Hi Guys,

Rude awakening yesterday with my 91 coupe. After washing car headed to the hi-way to blow off remaining water. My AC started blowing warm air. Turned off climate control then turned back on hoping it just needed a jump start. No Good. After driving less than a mile started to smell something burning. Turned off AC and before I could come to a complete stop saw smoke coming from underneath hood. Not good. Keep in mind I got no idiot lites on dash and temp gauge read normal. Popped hood and saw smoke coming from out of the front of air unit where the belt goes over the pulley. Let sit for a few minutes and with the climate control off drove it back home. Still no idiot lites but continued to get the burning smell. Could feel as I drove like rubbing/grinding feeling. On inspection at home the pulleys were turning on the unit & noticed residual smoke and smell. Does this sound like what I've heard termed as a "compressor seizing up?" In going thru previous owners service receipts looks like he put a remanned compressor with R-12 on the car just over two years ago. Comments/Advise?

Thanx,
Mike

Hey Mike, from your description, I hate to say it, but I think you're right. When you restart the car, if the pulley on the compressor spins freely and the clutch (face of the compressor) doesn't spin, you should be fine till you have the compressor replaced. At this point, you might want to consider upgrading to R134a at the same time. Looks like you'll be using the economy setting for awhile.

Forgot to mention: If other family members drive the Reatta, pull the A/C fuse so they don't have another mishap.

A few weeks ago my AC clutch started the grinding thing as well. In the process of reseaching what to do I came across an article which said two OEM compressor mfgrs (Delphi for GM and Visteon for Ford) both said the failure rate was much higher on aftermarket installs than on factory installs even though the same compressors were used and were the result of improper installtions, ie contaminated systems and improper oil.

Mike s, I love working on my Reatta (For The Most Part), but when it comes to things like A/C, I bite the bullet & take it to a certified repair center. It's paid off in the past.

Ditto that Drake.

I replaced and converted my A/C several years ago. The "new" replacement compressor went bad one month short of a year and was replaced at no material or labor cost.

Tom T

Thanks for the input guys. After closer inspection of the unit yesterday I could see that the metal rings at the front of the unit, the clutch, were loose and flopping around making a horrible racket. So I don't know if the compressor's fried or whether it's just the clutch. I'll probably take it in Wed to find out the bad news.

Thanx again,
Mike

There is a bearing supporting the clutch that could be locked up.