I don't know if my a/c compressor went out or my pulley burned up? I started my truck this morning and turned on defrost. I noticed it was kicking on and off every three seconds. I let it run for 20 minutes to burn the frost off the truck window. I came outside and I smelled burnt metal. I popped the hood and saw the compressor was turning bright red behind the pulley. Couldn't see much because it was dark, but it was a bright red. I turned off defrost and the belt moves ok and it wasn't turning red anymore. So I guess I have a bad compressor. Oh yea I have a 2001 f150 supercrew with the 5.4 v8 and it is 4x4.

 

It sounds like the ac compressor is yakked. The first thing you ought to do is pull the plug that activates the ac clutch. If the clutch is still ok you should be safe to use the defroster setting without the compressor trying to kick in and eventually seize. I recently had a situation where the clutch seized up first and took out the compressor shortly after.

In the event that the clutch is damaged and in danger of locking up you could look here...https://www.f150forum.com/f6/bypass-...-part-s-74489/ I posted the part #s to do a fast bypass of the compressor that will allow you to run the truck just fine until you decide what course of action to take with the ac. Good luck with it

J.R.

 

Thanks. I hope it is just the clutch because it was turning off and on real fast.

 

Our mechanic at work said I can pull a fuse or something to the A/C and it will let defrost work but the compressor won't kick on.