Pretty sure A/C compressor died...

[jeebusm3]

Car has 15k miles on it. Wife was driving and car started making crazy knocking sounds and she pulled over because it totally scared her. She turned the car off. I told her to try starting it. It would start momentarily but make crazy noises and was unable to drive. She finally tried turning off the AC. Everything was fine then. Turn the AC back on and the car makes crazy sounds again.

Going to take it to the dealer tomorrow. At least it's not too hot outside.

 

[mazdadude]

Sorry to hear that, when mine went out, it too made some nasty noises, some bad odors, and a cloud of freon gas! When I looked under the hood near the compressor pulley, and motor mount area, there was a bunch of oily residue from the charged freon escaping.

Good thing it happened under warranty, because a new one is $500.

 

[07MZ5SA]

I wonder if location of A/C compressor has to do with it.

 

[DKaz]

From what I heard from a Toyota dealer when my brother was getting his new Corolla, the A/C compressors are generally cheap disposable replaceable things with an average lifespan of 5 years, although they said it would cost $1000 to replace and getting extended warranty would be worth it for this reason alone.

I try not to use the A/C, but I don't know why my new Corolla gets fogged up without the A/C dehumidifier on when all my older cars had no problem dehumdifiying even though they didn't have A/C. I used my A/C more through winter time than I did in the summer, boo to wet climates. =(