Ac making noise

Noticed my ac light was blinking. The blinking stopped but there is a bad noise coming from the compressor only when the ac is on. It does make cold air but the noise worries me. The clutch still spins freely when truck is off. Tried removing and Putting back the relay and did nothing. Any help is much appreciated

 

If you are getting a light and hearing a noise i would definitely take it to a shop and have it looked at.

 

Some people I’ve talked to told me sounds like it’s the barings. Said I’d be better off to change whole compressor. Would the cheaper one off Rock auto work?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...1,heat+&+air+conditioning,a/c+compressor,6628

 

yes, most likely the aftermarket one would work.
Lots of youtube videos for the clutch on the compressor (not toyota specific) but you'll get the idea.

I'd start there. Otherwise you'll be vacuuming the R-134a out (most likely at a shop unless you have refrigerant recovery gear), then you'll need to replace the dehydator assembly, finally you'll consider n2 pressure testing hte system to verify leak free, vacuum that stuff out and then finally load freon and oil per specs.

Not impossible, but you need to license to work with the R-134a (freon) or you could be EPA fined.

I'd try to verify its the clutch and replace that assembly before i'd go after the compressor.

Good luck.

 

Update—— swapped out ac compressor for new aftermarket one off rock auto. Between the part and the gas total price $230. Everything is working great now. The noise was the compressor not the clutch. Assuming something inside just wore down. 130k miles.

 

Glad you got it fixed.

 

Reviving this thread before starting another...
just got back from a trip from Sacramento, CA to Bend OR and back. Two times I stopped to let the dog out before he...not important...I left the truck running to keep the GF warm. I started hearing the screeching noise and killed the engine. Popped the hood, didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I restarted and watched the clutch engage but come to a loud stop then the clutch disengage and leave the AC light flashing. Bad compressor? The truck just turned 58k today on the way back...

 

This is interesting, I've got about 5 times your mileage and lived in the hotest environments and its still chugging along... knock on wood, lol.. I'll put it on my list. For a replacement I would pit online dealership costs vs rock auto or local shop cost... Replaced my radiator, buying from local stealership... rockauto was about $386, Oreilly and autozone showed about the same price. Called the parts guy at said dealership and he was talking about $490 pretax. I asked them for a price match online and he sent me a link to their online website as its different now... $230 later I got an OEM replacement radiator, with the extra change I saved I bought some coolant, we can call it free...

 

I will take that back, lol, its $420 online local to my stealership.