A/C pulley/bearing issue?

[AzteCypher]

Alright, I believe I need a new a/c clutch bearing but I would like ya'lls opinion. My a/c pulley is "wobbling" a bit when the motor is on and I can hear a distinct noise like a pulley might be bad. If I turn on the a/c the clutch engages and the pulley seems to stabilize. When I shut off the a/c the a/c pulley doesn't make any noise for a short while but it eventually comes back. Has anyone ever run into this issue? If so was it the bearing? It's a lot cheaper to replace the bearing than to replace the whole compressor but my concern with replacing only the bearing is this. This is my second compressor. The first one had a bad bearing and I just found it quicker and cheaper at the time to buy a good used one and swap it out. I don't remember how many miles are on this second one but I'm sure it's close to if not over 100,000 miles. That being said how much more life can I get out of this compressor? Sorry for the long post but thanks for any and all feedback.

Mod's if I have posted this in the wrong place please move it. Thank you.

 

[AzteCypher]

Anybody? Did I post this in the wrong area?

 

[MaxPower]

No, you posted in the right forum, just seems things are slow these days in the Protege forums. Not sure how long Protege compressors last. Mine has about 200k on it and seems to be working ok. You'll have to trade off the cost of changing the bearing and estimating a couple years of service vs. getting a reman unit ($300 or so?).

Alternately, you can remove the compressor, fully rebuild it with OEM seals, etc. and replace the bearing. I'd go this route, though I'm not sure how easy it is.

 

[AzteCypher]

Protege's are becoming classics me thinks. Well I'm hoping I didn't screw up the pulley by waiting so long to change it out. The daily commute to work isnt' helping either. I thought about rebuilding it (or swapping it out for a reman one) but if I do that I've been told I have to swap out the dryer and the expansion valve as well. Any thoughts on that?