then there is air in the system and so the refrigerant needs to be recharged. Might add that it is very important to see those bubbles when the compressor cycles off. If you don't it is overcharged. Here is your answer though. "The ac works fairly well I have to say" Don't fix something that's not broke. Just make sure nothings falling off or reducing the air flow to the coil in front of your radiator. A common problem is leaves and stuff building up between the radiator and condenser because its easy to miss. >>>In alt.autos.toyota RT <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote: >>>> The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >like foam flowing past the sight glass, then there is air in the system and >so the refrigerant needs to be recharged. Thanks guys. I will check it out. Those are some useful tips. > The ac works fairly well I have to say. Gets the car cold in AZ heat. > I can clearly hear the compressor kick in and out, 10 seconds on, 10 > seconds off. It sounds rather mechanical, could there be a bearing in > the compressor going south ? Is this fixable or does it need a new > compressor ? Car has 135K on it. > Thanks compressors in auto's are big pumps. Maybe even bigger than the one in your home. Arizona is smoking HOT too. When your system cycles on a 110f degree day it will be much more noticeable (probably feel it too) than it would if the ambient temp was say 80f degree. Imagine something like 6 - 10 cubic inch's worth of compressor and maybe 300 psi out there in that 120d desert heat and its easy to see were the noise comes from. some types of compressors are just noisy too like those 2 cylinder CCI pumps. (york) |
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