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2002 Forester S air conditioner noise


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Had service done for a few things, the AC wasn't as cold as it used to be. The national service shop I brought it to evacuated and recharged the system. When I left I turned it on for a few seconds until I felt cold air. This week turned it on and kept it on because it was a warm day. The air was cold but after a few minutes this strange horn like sound would occur every few seconds. During that interval the engine felt loaded down, almost like applying the brakes. Turned it off for fear of something breaking - and the fact that one of the belts had been squealing intermittently. Took it to a local shop (typically cost would be less) for the belt and to check the noise. I would have replaced the belt myself the new noise didn't occur. They didn't get to it until late in the day so there wouldn't be time to replace the compressor, receiver dryer and other associated parts. For now the wire to the compressor is disconnected to prevent it from running. I was told there's debris in the system causing the noise. It wasn't the compressor as I thought - but the hoses vibrating. If I could somehow record and post the noise later I will. Before the system was recharged by the other shop, the AC ran without any noise, just not very cold. I'll try to get it back for them to diagnose what's going on. I asked - could have the system been overfilled?.. was told it is a remote possibility. I wonder if anyone has experienced this? 

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That seems to be the consensus - no one has heard of the situation, just my luck! Next week I do plan to bring it back where it was recharged. Maybe tomorrow I'll try posting a video with a link, not sure if that can be done on this site. The O2 sensor, which was causing the check engine light was replaced. At least it passed emissions the next day.

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it is over-filled with refrigerant and the H tube or orifice w'ever can make a hooting noise like that.

 

read of it 2-3 times.

Thanks for confirming, a hooting noise is an accurate description. Was going to try to record/post the noise anyway, but I couldn't make it happen this morning. Maybe not good news if some refrigerant leaked out. I saw the cap labelled H. I know the refrigerant shouldn't just be released, should be recycled. I'll let the shop that worked on it do what's appropriate.

 

Thanks to whoever deleted the duplicate post.

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Could be a handful of things but the expansion valve is likely what's causing the noise. It could be partially clogged with debris, could have moisture in the system, could have air in the system. Hard to say exactly without putting a set of pressure guages on it.

 

As said earlier, take it back to the shop that just worked on it.

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The shop had it all day - like me, they were unable to reproduce the trouble. Turned on the AC on the way home for a while, worked fine no noise. I'll just have to hope that'll be the case when I need to use it again. Back to 'normal' springtime weather here.

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Mine did the same thing. I used the caveman method for freon servicing and over serviced it. 2 cans on an empty system after oring replacement and part of a 3rd which as it turns out was too much. My scientific repair involved letting a little freon out of the low side servicing port and AC blows 60 degrees with no more noise.

Edited by 01 Outback
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Nothing wrong with a caveman method! I have a caveman cellphone (flip phone). I haven't tried the AC since I brought it home from the shop. Good to hear of someone else having something similar. I just hope it works when I need it. The other shop gave me a detailed document for the repair proposal, about $1,100. 

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I made the noise happen today. I attempted to attach a link to a video. When I recorded it the AC ran OK for a while, the noise occurred when I turned it off. When turning it back on it would occur as it did before, also the compressor sounds like it's cycling off.on. I released a bit of the refrigerant - same thing occurred.

 

 https://youtu.be/RdgKxvWbfjU

Edited by Stelcom66
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I made the noise happen today. I attempted to attach a link to a video. When I recorded it the AC ran OK for a while, the noise occurred when I turned it off. When turning it back on it would occur as it did before, also the compressor sounds like it's cycling off.on. I released a bit of the refrigerant - same thing occurred.

 

 https://youtu.be/RdgKxvWbfjU

U-tube video is unavailable.

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