A/C Compressor Moaning and Groaning

[ChipG]

I know the compressor is a weak spot on these and lots of folks have had noises and failures. My GT350 is at the dealer getting a new alternator installed, but they're telling me the groaning noise the A/C compressor makes is normal. It didn't make that noise until nearly 30k miles, and now it does, which doesn't seem normal to me. What kind of noises did those of you with bad compressors hear? Mine still blows cold, but every time the compressor is engaged, there's an easily audible moan/groan. Not a whine/grind/supercharger sound, more of the kind of moan you get when you max out steering angle and your power steering pump complains.

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[Sletcher]

Same symptoms and got the same answer from my dealer. I replaced it myself.

 

[cerbomark]

tell the dealer to fire up another car on the lot with the same AC compressor, LOL.
Bet it doesn't sound like yours.

 

[Postal Bob]

The dealer will wait until it fails, before they replace it. Hopefully when it does, you're still under warranty.

 

[cerbomark]

The dealer will wait until it fails, before they replace it. Hopefully when it does, you're still under warranty.

That s not right, but maybe true. I ve had other manufactures replace them when they are loud and are on their way out. If they are excessively loud then they are not properly operating.

 

[galaxy]

I had the (almost) supercharger whine. Only while engaged. Every single thing else worked perfectly. As preventative, I replaced it myself before a road trip. The proble/risk with letting an AC compressor go to failure is the risk of contaminating the whole system.

 

[missile_pilot]

Same story with mine. Evaporator had a leak and was replaced, but even though compressor sounded awful they wouldn't replace it as it passed all the service checks. Had a 15 GT do the same and it grenaded sending black sludge throughout the A/C system requiring $2k+ of parts and labor (but Ford did give me an assist with cost as I was 5k miles outside of warranty).

 

[Cobra Jet]

Tell your Service a center to inspect the A/C compressor clutch/field coil assembly…. They’re known to prematurely fail…and it sounds like from your descriptions it’s on its way out.

 

[galaxy]

Funny...I suspected the clutch was the screaming culprit on my failure, considering the total lack of any other symptoms. But the clutch/pulley assembly new from RockAuto was literally as much as the whole compressor. Makes no sense. So at the price point, it wasn't worth risking replacing just that and that not be it.

 

[Deadly0ne]

Did any of you have A/C issues that had a more of a whine than a screeching sound that turned out to be your A/C Compressor? I noticed an audible whine when my A/C was on, mostly in first gear between 2-3k RPM that largely disappears if it is off. Trying to diagnose if it is the compressor or something else entirely.

 

[CANTWN4LSN]

I had the (almost) supercharger whine. Only while engaged. Every single thing else worked perfectly. As preventative, I replaced it myself before a road trip. The proble/risk with letting an AC compressor go to failure is the risk of contaminating the whole system.

Did replacing the compressor help? Interestingly at nearly 50,000 miles I have had the whine throughout the entire life of the car whenever the AC is on and no noise when not on. Works fine. Can't see replacing it unless there is something I'm unaware of.

 

[galaxy]

Did replacing the compressor help? Interestingly at nearly 50,000 miles I have had the whine throughout the entire life of the car whenever the AC is on and no noise when not on. Works fine. Can't see replacing it unless there is something I'm unaware of.

Short answer, yes. 100% fixed it. However, my problem returned. My new compressor lasted barely a season before the exact same symptom returned; the whining. Same as you, both work great. I decided to replace my first whining compressor becuase I was headed on a long road trip and didn't wasnt to risk a failure on the road. But like you, whoooooo knows how long it would successfully run with just the noise?!?!

Now I'm at a crossroads with the second whining one, because I have another long road trip coming up mid July.

The question/risk with it would be running it to failure. If it failed internally and contaminated the system, it's a pretty good clean up job necessitating the replacement of other components. I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer here, honestly. I know that my next compresor will not be a Ford. It will be one of the significantly cheaper remanufactured ones.

 

[Mjc1241]

I had the same groaning issue and a friend, who is a Master Tech at Ford, told me that the compressor needed to be replaced. A full failure of the system would result in potentially more costly repair down the road.

 

[Booboo]

Just had my a/c supercharger whine repaired. Dealer tech said the clutches on these a/c compressors conk out when there's a sudden increase in RPMs lol.

 

[Jstang23]

Short answer, yes. 100% fixed it. However, my problem returned. My new compressor lasted barely a season before the exact same symptom returned; the whining. Same as you, both work great. I decided to replace my first whining compressor becuase I was headed on a long road trip and didn't wasnt to risk a failure on the road. But like you, whoooooo knows how long it would successfully run with just the noise?!?!

Now I'm at a crossroads with the second whining one, because I have another long road trip coming up mid July.

The question/risk with it would be running it to failure. If it failed internally and contaminated the system, it's a pretty good clean up job necessitating the replacement of other components. I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer here, honestly. I know that my next compresor will not be a Ford. It will be one of the significantly cheaper remanufactured ones.

This exact same situation happened to me. I replaced my compressor due to whining noises and then less than 8 months later it was whining again.

It is low on refrigerant!!
The refrigerant acts as the lubrication and when installing a new compressor it will loose a bit of it while all the seals set properly. Have them check the level and you should be fine!

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