AC died and almost started a fire

[T7TheLama]

So on Thursday we had a Holiday and i thought it's gonna be great day for a Trip. So i drove to Salzburg to meet some friends. An hour before Salzburg the AC suddendly died and was blowing only warm air which i thought was odd. Quick interuption when i got a fine from Autobahn police and i was on my way again. At the Autobahn exit i smelled a really rubbery smell almost like tires after doing a burnout which i thought was the car infront of me. Well after like a minute a lot and i mean a lot of smoke came out of the hood. I stopped immediately at the side of the road. I opened the hood and was ready to grab the fire extinguisher. I always keep one cause i still have the old screw on oil filter. I heard some sizzling but no flames so i decided to wait and it stopped after 5 minutes. After everything cooled down i checked the engine oil which was fine and saw no leaks beneth the car. So i tried to start the car which didn't work. It was like the starter worked against some resistance and had not enough juice. I posted my problem on reddit while i was waiting for roadside assistance. Pretty much everybody told me that the AC probably seized and the belt started to heat up because of the friction which turned out to be the case. So after a short discussion with the mechanic we decided to just cut the belt for the ac so i'm at least able to drive it home. I managed to drive home but when i did a short stop i heard a loud whining noise and inspected the other belt which also was clearly damaged so no idea how that happened. I callled Ford yesterday and the told me they might work on this car but are not really sure how long it's gonna take cause they are only familiar with eu mustangs. So i hope the belt and the ac compressor are the same as on the 5.0.

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[jloshotz]

My nephew had smoke BILLOW from the a/c compressor when the clutch coil burned/shorted out. Like I see in your pics, it didn’t leave much visible evidence behind. On his (he has an 08 Chevy impala) you could tell by where the plug connects to the compressor (that’s the pigtail for the clutch) that there was some char/soot evidence that was visible. The clutch coil will typically swell, which is what causes the compressor pulley to seize. I actually saw it happen in real time, hood was open. I’d bet this is what happened on your end. Due to this exact scenario, which actually happened on my 95 z28 years ago, I was elated to see that ford has the a/c belt on the 5.0 a separate belt from the accessory belt. The Camaro did NOT. Lucky I made it the 45 miles home that day. Good luck with the troubleshoot/repair

 

[MrMike]

That sucks man.

Pretty sure GT350 uses the same A/C compressor as the 11-17 GTs. https://parts.levittownfordparts.com/oem-parts/ford-a-c-compressor-fr3z19703l

S550s and A/C issues, name a more iconic duo.

 

[526 HRSE]

The A/C repair is a little more than just swapping out the compressor on these cars. I'm sure someone has done a write up about it.

But at least you get to drive the Autobahn!

 

[T7TheLama]

The A/C repair is a little more than just swapping out the compressor on these cars. I'm sure someone has done a write up about it.

But at least you get to drive the Autobahn!

Unfortunately Austrian Autobahn we have a speed limit of 130km/h, 80,7mph.
Thats why i got a fine:(

 

[Sean22]

That sucks man.

Pretty sure GT350 uses the same A/C compressor as the 11-17 GTs. https://parts.levittownfordparts.com/oem-parts/ford-a-c-compressor-fr3z19703l

S550s and A/C issues, name a more iconic duo.

Yep. Had those AC issues with my '16 GT that was thankfully covered under my extended warranty. So far so good with my '22 GT

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