Well...whenever I start the motor I get this real LOUD clacking sound, like the fan blade is slapping something. Not all the time but a lot of the time. Ran my had around where the fan goes (motor off guys ), found nothing and all the blades were a-ok. Noise went away after reving for awhile. Intermittent problems are a drag cuz of course it would not make the noise when I went to the stealer. Finally, about 2 weeks later, the A/C stopped blowing cold air (humph!). Maybe related and now I have something to go on. Stealer says A/C belt is gone, must have broken off...tensioner is also kaput. $313 dollars later. No more clacking sound sound so says the stealer. OK, happy me .
Fire up the beast this afternoon, clack, clack, CLACK!!! CRAP,CRAP,CRAP!!! Drive straight to the stealer. Get the mechanic out there. Finally he hears the same thing. Tells me to turn off the A/C. Sound goes away. Stealer says "A/C compressor is on its last legs". Keep A/C off until the compressor is replaced". "How", says I, "much is the new compressor?". Stealer says: "Come over here and sit down, can I get you a coffee or a cool drink of water?". "No", says I. "Just give it to me straight." $950 for the part, $140 for labour, another $100 for the coolant (decharge/recharge), some more for the tax man and you are just over $1,500 bones.
I just spent over $300. Do the math. So, my question to all you good truck owners out there is...should I look for a used compressor and replace this myself? Maybe get the stealer to decharge/recharge part?
Any advice would be surely appreciated!

Tough Luck, Blackdawg…

I would shy from a second-hand/used one, unless you know the part dealer. I think you went to a local dealer and prices you mentioned are $CAD. If so, I would check US part suppliers for a new compressor, you may find a better price. I would definitely install it by myself, including discharge and charge, since there are kits available for that purpose. Can’t justify the Stealer’s labor rate as my local mechanic charges only the half of it.

Considering that we are going into the winter (already around 50s here) I wouldn’t rush it, good luck...

Thanks Ken,
I appreciate your advice. I'll let you know how it works out. You're certainly right about not needing to rush into it. I just hate it when things aren't all working properly.
Cheers!

I agree with Ken, I'd try to order the part a lot cheaper and do the install myself. But I think it'd be worth it to have a local mechanic at least evacuate the system and recharge it. Make sure he has the right equipment to do it, but it's crucial to pull that vacuum on the system, burn off all the moisture, recharge with the correct amount of r134a, and add the correct amount of lubricant for the particular system and compressor.

Although I used to work at a shop, and have done it many times, with the right equipment tho, which is pretty expensive. I don't know if I'd trust it without having the right stuff. In the long run anyways to minimize the chance of damaging the compressor by not doing it correctly. Plus as common and sometimes hard to find as A/C leaks are, you'd have somewhere to take it back to if it does leak. Good luck!!

Luke

Hi Luke,

Good to also hear from someone who has done this before. I picked up a Haynes manual for the truck and although I am not shy about doing my own repairs, A/C is not something I have taken on before. I'm going to do a little phoning around.

Cheers!

Here's a new OEM compressor for $225. Sounds a lot better than that $950.

Or a used one for $95. link
It doesn't look like the used one has the ports capped off tho, so it's had a chance to get contaminents and plenty of moisture in there.
I'm sure there's plenty of other places to get that compressor too.

Also I just noticed that ebay has a pretty good guide to a/c stuff..actually looked pretty informative. A/C Guide
Pulling Vacuum

Good luck again,

Luke

Luke,

you are THE MAN!

Jim...

Anything to help out a fellow Qsteerer Let me know how it works out.

Wow, did you guys ever give me good advice.

I contacted a local AC expert. He couldn't any parts other than GM and although his quote was only $40 less, he included a new accumulator/dryer and orifice tube. When I checked with the dealer to see if their quote included the same, they said "NO. We don't generally include them anymore unless the compressor blew up and sent metal fragments through the system." All of the literature I have seen actually says that the dryer should ALWAYS be replaced WHENEVER the system is "opened", regardless of the reason why. Also the orifice tube is inexpensive so may as well do it at the same time. In fact, the accumulator/dryer should be viewed very similar to your engine's oil filter and changed every 2-3 years as reoutine maintenace to save those other expensive parts( compressor) from breaking down (so I just learned). In any case, another example of the dealer charging an outrageous amount and then only doing the minimal work (because their outrageous prices scare the heck out of people they keep the work to a minimum) and in the long run, not benefiting the customer.

Anyway, this other fellow said he would do the same work on my truck but with my parts, albiet no warranty. Fine. I heard he is one of the best around. I could get him to do the job twice and still save money.

So I just finished purchasing not only the compressor (with a clutch), but also the accumulator dryer, an orifice tube and 8 ounces of MasterChem Ultra Pag 46 oil all for the unbeleivable price of $245USD + $15 shipped from a place in Irving Texas (right where my truck originally came from!). Landed in Canada will be about $310CAD plus this fellow's labour he quoted me $465. For this kind of money I would rather have a pro do it. I need my truck working and not spread all over my garage while I learn what to do (and what not to do) and get any new tools that I will probably only use once in my life, ...

