A/C Strange Noises (06' 3.0si)

[giraffophobic]

Hello hello

Over the past couple weeks my air conditioning has been making strange noises when I turn it on right after starting the car from cold. Once the engine reaches normal operating temperature and I turn the AC on, the noise does not occur. The noise it makes when I turn on the AC before the engine warms up sounds almost like a jet engine spooling up, as one would hear from inside the plane (intense whine that increases in pitch).

I haven't noticed any decrease in cooling ability, nor any dash lights. My guess is my AC compressor is on the way out, but then again my knowledge is limited to a quick google search

Any thoughts?

 

[Thrustyjust]

Could well be refrigerant in the system just getting to the right places as when not running the refrigerant equalises across the system. If you are not getting any performance issues, then it 'could' be just that and nothing to worry. If it howls and the compressor then starts to stop/ start , you may have a shortage of refrigerant. Howling is the refrigerant flowing through the expansion valve on the bulkhead. You should be getting about 10 deg C differential across the evaporator, so that's air temp in the car heading to the fan return and vent temperature if that is working well, as a guideline.

 

[inkey$]

I had my AC regassed today. Wasnt cold and and made low clicky noise before the regas. Now its perfect and ice cold with zero noise. Guy told me the compressors were pretty bullet proof on these cars, so as Thrustyjust says, could also just require new refrigerant.