Seized AC compressor???

I have a 2006 golf with 137,000 miles. My girlfriend was driving it this morning with the AC on when out of now where, A screeching noise and burning smell happened. I checked it out and saw that when the switch is turned on, the AC clutch engages but the pulley only turns over a half turn. The belt mostly slips over it which explains the burning odor.

Is it safe to assume the Comp. is seized? It was working fine last week.

I didn't find any threads about seized comp. Mine is over 13 years old on my MK4 and still works great.

What would cause this problem to manifest itself now??

Compressor should turn full time with a/c on or off. There is no clutch.

Remove the serpentine belt and check. While the compressor could have failed it's possible that your alternator is the problem. Either a bad clutch or bad bearings.

For your sake I'll hope it's an alternator. About an hour to change.

nord said:

Compressor should turn full time with a/c on or off. There is no clutch.

Remove the serpentine belt and check. While the compressor could have failed it's possible that your alternator is the problem. Either a bad clutch or bad bearings.

For your sake I'll hope it's an alternator. About an hour to change.

Click to expand...

There is a clutch on the A/C compressor.

Volks,

I beg to differ with you. Our compressors are variable displacement units. As such there is no clutch in the conventional sense. You may easily verify my statement by having a look at your pulley assembly. You'll find no wiring and no clutch.

In the simplest of terms our compressors run full time. If no ac is called, then the compressor may be said to compress virtually nothing. Once ac is called for we'll see varying amounts of refrigerant being introduced into the unit... Variable displacement.

A-4 is a different animal though. They have the more conventional clutched compressor.