My AC compressor sounded like a turbocharger and has suddenly stopped working now. My guess was that it blew up from the sounds. It also has a leak so there's no freon pressure inside. What do I need to take off/replace to safely run a new compressor. Do the lines individually need to be flushed? I did a timing belt and water pump job on this car, so Im certain I can do this AC job and send it off to a mechanic to have it oiled and filled with freon. Save me some money. Thanks for reading
Car is a 1999 Toyota Camry 2.2l AT 237,000 Miles Strong
If you blew up a compressor, practically everything in the system needs replaced. A disintegrating compressor sends metal shards through the system, which clogs it up, punctures components, and can destroy a new compressor if not removed. The evaporator, condenser, receiver dryer/ accumulator dryer, orifice tube/ expansion valve (those four depend on your system, Toyota uses a receiver dryer and expansion valve, I believe). Rubber hoses, metal lines if they're damaged, etc. It really is a job.
Putting oil and freon in the system correctly is the easy part if you know what you're doing, tearing it all apart is the hard part.
Parts on rockauto for a new compressor, condenser, dryer accumulator, evaporator, and expansion valve are about $263. My leak was from my condenser, happen I haven't developed a leak elsewhere... I'm going to gamble with I haven't and order lines at a later date if there is. Thankfully on my Camry there's a way around taking the dash apart to get to the evaporator/expansion valve, so I'm really hoping this isn't a nightmare job. To clarify my question more... if I'm keeping the lines, when do I flush them before adding new parts. Do I take the compressor, drier, evaporator, condenser, and expansion valve off, then flush the system and replace with parts? Thats about the biggest thing I'm confused about. I'm new to AC and I appreciate any replies relating to it.
$263 isn't bad at all for all of that. I've never actually flushed out A/C systems, so I'm not familiar with that aspect myself. You probably would be best off to take parts off and flush individual pipes as you go, that way it's more difficult for debris to accumulate and "hide", but I'm not sure. Someone else probably knows. When you put it all back together, make sure the last part you put in is the dryer, and pull a vacuum as soon as you can. There's hygroscopic material in there to absorb moisture if it gets in the system during use, and it won't release while you pull vacuum, so you want to be quick about it. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
My own experience wit repairing air conditioners came from replacing the condenser in my 1999 Ranger. I combined Scotty's videos and some other sources with my engineering knowledge on A/C functionality and did a $700+ job myself in 2 hours. The only things you need to add refrigerant are a vacuum pump, reverse scale and manifold gauges. It's very easy to do. The weightt of refrigerant is on a sticker under the hood. I've thought about fixing car air conditioners on the side, but I need to learn a few more things, I think.
That's what I like to see! People saving money!! Well this won't be a cheap job my any means. I plan on purchasing a vaccine pump and gauges from harbor freight one of these days, and maybe somehow hook up the AC flush to my portable air tank if that's a possible combo o we an air compressor. a compressor would be an extra $100 at least to the job if the air tank doesn't do.
To confirm what @justin-shepard says, if that compressor experienced catastrophic internal failure unfortunately every component in the air conditioning system needs to be replaced due to contamination. In this situation for most cars the worst part of the job is replacing the evaporator and expansion valve since usually the dashboard needs to be removed to get at those parts. If you don't replace everything, contamination can quickly ruin the new compressor. The problem is that the parallel-flow condenser and evaporator cannot be flushed. The flushing compound will just route around trapped debris.
The parts themselves are not horribly expensive. The major cost of the job is labor. A quick check at rockauto.com shows a compressor to cost about $150, condenser about $50, evaporator $50, expansion valve $20, seal kit $10, drier $10. (This is just a quick check to get a ballpark figure. You'd want to shop around for quality parts.) Hoses and metal lines can be flushed out if not damaged but on a car that old the rubber hoses should be replaced, and you might want to replace the blower motor as well while in there.
So if you can do the work yourself, adding in the cost of new hoses and incidentals, it could probably be done for under $500. For a mechanic to do it though you'd be looking at $2000 or more, mainly due to the labor required to R&R the dashboard to get at the evaporator.
Thanks for all of the information. As you said parts aren't that expensive and all of the listed parts cost about $278 as a kit on rockauto for me.😊 I feel pretty confident about being able to replace everything, but what process do I start a flush since I would be keeping my old AC lines? Since I wouldn't want to send any contaminants through, would I take off the condenser, evaporator, expansion valve, compressor, and drier, THEN flush the system so nothing more spreads around? Last but not least lube the system up and replace with new parts and seals? Correct me if theres a different way of doing it.
Disconnect all components and flush the lines out. I use a flushing kit powered by air pressure for that kind of work (flushing compound sold separately).
https://www.amazon.com/MASTERCOOL-91046-Silver-System-Flush/dp/B000HAUXLE
Do you know if that would work with a portable air tank? I WILL spend the money on the tools I need as I've learned with every job, if you don't have the tools it's 110X harder of a job than it needs to be. I can pickup a standalone vacuum pump, but would like to save money with a compressor if possible.
I don't see why it wouldn't work with a portable air tank though depending on its size you may need to refill it while doing the job.
Thanks you two. I'll post some updates hopefully by the end of the season. I've got alot of equipment to buy before hand.