Hey everybody,

My '04 Prius has started whining. Well, the A/C compressor has, to be specific. I don't know what its problem is, but it's certainly vocalizing the anguish.

When the air is on there is a high-pitched buzzing sound emanating from under the hood. I know the compressor is supposed to make some noise, but people in my parking garage turn around to see what's going on as I roll up!

The dealer is saying it's upwards of $1500 - $2000 to replace the compressor. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Suggestions/support would be greatly appreciated.

-Drew

 

Hi Drew, long time no hear. But I guess I'd hear you now!

I'm sure that you are as familiar with this electric motor driven scroll compressor as I am. One obvious noisemaker would be sick bearings.

Conicelli sells the compressor for $731:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...04&catalogid=2

And then there's installation cost and recharging the refrigerant. It might be available from LKQ or one of the other vehicle dismantlers. Hope you don't need it replaced.

DAS

 

Well, I went to Toyota today and had my cranky A/C looked at. $1,750 is the estimate for a new compressor with installation.

I opened a case with Toyota HQ in Torrance and the person on the phone (who was very helpful, BTW) agreed that this is a very odd repair for a 2.5 year old car that's just out of warranty. He told me it was abnormal and started the process with a field engineer for my dealer (Toyota of Hollywood) to see if they could "help me out with the repair cost."

I'm supposed to get a call in the next three days from this person to offer me a solution. I'll keep y'all posted.

-Drew

 

I wonder what broke your A/C,
hey, are you the type who turns the A/C off most of the time to save on gas or do you just leave it on all year around even in winter time?

On my other car, i leave the A/C on all year around because the mechanic at BMW said i should keep it on because it will break if it's not used for long periods of time, also, it draws in dry air to help unfog the windows during winter and rainy seasons. The automatic climate control helps control the temp in the car anyway regardless of the A/C being on or not. This is why i keep my A/C on all the time in my prius too.

 

I've heard this as well, something to do with keeping the lubricant flowing through the system to prevent the seals from drying out and discharging refrigerant.

My A/C is on often, I'm certainly not a "hypermiler" (48 MPG average or so, all city). I do enjoy cruising around with the windows down on occasion, but it's rare that more than one or two days elapses without spinning up the A/C compressor.

In this case, it look like a defective part. Inexcusable on such a late model car! No word from Toyota yet, I'll keep everyone posted.

-Drew

 

Yeah, definately a defective part.
48mpg is what i get, and i leave my A/C on all the time. I bought my car in march and i didnt care if it was -10C outside, i'm leaving my A/C on and forget about it. When i use to take my other car in for oil changes at BMW, i would turn the a/c off and those mechanics would always turn it back on and tell me to leave it on so it wont break even if it's freezing cold outside. I let the auto climate control handle the rest.

good luck with your car.

gj

 

Drew,

So, what has Toyota done for you?

Just to reinforce other posts, vehicle A/C systems circulate refrigeratn oil all through the system. When the A/C compressor is operating the entire loop of the system is covered with refrigerant oil. Not only is the oil necessary for operation of the compressor, but it also keeps the lines and o-rings lubricated and fresh, thus reducing the chances of loosing refrigerant because the lines become cracked or the o-rings dry up.

Good advice from BMW delealers. I got this advice from a very knowledigible Ford/Mercury service manger.

 

Your '04 should be covered by warranty unless you exceeded 36000 miles.