2012 AC Comp dead

Dealership called …….

not the amplifier or the wires going to it. They are going to try a new lockout sensor. My questions is , disnt my new ac compressor come with one?
Thank you for all your help. I do appreciate it.

 

They typically do but recently it's been noted several times that lock sensors on replacement compressors don't always work.

 

Some do, some don’t.
And some that do, don’t work.

 

I hope this is the final answer for me. They are trying one in the morning I guess. Do you have to pull the ac comp back out to replace?

 

I hope a new one solves my problem!

 

I don’t remember. I’d have to pop my hood and take a look.
It’s been over 2 years since I even looked at mine.

It’s just one bolt, so you might get lucky.
Worst case just loosen it up from the bracket and swig it out towards you.
You should not have to pull it out.

 

Update :

dealership is going to pull a lock out sensor off one of theirs and install it on my new one but they said they are waiting on a CLEAN OUT KIT for my AC system and won’t be here till Monday. I’ve never heard of a clean out kit???

 

Seems to me like you'd want to flush and clean the system BEFORE installing the new compressor??????

What was the issue with your truck to start with?
What was your symptoms?

I hope they didn't throw a compressor at it, when the whole time it was just the pick up sensor?

 

It all started with a flashing AC button and not blowing cold air. My son was driving it at the time and said he thought the AC made a funny noise and then just quit.

I spoke with dealership, they said yup most likely the AC compressor but we don’t have any and they are back ordered. Told me to pick one up and they would be happy to install. I bought a Nisans from rock auto along with the condenser just in case. They installed both and informed me the light was still flashing. They threw a new AC amplifier on amd still a flashing light. Mechanic called Toyota tech support and they told him to check all wires. He did just that and said everything was good. Tech support told them to replace lock out sensor on AC Compressor and that’s what I’m waiting on now. Service manager told me they are waiting on clean out kit also. I was like, aren’t you supposed to flush system before all this? He told me he’s never heard of that! Ok , what ever. I’m now waiting on Monday so they can swap that sensor for another 165.00 part and flush my system.


Im here asking questions so I can speak to them with some knowledge of all this. This will probably cost me 2000.00 plus after all this. My truck is immaculately condition for a 2012 with 127,000 miles on it. I just want my baby home!

The lock out sensor has to be it? Doesn’t it? Wtf else could it possibly be?

 

Yeah, That's not standard diagnostic procedure.
You should never operate off of "probability" when you are a business.
And even more so, when you are requiring the customer to supply the parts.

I'd be curious to know if they used the old senor on the new compressor?

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hopefully the new sensor fixes the issue.
I have a feeling it will. As it sounds like everything else has been checked or replaced.

I just kind of fell bad for you. Because I'm not 100% convinced it was the compressor in the first place.
There is a good chance it was, but I like to "know".
That's why I'd like to know what sensor they used on the new compressor?
The old one, or the one that "might" have come with it?

 

They did take the old sensor off my old AC compressor and it did the same. They tried that option. You were saying above that sometimes the new compressor you purchase already has a bad sensor on it. Well, I hope that’s the case here. I will update you on Monday and let you know what happens. If it works, I’ll be happy but if it don’t I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Trade it in?

I appreciate you taking the time for me and giving me some pointers.

 

OUCH.

Many times when a compressor dies a slow death, it distributres a whole bunch of metallic debris into the AC system. If you just slap a new compressor on, this circulating debris will quickly destroy the new compressor. Std protocol with a new compressor is to replace all parts or at minimum attempt to flush out the system. Usually the condensor is automatically replaced as the passages are just too small to flush out and the debris plugs it up. Also, you should ALWAYS replace the drier when the system is opened up and on the taco, the drier is integral to the condensor and cannot be replaced without a new condensor.

I had a bad compressor on wifes accord. I reused the lines (replaced evap and cond) and when I flushed them, what came out was between black and grey (i.e. metallic debris).

Hopefully they were smart enough to check the system for discolored oil before putting the new compressor on. The bad sound right before AC failure does somewhat point to the compressor coming apart internally.

I am hopefull that it all works out for you.

 

update : you can read mechanics findings. All is working once again.

 

Shame the dealer techs don't even know how the system works and what does/doesn't cause the flashing light.

If they would have an oscilloscope and know how to use it they could have figured out the lock sensor was bad in a few minutes instead of hours of swaptronics and poking with a meter.

 

Swaptronics I like that.

I used to call it shotgun troubleshooting, long, long ago.

I’m afraid troubleshooting is a thing of the past now

 

Well for a select few of us diagnostics isn't dead but yea overall in the industry the majority of shops/techs will do very little if any diagnostics before hanging parts.
It seems like it may be getting slightly better in some areas but we have a long way to go if we are to fix what's wrong with the industry.

There's many reasons for it but it's not something to get into a deep discussion about in this thread.