I was in a Drive Thru last night and noticed a slight rattling/BB's in a tube type rattle while the AC was on that went away after I turned it off -- could this be a bearing? or something else? It isn't real loud, yet just something irritating that I hope won't cause problems.

Thanks in advance.

 

Every summer I get this "click,click,click" sound from my compressor. It goes away after a few weeks but resurfaces the next year. Been 7 years, never had to replace anything.

 

My '92 lasted 10 years before the compressor suffered the 'Black Death' . My compressor started clattering and lacked some cooling power then finally stopped cooling. What happens is the teflon coating on the pistons in the compressor starts to wear and break free. This in turn clogs the fixed orifice which increases head pressure on the compressor which further causes wear. You also get aluminum particles which clog the orifice as well. I did the conversion to r-134 2 years ago and am pleased with the amount of cooling. If you have to do a replacement, change the compressor and filter/dryer, and completely purge the system with denatured alcohol. When you go back, use new seals everywhere and invest in a SmartVOV(variable orifice valve) if pre 1993.

 

Check the clutch on your compressor. When the engine is turned off, you may be able to literally jiggle that clutch a bit. If so, that could be the culprit. Not sure on ford, but on mine, the compressor was making a little bit of noise and it turned out to be that clutch that is held on with a locking nut and bushing, it just got backed off a hair. Tightened it up and all was well again. Don't tighten too much or it will run all the time.