Hey Scotty, so awhile back at the beginning of last summer I was having an issue with my car. Everytime I would be driving or idling with the A/C on the car would make a horribly loud metal clanking sound, like if you put a rock in a tin can and shook it back and forth. I took it to a mechanic, who listened to it and told me it was the A/C compressor failing. However my A/C was still running fine and blowing really cold, a couple weeks after that I ended up cutting the belt that ran the compressor and the noise went away, it's been about 8 months now and I'm starting to have second thoughts. I've watched a lot of videos on failing A/C compressors and other failing A/C components and I have yet to find a video of something that sounds remotely similar to the noise my car was making. I've thought about taking it in somewhere else to get a second opinion but I'm scared they'll rip me off. What do you think I should do? (I also have a video of the noise my car was making, but I'm not sure if there's a way I can attach it to this question)
take the belt off and turn each accessory pulley by hand to see which ones makes noise
If you cut the belt that spins the compressor, and there were no other components driven by that belt, and the noise is gone, your compressor needs replacing. Spin it by hand, good chance you will feel some play in the pulley or feel it grinding. It could continue to work just fine until it breaks apart or seizes.
If it seizes up while in use though, what could be a manageable repair turns into a huge expensive nightmare due to system contamination by the failed compressor. If the compressor is grinding, best to leave it disconnected until ready to replace it.
Agree with @oldandy. If you took your ac belt off and the noise went away, that tells you that the accessory that was driven by that belt is bad, hence no more noise. Spin the compressor by hand and listen for noises.
