2001 Ford Taurus Air Compressor?
My Taurus began making an occassional soft grinding noise, almost like a quiet diesel engine a few months ago. About a month ago, I turned on the car and the noise was the loudest it's ever been. The noise seemed to change and get a little quieter and deeper when the A/C was turned on. I used the A/C everday all day because I live in Houston. I took the car in for an estimate and was told my idler pulley needed to be replaced as well as my air compressor. With recharding the A/C and labor, a total of $1100 in repairs was the quote. The air conditioning and even the vent system is still working fine and gets cold within 30 seconds of the car being turned on. So I'm a bit reluctant about shelling out the cash. The sounds seems to be getting louder and every now and then a weird smell, like humid burning, comes from the car after driving. Should I get the repairs or am I getting ripped off? Does it sound like a brand new air compressor is what I need?
You are getting ripped off. What is probably wrong is the pully bearing is woren out (about $12.00). Best bet. Take it to a machine shop,(you may have to phone a few of them to find out if they will do it for you) and see if they will take it off the car or if you have to take it off the car. All they do is remove the pully bearing and press in a new one. If they do the whole job they may want as much as $300.00, but probably a lot less.
