I have a 2000 ws.6 with 41k miles. When I turn on the a/c there is a crackling sound that comes from around the area of the compressor. It blows very cold air. and you can only hear the sound when the a/c is on. A mechanic told me it the compresor. he said that he could replace the compressor and it would take care of the problem. he says he has done this before with no problems. this is a regular mechanic, not an A/C shop. this guy has done very good work everytime I have gone to him. what do you guys think? should I just replace the compresor, or should I go all out and do the whole compresor, expantion valve, and A/C accumulator? any suggestions?

 

I owned and operated an AC shop for 13 years; but I have no clue what you are saying about a cracking sound. The only real way to diagnose AC problems is to have gauges hooked up to the car and see what is going on within the system.
The book answer is to change the accumulator and the orfice tube (your car doesn't have an expansion valve) whenever you install a new compressor. In real life, I have seen people install a used compressor without the other parts...sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't. It really all depends upon what caused the compressor failure in the first place.

 

It sounds like something is about to break inside when I turn on the a/c, its a loud crackling noise. But it blows cold air. it just sounds like loud bearings. like the are just breaking inside.. now could it be that when i turn on the a/c it makes something else sound that way? pulley?

 

i am havin the same thing i think its like a loud rattling right? i am gonna evac my system and add some oil to it and recharge it and see what it does i think its low on oil for some reason but thats what i am gonna try tomarrow so i will let ya know if it works...

 

if it still blows cold air, i say keep it. don't replace the compressor before it goes bad. thats like throwing away a whole cake because you dropped one piece on the floor. it may very well be the compressor shaft bearings, but don't mess with it until it goes. just my opinion, though.

 

If its low on oil, than the refrigerant would have leaked out with the oil...and your A/C would not blow cold air (obviously). Unless this is the case, odds are your not low on oil, and if there is a leak, that is allowing oil/refrigerant to escape, your better off finding the source of the problem instead of just adding oil and recharging the system.