Ac compressor question

Found some stuff about it but nothing that answered my question. I have an 03 tacoma Prerunner v6 auto. The pulley on the ac compressor is loose and sometimes makes a clanking noise because it's moving back and forth. Sometimes when I crank the truck it will squeal but I think I just need new belts. My ac is working fine. Could it be just the bolt coming loose or the bearing starting to go bad? Or something else entirely different?

 

Sounds like the shaft bearing is going bad. Next will be the shaft seal. Then it requires a new compressor, new pumpdown, and recharge. If you get it to someone who can recover the refrigerant, that will save some money.

However, the clutch could be going bad too. I would check belt tension and run till something fails.

I've been trying to revive the AC system in my 1986-beater-Accord and have went through 2 compressors (Auto Zone crap), 134a retro kit, all new 134a compatible seals, receiver dryer, etc. now I have a leak in the evaporator. Ugh. Thank God Fall is close.

 

Compressors eating themselves contaminate the whole system with little pieces of metal. This is likely why it has been part after part for you

 

I don't believe so. The first compressor had a shaft seal leak out of the box. Never ran. The second one never built more than 90 psi on the high side. I think it was a poor job on the re-man. I flushed the whole system....twice. No problems since. That isn't to say the first compressor (which was not running when I got it) didn't shard the whole system up though.

 

Does anyone's compressor clutch hub appear to be wobbly? I just bought a new compressor with a new clutch on it and it appears to wobble when the clutch is engaged, however the center bolt is tight. The compressor pulley appears to be true, it's just the hub. My old compressor did the same thing? Any others experiencing this?