Ac Compressor Failure

mpeach1976

Active Member
Feb 14, 2014
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my car ('14 mustang GT) only has 44000 miles on it and the AC compressor already failed. That's a little unheard of...at 44000 miles. As anyone else had this problem?
 
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A/C ever been serviced before?
before it went out it worked fine. After it went out had no reasonably suspicion that it was broken at 44,000 miles. I took it to get recharged and that's when I was told it was a bad compressor. I don't have the extended warranty....so it wouldn't be covered. Next day I called the dealer I bought it from and spoke to a service advisor and he was pretty flippant about it... He told me that they could go out at 10,000 or they can go out at 90,000 miles... I made an appointment to take it in just to see what they. I think his explaination is pretty unacceptable. I have a dodge truck with 217,000 miles on it and the original compressor still works. I'm pretty irritated to say the least.
 
before it went out it worked fine. After it went out had no reasonably suspicion that it was broken at 44,000 miles. I took it to get recharged and that's when I was told it was a bad compressor. I don't have the extended warranty....so it wouldn't be covered. Next day I called the dealer I bought it from and spoke to a service advisor and he was pretty flippant about it... He told me that they could go out at 10,000 or they can go out at 90,000 miles... I made an appointment to take it in just to see what they. I think his explaination is pretty unacceptable. I have a dodge truck with 217,000 miles on it and the original compressor still works. I'm pretty irritated to say the least.
There are many complaints on compressor failures around the mileage you have. Just past the warranty......hummmm? Several people have said not to replace with OEM but a better quality after market. I don't think servicing it would have helped. Putting a set of gauges on it might show a weak compressor or blockage where the compressor is about to fail.
 
Kind of BS that any part of a car at 44,000 miles would go out. That's only 8000 miles after the warranty expires. Not to mention that up until 8000 miles ago I was taking my car to Ford to have it serviced and the oil changed on the "Ford recommended" service interval. That said: I'm still paying off a car with a broken AC.
 
This literally just happened. I have 37K on a 2011. Right out of extended warranty. Nice knocking noise when I turn the AC on. What options are there ? Other than OEM?


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This literally just happened. I have 37K on a 2011. Right out of extended warranty. Nice knocking noise when I turn the AC on. What options are there ? Other than OEM?


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I sent a strongly worded email to Ford... Maybe you should do the same. Bring it to their attention. I am going to try calling them this week. I may have mentioned earlier that I have a '95 and a '97 Dodge truck with 217,000 and 350,000 miles (respectively) and they both have the original AC compressors and they still work great. My car is 8000 miles out of warranty and I told Ford that I took it to the dealer while under warranty at every "Ford recommended" service interval and there should be NOTHING wrong with my car.
 
Compressors go out when they go out.

My '99 GMC and my '03 Ram were both traded in with their originals still on them at 249k and 105k on them respectively. I've personally replaced a LOT of compressors on both families of trucks at lower mileage, even under warranty in the case of the Dodges.

I haven't had a compressor go out on a Ford my family has owned since my 1975 Thunderbird or my mom's 1989 Aerostar, both when I was a teenager (15 and 17 years ago). I'll be the first to admit that luck is a factor, as is the fact that they get used year-round in Texas.

Even Hyundai, which uses some pretty stout compressors from Denso and warranties them for 60k miles has failures before the warranty is out from time-to-time. Did one on a Tucson the other day.

As far as upgrades go, Advance Auto Parts has a lifetime warranty compressor available (when bought with the associated parts and installed professionally) as well as the Denso aftermarket replacement line with a 2-year warranty (same thing applies, associated parts and pro installation). I sold the hell out of both back when I worked for them. Had about a half dozen lifetime units come back out of thousands sold, had zero Denso units returned.
 
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Compressors go out when they go out.

My '99 GMC and my '03 Ram were both traded in with their originals still on them at 249k and 105k on them respectively. I've personally replaced a LOT of compressors on both families of trucks at lower mileage, even under warranty in the case of the Dodges.

I haven't had a compressor go out on a Ford my family has owned since my 1975 Thunderbird or my mom's 1989 Aerostar, both when I was a teenager (15 and 17 years ago). I'll be the first to admit that luck is a factor, as is the fact that they get used year-round in Texas.

Even Hyundai, which uses some pretty stout compressors from Denso and warranties them for 60k miles has failures before the warranty is out from time-to-time. Did one on a Tucson the other day.

As far as upgrades go, Advance Auto Parts has a lifetime warranty compressor available (when bought with the associated parts and installed professionally) as well as the Denso aftermarket replacement line with a 2-year warranty (same thing applies, associated parts and pro installation). I sold the hell out of both back when I worked for them. Had about a half dozen lifetime units come back out of thousands sold, had zero Denso units returned.
Got my ac compressor replaced and the culprit turned out to be a broken clutch. That said; is there a common way that clutches break? Could they break from turning the ac on effectively engaging the clutch at higher speeds like turning it on on the freeway?
 
Got my ac compressor replaced and the culprit turned out to be a broken clutch. That said; is there a common way that clutches break? Could they break from turning the ac on effectively engaging the clutch at higher speeds like turning it on on the freeway?
Not really. The clutch on modern cars simply won't engage or will disengage if the RPMs are too high.
 
my car ('14 mustang GT) only has 44000 miles on it and the AC compressor already failed. That's a little unheard of...at 44000 miles. As anyone else had this problem?

Yes. They replaced the whole system- a little over $900- to be safe just in case pieces of broken internals got in the lines or condenser, etc. The compressor gear was locking up and burning up the clutch. Around 60,000k miles on the car at that time.

It's that time of the year- these compressors don't handle heat too well. I read posts from people in Texas who have already replaced their compressors twice. Something to do with the compressors not holding up to the continued heat.