Air conditioning compressors

[Kep]

I am about to replace my 4 cyl, 95 Camry's air conditioner compressor. I have learned that I can replace it with a used compressor from a salvage yard ($35 at Pick-A-Part), or a rebuilt compressor ($160 with a one year warranty), or a new after market compressor ($225 but no mention of a warranty), or a Toyota compressor ($371 on line, does Toyota warrant anything?).

Does anyone have any experience with any of these? If I go with a used or rebuilt compressor is there any way to test it before I buy it? Any thoughts as to which would be a better value? With any luck, I plan to keep the car for many more years to come.

There's a local AC guy that will replace it with an OEM compressor for $750. He'll flush out the hoses, replace the drier, vacuum it out and recharge it and give me a one year warranty. Or I can do it myself for the cost of parts and a day or two time-wise. I might go ahead and additionally flush out the evaporator and condenser and replace the expansion valve though I don't know if any of that is necessary until I crack it open and see if the innards are clean or not.

Comments are welcome. It will likely be another week before I get into this.

Kep

[Stillrunning]

How many miles on your car Kep?

[Kep]

I bought it about a year ago with 65,000 on it. It now has 80,000 miles. The compressor was clicking when I bought it so I was pretty sure that I would be replacing it. It was still putting out cold air right before both clutch magnets melted (about a month apart) and blew the fuse so I hope the compressor didn't seize up but I don't know that for a fact. I can't think of any other reason for two electric magnets to melt other than the compressor dragging and causing the clutch to slip and overheat the magnet. Did you have another idea?

Kep

[Stillrunning]

Not another idea but just a feeling for how much money to sink in to it. Definately low miles and worth spending some money on. I would not go for a wreckers one ($35). Being Texas where A/C is probably always used you might get a well worn one nit much better than yours, unless you can get a vehicle with low miles on the odometer. I'm surprised at the cost of new and rebuilt, seems reasonable. I would not go with Toyo as their warranty is probably about the same as the rebuilt. I'm always amazed that Toyo can give such a poor warranty on their $$ parts (1 year) when most of the parts stores give lifetime. Toyo trys to sell quality but doesn't back it up with the warranty. If you bought the new part on a vehicle you'd get at least 3 years. As for rebuilt I don't know. I bought compressors from these people and they stood up very well: http://www.compressor-intl.com/ New seems a little much as the rest of the car is used. There's not much to the workings of a compressor to I'm thinking if it were me I'd go with rebuilt and the 1 year warranty. Seems middle of the road. I'd also take the time to replace seals if you can. Make sure you add the correct amount of oil to the system, it's a bit of an art to figure out how much on a used system.

[davemac2]

so no noise from say the clutch bearing? Why would the clutch coil burn out in this case besides just the clutch surfaces wearing themselves? I would think that if there was excessive force on the clutch due to a seizing compressor, the plates would wear, but the coil? All it does is apply the magnetic force to the plates. If they slip, then should that really affect the coil currents? Maybe you just had a bad clutch coil that had a short? This may be the case especially if as you claim the cooling was just fine until the coil blew the fuse.

Anyways, I would vote for a reman'ed or new compressor if replacing. Pick'n'pull junkyard compressors are a real crap shoot. So unless you are willing to redo it, don't go that route. The junkyard compressor may work ok, but it may not generate optimal cooling, or if it's already destroyed, it can re-contaminate your system. Or it may have a shaft seal leak.

At 80Kmi, I would not bother fully flushing except for the hoses (just use good quality lacquer thinner). If you find any evidence of contamination in those, then go flush the evaporator and buy a new condenser. And of course, get a new receiver/dryer. If the expansion valve is accessible, I would replace that too.

dave mc

[Kep]

Thanks for the input. Good points. Especially the one about Texas cars likely to have high use compressors. I hadn't considered that... I'll have to check into the lifetime warranty prices.

As far as the clutch coil housing melting (and there were two of them that melted), all I can imagine is that if the AC clutch was slipping it mght create enough heat from friction between the two metal plates to melt the plastic of the electro magnet. I don't know for sure but after two clutches did the same thing, I'm going to replace the whole compresor unit.

All imput welcome.
Kep