Rattle

[kadawg13]

Hi, new member just registered. I've been reading a lot of the threads here for the past couple of weeks and wish I would have found this site when I bought my car 2 years ago.
I have the 2001 3.4 and had the harmonic balancer replaced late last year or early this year, can't remember the date. about a month or two ago I noticed a very loud rattle that I traced to the AC compressor (at least I think), it will stop when I turn the AC on and the compressor engages. sometimes the rattle will start back up when I turn the AC off and sometimes it will go away. it has been pretty random when it shows up, and I hadn't had it for a few weeks until today. I can't really see in there very well to tell if there is metal bits or not.
my question is; should I go ahead and replace the compressor or wait it out? and how difficult will this be to do on my own?
I've got a basic set of ratchets but no torque wrench and a small 2 ton jack and stands.
here is a video of the sound....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X07mjahebXA

[That01Olds]

It sounds like the same rattle my 2001 had. Mine was a 2.4L and it was the A/C compressor causing the rattling. My car was doing the opposite of what your car is doing though. The rattle would start when I turned on the A/C and the compressor engaged and then stop a few seconds after shutting it off.

It's honestly entirely up to you if you want to replace it. The part brand new from GMPartsDirect.com is $250 (dealer will charge $400-500) and iirc it's not exactly the easiest part to replace. I personally never replaced mine. It was like that before I got the car and the A/C was still working so I just lived with the rattling. It wasn't like I could hear it inside the car anyway. Now had the A/C stopped working then I probably would've replaced it cause I live in Tennessee and driving around in the summer with no A/C is no bueno lol.

[kadawg13]

The ac is still pretty cold, but I don't use it very much. I usually just have the windows down.

[That01Olds]

Yeah, then I personally wouldn't worry about replacing it man. Unless you really want to do it and have the extra cash to spend on it or it starts causing more problems for some reason. That's entirely your decision though. Like I said I didn't replace mine the entire time I owned the car and it was fine. That's just my opinion on it.

[Redog]

It sounds like the AC clutch has a little play in it. Common with GM cars since my Alero, Mom's 01 Cavalier, and yes, even my 1985 Delta 88 all do the same thing. Also all 3 cars have never had this rattle lead to AC failure.

I've never replaced my AC compressor on the Alero either, but I have had them replaced at the mech, 3 times. Yes I'm on my 4th compressor and all three times it failed because of a crack in the bottom of the AC comprssor's case and it couldn't hold pressure. Cost was in the $600-$800 range, and you have to depressurize the system to do it correctly. If you pop a line off yourself, yeah it's not a good idea because it will hurt the enviroment and can cause frostbite

In all, it doesn't make the $900 price tag seem too bad to replace all the Volvo's AC stuff, esp since it will have a lifetime warranty. Volvo is known for AC issues as far back as 1995

[kadawg13]

ok, I guess I will just wait and see then. there are better things I can spend that cash on.

[That01Olds]

Originally Posted by Redog

It sounds like the AC clutch has a little play in it. Common with GM cars since my Alero, Mom's 01 Cavalier, and yes, even my 1985 Delta 88 all do the same thing. Also all 3 cars have never had this rattle lead to AC failure.

I've never replaced my AC compressor on the Alero either, but I have had them replaced at the mech, 3 times. Yes I'm on my 4th compressor and all three times it failed because of a crack in the bottom of the AC comprssor's case and it couldn't hold pressure. Cost was in the $600-$800 range, and you have to depressurize the system to do it correctly. If you pop a line off yourself, yeah it's not a good idea because it will hurt the enviroment and can cause frostbite

In all, it doesn't make the $900 price tag seem too bad to replace all the Volvo's AC stuff, esp since it will have a lifetime warranty. Volvo is known for AC issues as far back as 1995

Yeah, that's honestly why I never replaced mine lol. Didn't see a point in spending $600-800 to fix it when it was still working just fine. It just rattled when you had the A/C on. Nothing I couldn't live with.

The A/C was actually one thing my Volvo wasn't having issues with when I had it. The air was so cold in that car it was like it was blowing snowflakes out of the vents lol. Instead I just had the sensor in the accelerator assembly go out and not even a day after getting that fixed either the key or the ignition was going to have to be replaced cause the car kept giving the immobilizer message and wouldn't start. None of those parts were cheap to replace and I ended up getting rid of the car cause there was no telling what else would go wrong with it after that and I didn't have that kind of money to keep throwing at it.

It's a shame cause most Volvo's are usually good cars, but that particular one had all the signs of being a money pit.

[Redog]

^^ I hear ya.

It's funny though, because with the newer Volvos that have Ford parts, it's the Ford parts that cause the biggest problems

[01OhioAlero]

Originally Posted by kadawg13

ok, I guess I will just wait and see then. there are better things I can spend that cash on.

I wouldnt wait to long. Mine made the same exact sound and the bearings in the ac compressor were going out and metal shavings were all over the place. I was afraid it was going to cut the belt or something cause it was sharp as hell. I just did a ac delete because RACEKAR
But no heres my video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQvvDvsbkoo
Very similar.

[Redog]

OK, but the car doesn't need AC to run

[kadawg13]

I'll have to see if I can get a look down closer to the compressor to see if there's any metal being thrown off. I can't recall hearing the rattle since I started the thread here.

[That01Olds]

Originally Posted by Redog

^^ I hear ya.

It's funny though, because with the newer Volvos that have Ford parts, it's the Ford parts that cause the biggest problems

I don't doubt that at all.