Hey everyone I'm having some problems with my '07 4.2L. I'm in need of some advice. When I started her up today I noticed an awful burning rubber smell and smoke coming from the wiper cowl. I immediately turned off the engine and opened the hood in time to see the drive belt snap in half around the burning hot compressor. How do I fix a seized compressor?

My A/C has always been a little on the weak side. I took it to a HVAC garage about 6 months ago and they added dye and rang me up for 32oz of refrigerant, so my system was practically empty at the time. It's been cooling fine since I thought and we never found the leak. I was going to really put it to the test this summer, but now this with the compressor. What caused it to fail?

I'm afraid of spending the money to replace the compressor and it fail again.

 

It might just be the A/C clutch, not the compressor. If you're not familiar with the A/C system, you probably should take it back to that HVAC garage for a proper diagnosis.
Good Luck

 

The cooling system is a sealed system...so if they had to add that much freon to it ...there is a leak somewhere. when the system gets low the clutch will not engage..this prevents the compressor from being damaged. need to find the leak..

 

We checked all the hoses, connectors, condenser, and evaporator for dye, but we didn't find the leak.
Recently I found a leak between the oil pan and transmission bellhousing . . .



The leak is up there somewhere?




It looks like it's leaking down alongside the bellhousing and was getting blown everywhere.




The other side of the bellhousing is clean.

Could this leak pictured above be coming from the A/C Compressor like the shaft seal? I'm planning on getting my truck towed to the HVAC garage soon for further diagnosis.

 

No.. that is motor oil

 

Got it, thanks! What if we can't find the freon leak. What will the HVAC garage do next?

 

HVAC shop has methods of finding the leaks. A good one does any way...

 

I dropped off my truck today for proper diagnosis, hopefully they can find the leak. The mechanic there mentioned that if it is the compressor then they'll have to replace it and most of the other major components in the A/C system. Why would they have to do that?

 

they will only need to replace the dryer and pull vacuum on the system unless the compressor came apart and contaminated the entire system..

 

It's a standard practice all the shops have to do. If there's a compressor failure after they replace it, the manufacturer will not warranty it unless the accumulator and orfice tube has been changed.

Some manufacturers are also requiring to flush systems and even replace condensers on certain applications because some newer style condensers are not flushable.