AC Compressor/pulley noise

Hey y’all!

so I was getting a whining sound from the engine bay that corresponded with engine speed. Eventually traced it to the AC Compressor/pulley and clutch. For a while the AC worked fine, but one day it just stopped. When I turned it off and back on was met with a screech and immediately shut it off. Since then the sound became a rattley noise, much quieter than the original whining.

From what I understand, it could possibly be just the pulley and clutch assembly or the bearings in that assembly since the noise is constant and not just when the compressor is engaged. I was hoping to get anyone else who has experienced this opinions and thoughts before I A) deal with it myself and get the front end pulled apart, or B) pay someone else to deal with it.

Thanks in advance!

 

Do you have a video of the sound? I just got done troubleshooting mine. I lost A/C for a moment then it came back on. Then I had an intermittent knocking noise coming from the pulley. I replaced the clutch/pulley(east and doesn’t require draining refrigerant) and it solved the issue.

 

Probably just the clutch assembly. Look at the drive plate and area around it, does it look smoked?

 

As long as the compressor hasn't locked up, majority of the time when I see a clutch failure it's because the compressor has failed and locked up.

 

Hopefully this weekend my brother in law and I will be taking a closer look at it. Thankfully we still haven’t sold my wife’s old car so I have something to drive till then.

Fingers crossed it’s just the clutch assembly/bearing.

 

Update: Wasn’t the AC pulley making the noise, it was 2 idlers and the tensioner. All replaced by the shop I took it to.

The compressor is shot, but the pulley is still good so I’ll be making an appointment to get the compressor replaced in the next month or so. I don’t use the AC so not having it doesn’t matter to me all that much. And the shops quote for the compressor replacement/recharge was considerably lower then what I expected.