Air Conditioner compressor noise

who needs heat?!

 

Try this: hit Auto, then start raising the temperature until the fan speed drops. You'll likely need to raise temperature to somewhere around 75 F, or higher. As the car cools (and it will, even with the high set temp) the fan speed should start to drop. When that happens lower the temp slightly, one or two degrees at a time, slowly enough that the fan doesn't race, 'till you settle on a temperature that's comfortable, and reasonable fan speed.

The one thing I might override while in Auto is Mode, switching to High/Low, so that it's directing air at your face and feet, less of a breeze.

 

I feel a vibration in my pedals when I'm running on the electric engine and the ac is on.

 

i have a vibration in the gas peddle when the ice is running. i have ignored it for three years.

 

I have no easy answer as I'd have to see and hear your issue to get a better idea of what's happening.

A/C compressors should be relatively silent. You shouldn't notice it inside the car and not hear it too noticeably when outside the car. The louder they are when operating, the more of a concern it would be (to me). Often, they get noisy when a bearing is bad or failing or if the refrigerant levels are low (indicating undercharge or slow leak).

If you have low refrigerant levels, the compressor will work non-stop AND your cabin will never seem to get cool enough. Any car, Prius or otherwise, would be tested by setting the A/C for maximum cool (put it in PWR mode) and then measure the output of air temp when on open vent. If the A/C is ice cold, odds are you don't have a lack of refrigerant.

This brings you back to noise, and yes, a bearing could fail and make a compressor seize up.

If you have someone you relatively trust who knows A/C units who will give it a look over for little to no charge, let them do it. If you're within warranty, then take it to Toyota with your findings. Honestly, the A/C shouldn't fail during the warranty period. Most last 10 or more years before anything wears out, BUT after 5 years you may need to bring it by an A/C shop to check if the charge is within spec and top it off (most all A/C systems loose some refrigerant over time...so it takes several years to reach a point where the system is adversely affected. If you've lost a lot of refrigerant, you need a leak test.

Again, not a lot of help without seeing and hearing your situation first-hand, but I've been through failed auto A/C systems before, and I've told more than one person to bring their car in for service because you can tell by how it IS NOT cooling that their system is due for a recharge/leak check.

 

The Prius a/c compressor is different and runs off electricity, not the engine. It draws about 4kw on maximum and does make a very loud humming noise when first switched on. It is normal to do that, though a little worrysome the first time.

 

It should be silent, or very quiet, I just had this exact issue, now that im out of warranty the compressor went bad, Cost from Toyota to replace $2690.00 Do yourself a favor and have it looked at to start a paper trail.

 

$2,690? Dude, did you get counseling after that raping? I'm pretty sure a competent A/C place could have replaced the required parts with OEM components for under $1,000.

That's why I NEVER want the stealership working on a car outside of warranty.

 

^ See SkunkWorks WTB posting:

WTB - GEN 3 AC COMPRESSOR | PriusChat

The compressor apparently lists for $1600+ and sale price $1300+.

 

DANG! That's just wrong. The casing better be made out of adamantium.

 

Now he's saying he found local for $750. Starting to sound in-the-ball-park. The one thing I take from this: makes the replacement cost of the hybrid battery more palatable.

Yum yum.

 

that's the quote, Drier,evap,valve,compressor, etc and labor. and the parts alone are 2k

 

Holy smokes, that's what I'm seeing myself on Village Toyota ... the compressor near-tripled in price from Gen 2 to Gen 3 (both are electric).

I could possibly see that as a result of moving the motor drive circuitry into the compressor (Gen 2 was a dumb 3-phase motor, all the motor drive for it lived in the main inverter assembly; Gen 3 is self contained, two wires carry battery voltage in and I think it just accepts CAN commands to start/stop/select speed).

So with that A/C motor control circuitry all moved out of the main inverter assembly, you'd sort of expect that to see a little bit of price relief, right? [Edit: this is where I mistakenly said the price had gone UP, but I was looking at the inverter for the Plug-In Prius. Oops!] Looks like it did go down ... compared to about $4k list for Gen 2, the non-Plug-In inverter for Gen 3 seems to list for about $2660.



-Chap

 

I need to pay attention to my Prius. Took it to be inspected, and they left a mess. Half my old inspection sticker was in pieces down in the defroster vent. Running the AC on defrost at full bore blew most of it out, but when I was working on it at home (to get the rest of it), I noticed the compressor was God-awful loud, and I was worried. I need to power it on and see if the sound goes away after some time. It seemed to stay on regardless of fan speed, but defrost might call for maximum AC operation.

 

Do you need to regas your a/c?

 

I shouldn't. It works fine and freon loss should be negligible in newer cars.

 

If the compressor is making a God awful noise for extended periods then it sounds like it's having to run continuously rather than throttling back. The only time that happened to me was when it was low on gas. Your car is 2 years old, and doesn't a car lose 10% a year?

Or maybe you have it on Low and the fan turned up?

 

Yeah, especially since there isn't any freon in "newer" cars.

 

I'll listen this weekend. Maybe it's not what I thought. It's not doing it now.

I hope that 10% figure isn't so, because that should indicate a measurable loss you can trace to a leak point. 2% would be more believable. In my experience, when a system starts needing to be "recharged," that's an indicator that something's getting ready to go. Every car I've had, once I start having to "tune up" the AC, it needs a serious repair within a couple of years. Up to then, YEARS of trouble-free performance.

I know they do suggest having the AC checked every couple of years or so after year 5 because there is a trace amount of refrigerant loss each year, and after year 5 you may need some added. Let it get too low and it starts damaging the system.

Some makes and models are worse for this than others.

"Refrigerant" then...whatever they call it now (R-134a?). I'm used to calling it Freon.

 

My Prius C2 (2012) has the same problem: a high pinch noise with the sound buzzing from an electrical transformer. Such noise occurs whenever the A/C is turned on and immediately disappears as the A/C is off. Also, the cooling fan will turn once the A/C is on and stops when the A/C is off. Is the noise from the compressor (or its motor) or the cooling fan (or its motor), which one?