Well, when it rains, it pours. Fixed my flexplate, truck is running great, all of a sudden I hear this weird scraping noise, intermittently, and smoke is coming up from the front of the truck, passengerside. Turns out the compressor is shooting out oil, which splashed on the exhaust pipe, causing the smoke.
I temporarily bypassed the compressor pulley w/ a shorter drive belt, but I aim to get this fixed. Should I go remanufactured, or new? What brands new or reman should I stay away from? Is their a source for a rebuild kit to rebuild my OEM compressor? Hopefully someone hear has felt my pain. Thanks in advance.

 

Are you sure your smoke isn't coming from the A/C compressor Clutch?

It happened to me, sprayed brake cleaner on the face of the compressor, cleaning the oil off from it.

The first time it did it there was a bad bad noise coming from under the hood and then i saw the smoke coming from out from between the fender and hood..............and went

Had a front Crank seal that was creation the problem

Flash

 

please explain further...where should I be looking if it is not the compressor?

 

If the a/c pressure gets to high, there is a pop off valve in the back of the compressor that could have sprayed the manifold with oil and freon. Can you see exactly where the oil came from? Does the truck run hotter than usual? May be something as simple as a failed fan clutch or a clogged condensor causing the issues.

 

my ac actually ran fine. It happens when I come to a stop, let it idle, w/ the ac on. I watched the clutch pop in and out(idle tends to slightly raise/lower each time the clutch activates in and out). Usually the duration of idle will be around 4-6 minutes. Is this pop-off valve suppose to be doing what it is supposed to do? Since the ac ran fine, what would be the worse case if I kept running it, and just turned my ac off when I let the truck idle? Lastly, I am sure I probably need to top off the oil that is within the compressor, depending on your answers back; Is the oil fill access through that bolt head on top of the compressor?

Akmost forgot to answer you about noticing where the oil came from. What I saw through the smoke was a squirt coming from the end oposite of the compressor pulley(rear of compresor). Also, a noise would accompany that, as mentioned in my original post. When the smoke cleared, I see the engine motor mount, the 90 degree coolant hoses/fittings, etc. ( basically everything under and behind the oil filter) soaked in an oil. Does this help?

 

Definately sounds like the high sde pressure is getting to high! That pop off valve sounds like a ummm.......it's hard to describe...like a bbbrrrrrrrpppp flutter type of noise. It does that to relieve the excessive pressure. Unfortunately it lets out oil and freon when it does. Now your system is going to be a little low on freon, but you need to fix the cause too. Several things to try. Have the system charge checked - is it overfull? Check the fan clutch - is it loose when hot? Is it drawing air when the engine is hot? A friend with a cigarette can tell easily. Hold the smoke in front of the grill and see if it is drawn thru the radiator. Next would be some sort of a restriction in the system causing high pressure. Thats probably the least likely scenario since the a/c blows cold.

You can add an oil charge to the system, just like adding freon. If you want to add it thru the bolt hole on the side of the compressor, the system has to be empty.

 

Well, after doing much reading and asking around, I have a feeling that my compressor could still be good, but low on oil/R12. I actually purchased an aftermarket compressor(new, not reman) from Kragen's. Along with that I purchased all the orings, new valves, new filter drier, and a couple of cans of R134a to do the conversion. But, I came across a service tech from a mom and pop shop who thinks it could be the metering device that converts from high pressure to low; may be stuck he says. I am going to remove the shorter belt I put on to bypass the compressor pulley and replace the stock belt and have them throw the guages to diagnose properly before I start throwing parts on the system and change over to 134a.
I did take some of the advice given here, btw, and thanks! My condensing unit is super clean. I would hate to think the cooling fan clutch went bad, since that is only 5 months new(NAPA). Does anyone know how to tell if the cooling fan clutch is bad? When I shut down the truck the fan stops immediately, on a dime. If the fan would keep spining, I guess that means the fan clutch is bad? W/o having AC diagnostic tools it looks like I will have to bite the bullet and have it done right. I'll keep you posted.

 

Sounds like the fan clutch is ok.