2011 Ford focus. So my car makes a lot of noise for maybe 2 years and I don't know if it's related to what I'm going to say but throwing it in there. I recently charged my ac and after charging it, it stopped working.. I then diagnosed it by noticing that the compressor is no longer kicking on... Tried to replace relay but still nothing.. but I did notice as I was driving to AutoZone for the the new relay I forgot to put the old one in, and the noise wasn't nearly as bad... Maybe I was just not paying attention.. anyways my question is can I still drive the car without having the relay plugged in? Would it cause any damage short term or long term? I also was informed I can bypass the compressor by using a shorter serpentine belt. If anything I said here is incorrect or harmful please please inform me. Single mom here lol
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Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! Glad you are here and asked your question.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Aug 5 at 22:00
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1 Answer
You will do no damage to the vehicle or AC if you leave the relay unplugged. The reason for this is, your AC compressor works off of a clutch system. With the clutch engaged, the compressor spins. If it's not engaged, the outer portion of the clutch spins freely, without turning the compressor. The relay is what engages this clutch. Without the relay, the only thing it can do is spin freely. No damage done.
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Do you think that the noise is related to the bad compressor? I just have a lot of vibration going on in the front end. I've had people tell me my motor mounts are good. I also was curious if getting the smaller serpentine belt and bypassing the compressor if that would solve the noise issue. It drives me crazy I can't even hear my radio or even my navigation on my phone because of it Commented Aug 5 at 22:03
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Is the noise constant? Meaning, with or without the relay? I thought you were stating in the question that the noise went away without the relay?– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Aug 5 at 22:04
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So it's as soon as I start the car and when I accelerate while driving. It gets super loud when I accelerate but if I maintain a consistent speed it quiets down like when I'm on the freeway it's not so bad. Honestly it was such a stressful day when I was trying to troubleshoot and diagnose the situation but I'm pretty sure the noise was not as bad when the relay was out. I haven't tried it since then because I was afraid that I was going to damage something by keeping the relay removed. Commented Aug 5 at 22:07
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I have a stupid question for you: Are you sure the noise is related to your AC compressor/clutch? Either it's something else, or the relay didn't change the noise any. The only way the relay could have changed the noise is if the AC itself is actually functioning with the relay in place. From the sounds of it, this is not the case. If the relay was pulled out, the AC would not engage. If the bearings in the clutch have gone bad, again the relay would not change the noise, because it would be constant with or without it.– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦Commented Aug 5 at 22:22
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Honestly it's so far from a stupid question because you know more than I do obviously lol and really I'm only relating the two together because it sounds like it's coming from that area lol it may not be related at all and I was also wondering if the rumble is related to a vac leak somewhere or whatever the correct terminally is lol Commented Aug 5 at 22:31