Grand total including tax $785. Thats about $800 savings AND the dealer's quote did not include parts and labour to replace the orifice tube and accumulator/dryer which I estimate would be around $400 based on this other fellows cost on those parts.

Next step is pick up the parts when they arrive and drop everything off for the job. I will report in after the work to let you all know how it worked out. I expect that will be about 2 weeks from now.

Cheers to all and thanks again for the good advice!

I'm glad to hear it worked out okay for you. I'm all for independant mechanics, they are almost always cheaper and from my experience they are almost always more knowledgable and honest as well.

But really...all this work and money for something that should have never happened in the first place... I'm a chevy man...but they have to get stuff like this under control. A three year old $40-45,000 truck and the compressor's shot..?? Happens all the time with many different components, but it's unacceptable in my opinion. We shouldn't be so used to it as we are...
But in my case I would have never gotten a quadrasteer if it wasn't for some of GM's crappy components. I was having so many problems with my '00 Silverado that I had to start an Excel file to keep track of it all. Which eventually led to my trading for my Qsteer. So I guess it's not all bad

OK, so here is the final chapter...

The independant AC specialist calls me mid job (holding my breath while he speaks...). He says the AC belt idler pulley is wearing out and should he replace it at the same time. Cost about $40. I have faith in him and everythin is already apart so I said OK and asked him to keep the old part.

When I went to pick the truck up at the end of the day, he springs it on me...he says the A/C compressor looked fine and so did the orifice tube which is the leading sign of a problem with the compressor. Not only that, the fluid he drained look great as well. He showed me the orifice tube and said the new one didn't look any better. Then he showed me the pulley he replaced and showed me the vibration it was making. He did replace everything with the new parts anyway. Then I remember I jumped the gun with him. I told him I needed the repairs. I didn't ask him to evaluate it for himself. He figures the only thing wrong was the $40 dollar idler pulley! CRAP! Oh well, my mistake on that one. At least I paid him and not the stealer. He ended up charging me less than the original quote (ever get that from the dealer?) and the pulley was only $30, not $40. Neither of us know for sure if I really needed the compressor changed or not but now I have a spare (just in case) although it is unlikely I will ever use it based on the price I can get a new one for (thanks to PurdueQS!) and the labour will still be required.

So in the end, his labout came in at $500 (inluding the new pulley and taxes) and the parts I imported were basically $300. Total $800.

The dealer quoted $1,500 not including parts and labour to replace:
- the orifice tube
- the accumulator/dryer
- the idler pulley
which I now estimate at about $450.

$800 vs $1,950!!!

I guess I shouldn't be shocked but I still am.
I am also very grateful to this site and all the grate contributors!

Truck on!

Jim...

quote:

grate contributors

oops! "grate" is supposed to be spelled "great". There are probaly other speeling miskates in their.

Well...glad to hear your problem is fixed. But ouch! too bad the pulley problem wasn't found first. Hopefully this will be the end of your repairs for quite some time... I guess it never hurts to have a spare, if you are planning on keeping it around, you might wanna cap off all the ports with the plugs that should have come on the new one.

I did the same thing with a fuel pump on my '00 Silverado. Thanks to the lying fuel gauge on that era truck, I couldn't really tell if I ran out of fuel or if the fuel pump was shot. I was several hours from home, so I walked a couple miles and got a gas can of fuel..that didn't do it. So I got it towed and the truck driver was nice enough to let me work on it in his own garage which I couldn't even believe..thank God tho...cuz it was a Friday nite and there's no way I would have been able to get it fixed for a few days. Checked all fuel pump fuses/relays first...nothin...broke down and ran to autozone before they closed and got their last pump. Dropped the tank at like midnite that nite...in the tow truck drivers garage and replaced the pump, still nothing. Gave up and went to a hotel. I called the owner of the shop I used to work at the next morning and had him trace a wiring schematic..and it turns out that the juice for the fuel pump also runs through an ECM B fuse. Sure enough...I found that fuse and it was blown. Sorry for the long story...but just for anybody else...

MORAL TO THE STORY: If you run you fuel tank low enough...the pump will get hot with not enough fuel to cool it...and it will blow an ECM B fuse on some GM trucks. just FYI

Why is we have to learn these things the hard way Dawg??

quote:

Why is we have to learn these things the hard way Dawg??

Because otherwise it would take us all of our lives to read up on it before we turned the key. You know...turn to the manual AFTER it breaks.

As for the fuel pump, I did the same thing with my Safari van only my pump went when there was about a quarter of a tank of fuel still in it. The pump went because I was continually running with very little fuel (don't ask why, that was just my way and I didn't know better at the time). Not only is a full tank of fuel good to keep the pump lubed and cool but it also extends the life of the pump and it and limits condensation in the tank. I didn't know about the fuse though. Speaking of fuel pumps, I've heard some can be noisy, nothing wrong with them, just noisy. I hear mine on the truck from time to time. Hope that is not a sign of things to come. This truck has been great otherwise!

Thanks for the tip on covering the ports on the A?C compressor. Having read up on all this stuff, I asked the fellow to do that when I left with it but he was way ahead of me. You know, it really feels great to have some work on your ride and feel confident in how they take care of it and you(me)!

Dinner bell is ringing...off I go!