Bad A/C Compressor?

[joebleu]

Hi guys,

It has been a bit hot in Cali lately and my A/C is not working very well. My car is usually parked outside (I know ) and when I get in the car in the morning, the temperature takes forever to cool down (even with internal circulation only). Any ambient temp above 80ish and I'm usually better off with the windows down than with the A/C on. Is this just my car or are Audi A/Cs generally weak?

My car was bought in December so of course the A/C appeared to be working fine then. I had a front impact accident in February and the A/C condenser was replaced and the freon flushed. At first I thought this was a repair issue so I took it back to the collision center to check. They said that the freon is full and there are no leaks; they think that my compressor is "going bad" because their air gets cooler when they rev the engine up. The rep also said that Audi compressors are somewhat poor and needs replacing 5-7 years in. My car is a 2003 B6 A4 with about 74K on it. What do you think about this?

I checked the price of a new compressor and it is um... very expensive. Is there anything else I can check to figure out the problem? If I don't fix it, will this hurt the rest of my car? I know the compressor is driven by a pulley connected to the engine and I am not sure if that would mess anything else up.

Thanks for the advice!

[destroyeerr]

check your freon...maybe you have a small leak somewhere and its all gone, add some and see if its cool again. i know they have freon with some color in it to check for leaks.

good luck

[joebleu]

Thanks for the tip but I believe the freon is filled properly. I took it back to the collision shop and they took a whole day and inspected all the connections and made sure the freon was filled. Even if there is a leak, the A/C should work fine for a while and then get warmer right? It just came back from the shop and it is already not very cold. =(

[INB6SCAVANT]

I would get it checked(compressor), if you know it has freon and not leaking....should be a no brainer. Mine went
out last year in late August, vent itself worked but no cold air. Drove it for a week or so and well on a trip
to the beach it frooze up, snapped Serp. belt lost the power steering etc while doing 70mph, luckily I was
slowing down to turn. Drove it to local shop which thank goodness was less than 5 miles.It stayed there for
5 days until it was fixed; about $2300 in repairs and renting a car for a week, get it fixed!!

[OneBadAudi]

if there is too much in the system, it wont get very cool. if too little, it will freeze the system causing it to blow warm air.. check ur a\c lines when the car is on. The big line should be sweating if its working properly. Good luck

[walky_talky20]

Is the shop you took it to an A/C shop or a collision shop? I'd take it to an A/C place. They'll hook up gauges on the low and high sides and will be able to tell pretty quick if it's the compressor, low refrigerant level, or something else.

Was the receiver/dryer replaced when they replaced the condenser?

[joebleu]

The place I took it to was a collision shop that replaced the condenser. I don't have the detail about the receiver when they replaced it (what is the receiver?)

Tom Gore: Your story is pretty scary! I didn't know that a bad compressor could hurt the car... I was hoping I could put off replacing that for a while. I think I need to find a A/C specialist. Are Audi's really different from other cars? Do I need to go to a German Indy A/C place (that's pretty specific) or just any A/C shop?

[absolutegtr]

Is the shop you took it to an A/C shop or a collision shop? I'd take it to an A/C place. They'll hook up gauges on the low and high sides and will be able to tell pretty quick if it's the compressor, low refrigerant level, or something else.

Was the receiver/dryer replaced when they replaced the condenser?

Why should the receiver/dryer be replaced as well?

[teg2audi]

My A/C just took a shit this weekend. Drove for 20 minutes and it kept blowing warm air. Hoping it's a freon issue and not a bad compressor. :-(

[walky_talky20]

If the condenser was damaged enough to create a leak, then the entire system was exposed to the moisture in the atmosphere for a long period of time. If that is the case it is necessary for the dryer to be replaced as it's job is to collect the moisture in the system. With the system open, it collects moisture out of the air, and is basically "used up".

Even if there was no leak, it is generally advisable to replace the dryer whenever the system is opened to the atmosphere even for a short time. For example, when replacing the condenser. In fact, some companies that sell replacement condensers require the dryer to be replaced at the same time or it will void the warranty.

Shop doesn't need to be german or even import specific. Just need to be qualified to work on A/C systems. Most general repair shops and definitely dealerships can do this.