The mechanic working on my car says that my ac compressor gets too hot to touch and that means it needs to be replaced. I've never trusted him. Is he right? I touched it myself and yes it is hot enough to burn in under a second. Does it need to be replaced? The rest of the system is new or otherwise good. New drier, new expansion valve, and the rest has been flushed and inspected. I had a friend do all that and I do trust that he does good work. I don't know the history of this ac system. When I bought this car the ac system was taken apart for an unknown reason so my friend suggested we put it together and see what happens. The mechanic says that everything looked normal as he started to charge the system with oil and r134a. Pressure looked normal and everything, but when he was about half done filling it he said he noticed how hot the compressor was so he stopped. It does get really really hot and that doesn't seem right to me, and since the rest of the system is almost certainly ok and the pressure was ok... I guess I have to buy a new compressor? Somebody help me here. I don't want to get ripped off. I was just glancing at the pressure gauges just as he was turning the car off. I think they said about 20-25 and 175 or so, but they both jumped straight to about 100 as he turned the car off so I didn't get a good look. I didn't think it would matter much because like I said the compressor gets hot enough to burn.
If I do need a new one, what one should I get? I mean do I need one from the dealer? ($500! ouch!!) Can I just get one from a parts store?
hot ac compressor
It should get relitiviely hot when its functioning but no more then maybe 140 degrees. My opinion is this, if the pressures are good with a full charge and its not making noise I think its ok. The low pressure would be a bit low at 20 lbs but I would bet it would blow cold as hell...lol What was the outside temp when he was charging it? rough guess is fine.
Re: (NISTECH)
Outside temp was around 90. He didn't want to give it a full charge so it still has what he said was about a half-full charge. It doesn't blow cold at all, but it shouldn't with only a half charge, right? I would guess that's why the 20 lbs seems low also? He says he doesn't want to go any further with it because if the compressor blows up it could destroy the entire ac system.
I am not familiar with what 120 degrees should feel like to the touch. It was so hot I touched it for maybe 1/4 second and got burned on the tip of my finger. It doesn't make any noise though. Just really hot. You think its ok to not replace it? Should I tell him to give it a full charge and see what happens? I really do not want it to blow up and destroy everything.
I am not familiar with what 120 degrees should feel like to the touch. It was so hot I touched it for maybe 1/4 second and got burned on the tip of my finger. It doesn't make any noise though. Just really hot. You think its ok to not replace it? Should I tell him to give it a full charge and see what happens? I really do not want it to blow up and destroy everything.
Re: (NISTECH)
Ok. A million thanks for the help. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
Re: (ChuckJ)
I went down to talk to the mechanic today. I asked him to check the temp and let me get a better look at the pressures since I didn't get a good look before. He kinda looked at me funny as he went to start the car. We sat there and watched the gauges for a bit, then he reached down and unplugged something that made the compressor stop. Like before, the gauges both shot to 100 or so almost instantly. So now he is saying that the pressures shouldn't equalize instantly like that and it definately means the compressor seals are shot and I need to replace it. I don't know. It sounds all too convenient to me. Why didn't he catch that before? Is he right? It just seems so odd that I happened to say the right thing that made him think of it. We completely forgot to check the temperature while I was there, but I called back and he said he would check and get back to me. I do remember the pressures this time. They were 22 and 170, and this is still with a half charge.
The pressures equalizing is normal. The expansion valve controls the difference in pressure in the system. Once you shut the compressor down the system is suppose to almost equalize. That is not a problem. He needs to attempt a full charge and see what pressures are. Hopefully he is charging it with an ACR4 or ACR5 with the car not running. If he doesnt want to do it take it to someone more competent. Your pressures are still on the low side, but for half charge thats expected.