Whirring noise from a/c

[Matt]

Hey guys, a whirring noise has just started coming from the air con, sounds like a lawnmower in my dash. Well, maybe not that loud . Does this mean the a/c motor is on the way out, any ideas on how much it would cost to replace this, or does the whole a/c unit need to be replaced? I imagine it won't be cheap either way.

Cheers.

[Brody]

Have you checked for leaves/crap caught in the fan?

[Guest MRE]

Mine freaked me out.

Was whistling on high.

Turned out someone shut the left vent. I opened it and there goes whistle

Your's sounds like leaves and crap.

[Matt]

cool, I'll have a look tomorrow, hope that's all it is.

[YO880]

i had the same problem, had paper (wtf!) caught in the fan, it was easy to get out though... (mine is a R33)

just remove the kick panel on the passenger side footwell left wall, remove the ECU, unscrew the 3 screws holding the black cylinder looking thing up into the dashboard, and gently pull it out, it houses the fan.. clear it out and stick it all back in 10 minute job, and i put of with the crappy noise for months!

good luck!

[Matt]

have just checked the fan and it was clean, any more ideas?

[\\\Wiktor]

does your aircon work popperly? producing cold and so on.

could be the a/c compressor that is getting weared out. so remove the belts to get to a/c compressor belt and remove it too.

then turn it by hand it should turn smoothly with out any odd sound and you should also press and pull on the pulley in all directions, you are looking for clonks and wiggling. if there are any your compressor needs to be changed

[Matt]

Still seems to work ok, just the noise that's annoying. I'm getting my 100,000 km service done next week so I can get my mechanic to check those things out, hopefully it's just a belt or something not too serious.

[keca18]

matt, got the same prob. its quiet when cold, if i got it on for longer then 15 mins, starts whinning like a bitch. still cools the bastard though. dunno if its the same prob exactly as mine, but my compressors ****ed, maybe yours is too.

[Matt]

yep, sounds exactly like what mine has been doing, on really hot days it would struggle to keep the car cool though and i have to turn it off after a while and back on again and it starts cooling.THis was happening for about two weeks and on friday it blew up!! It started blowing hot air, then there was a burning smell and a bit of smoke from under the bonnet, I turned off and the smoke and shit went away. So now I'm without air con and it's really ****en hot. Hope this can be fixed easily. Hope yours doesn't blow up!!

[keca18]

i got the shits with mine and bought a second hand compressor anyway. cost me $200 but its worth it. didnt have a chance to fit it though, front brakes locked up at 100km/h and i hit a parked car, but hey, atleast now that i got the motor out, makes the compressor swap easy