ok, switch car ignition on (but dont turn engine on itself), press ||| defroster button (AUTO isnt pressed at all) and i get my air nice and quietly coming through.

 

start the car, i get an almighty grinding and whining noise (its seems to increase with foot down)...whats going on? i read a few things on here about bearings and compressors....as usual i look in the engine and cannot see anything except pipes and metal lol

 

u may have guessed im not a mechanic

 

cheers,

 

rob

When its making the noise, press the 'econ' button on the aircon unit. If the noise disappears its either a noisy AC belt tensioner or more likely, the compressor itself has seized...

If I press the auto button and then press the econ button as u suggest, yep, the noise goes...

 

whats my options here then mate? im not bothered about air con really normally only want heat :)

 

how much is this new compressor thing then? sounds expensive!

i saw you advice on an earlier post about choppin the belt or disconnecting a wire mate, do you have a link to a pic i cant see anythink in this engine :)

 

thanks

You need to disable to aircon compressor basically :) If you look to the bottom right of the engine, looking from the front, you'll see the aircon compressor. Either cut the belt to this, OR, if you look at the front top of the unit, you'll see a black single wire coming out of the unit. Follow this to the connector and simply disconnect, making sure the wires can't get anywhere near any moving parts. This will disable the aircon compressor clutch so the drive will just spin freely :)

i will take a look thanks mate..happy new year :)