Recent content by dishe

If I were confident that I know what I'm looking at, I'd agree with you.

No. I'm an armchair mechanic. :)

Ok, a bit more digging and compiling information from Rock Auto, the ebay seller and car-part.com together, and I think I've figured it out. According to ColdfusionACparts (seller on ebay), there was a 99mm 5-groove pulley that the standard Mazda 3's would use for the compressor. There was...

Ok, a little update. After speaking to one of the ebay sellers, he referred me to the 4 seasons website for compatibility info. 4 Seasons happens to be the same company that makes the ones I was looking at on RockAuto. They both say that there's no difference between models from 2004-2009...

Here's the thing, I contacted 2 guys (one from ebay, one from RockAuto) and they both didn't seem to be aware of a differnece in 2005 model builds. In fact, the ebay guy said the compressor is compatible with 2004-2009, and the ebay guy said he say that there are two versions- one with a speed...

Ha- yes, I own both that M5 (my wife's car) which is what I signed up to this site to discuss initially. I bought a used 3i because I liked the 5 so much and I've been driving that for the past couple of years. I just added it to my member info to avoid future confusion- yes, I'm talking about a...

Gotcha. I did contact the company selling AC compressors through RockAuto (4Seasons) this morning, and asked them if there were actually 2 different versions of this compressor. He said there's one that uses a speed pulley, and one that uses a normal one. He doesn't know which is which (I asked...

Cool. That sounds promising. So that being said, I only have 2 more questions: 1) The ones on ebay are significantly cheaper (remanufactured compressors go for $150 on average), but only have a 12 month warranty. Is the RockAuto version for $100 more worth it because of the reputation of the...

There's a ton of these remanufactures on ebay for $100 less, all supposedly coming from the same facility in Michigan...

So you're saying a reman is better than just used. Gotcha. My hesitation was that I once bought a "refurbished" Sony stereo head unit online years ago, and found it to be defective when I installed it. That's ok, it happens- Sent it back for a replacement, and it took 2 more replacements to...

That's actually a remanufactured one, also out of a junkyard likely. But "remanufactured" implies that it was broken initially and they refurbished it. Is that really so much better than just getting a used one from a junkyard that never had anything wrong to begin with? Decent price either way.

Also, I see some say "thru 11/04". Does that mean the compressor changed in dec 2004? How can I tell if my car was manufactured before dec 2004?

When my car refused to start, and it wasn't the battery or starter, I had it towed to my mechanic who informed me that my AC compressor was dead and siezed up (or something like that), which led to it preventing the engine from turning. If he removes the belt, I can start it up and drive it...

I went through the same thing- was renting a place with limited storage space and didn't want to put the box away when not using it. I thought about getting a bag because they roll up so nicely and don't take up space- also, they can easily be removed from the roof and taken into a hotel room...

I've actually got some interesting ideas, been discussing it over at the "other" forum. Let me know what you ended up doing, would love to bounce some ideas off you.