A/C Problems

[showeth]

Well, bad day yesterday. On the way home from work, my A/C went out on my 97 Dodge One-Ton (of course it has a Cummins, should there be any question?). Called the parts store about a replacement compressor and had a heart attack when I heard the price (about $350). I searched the forums last night for some info on the subject. It appears that you can get just the clutch assy if you ask for one for a 94' model. My question is this. What is the best way to tell if the compressor actually cratered or if just the clutch went bad. Naturally, I don't want to go through all the extra expense if I don't have to. If I should have to though, what all needs replaced besides the compressor. I assume a new orifice tube, dryer, and freon. Sorry for my ignorance on this issue. Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[TMc]

Are you sure its the compressor ? My a/c went on my 96 and it ended up being the evaporator, dealer wanted $850 to fix. I just ordered a new evaporator online for $98 and will pull dash apart next week to put it in. Here's the website I went to (www.ackits.com)



Oh yea one more thing the evaporator in our trucks tends to fail quite often according to alot of mechanics that do alot of a/c work.

 

[showeth]

A/C

It has to be something associated with the compressor/clutch. When the engine is running with the A/C switch on, the compressor is not turning. I can hear metallic noises coming from the clutch also.

 

[TMc]

ewhhhh !! Ok, definitely sounds like the compressor, hopefully only the clutch assembly. Here's a good site that talks about properly maintaining your a/c



www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m3102/3_120/71839094/p1/article.jhtml?term=



You can probably just type in www.findarticles.com and then do a search.

 

[Eric_77]

If it were not for grinding metalic sound I would say check the freon level. I would still start there and find out if you have a leak but it sounds like you are in for some expense. Other thing that most people do not have of their own is a vacuum pump to clear the lines after replacing compressor. So I would see about finding someone that will do this for you in your area. Hope it is simple.