mljenks Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 I have a 2002 ES300 with only 50,000 miles and the A/C compresor locked up and caused the belt to break, loss of all battery power and eventual disablement of the vehicle. I had to have the car towed in a very cold 17 degree temperature. The mechanic says the compressor needs to be replaced. How can this be necessary on such a low mileage vehicle? Are there any known issues that I might not be aware of that could have caused the compressor failure so soon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemechanic Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 This issue is not known. i would have a 2nd mechanic look at it. a/c compressor locking up is very unusual. to simply give you an idea in plain english, the belt attaches to the outer wheel of the compressor. when you push the a/c button, it engages the inner wheel to spin w/the outer wheel and activates the compressor to generate cold coil. when the inner wheel is not engage, the belt spins the outer wheel freely at the time. it's very unusual to have the inner wheel not disengaging itself from the outer wheel. ask your mechanic to check on the freon pressure if you can turn the a/c on. tell us what the pressure reading is. you should be able to start the car w/o the a/c belt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mljenks Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 This issue is not known. i would have a 2nd mechanic look at it. a/c compressor locking up is very unusual. to simply give you an idea in plain english, the belt attaches to the outer wheel of the compressor. when you push the a/c button, it engages the inner wheel to spin w/the outer wheel and activates the compressor to generate cold coil. when the inner wheel is not engage, the belt spins the outer wheel freely at the time.it's very unusual to have the inner wheel not disengaging itself from the outer wheel. ask your mechanic to check on the freon pressure if you can turn the a/c on. tell us what the pressure reading is. you should be able to start the car w/o the a/c belt Thanks for the information. We actually heard a squealing noise when something locked up, then heard the drive belt break and noticed the smoke of burning rubber coming from the car briefly. The battery light came on then all the systems started going out before we started losing power and pulled over. I sure hope it was the compressor since I just paid over $1,000 to get it replaced along with the drive belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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