I have an '03 4WD that has all of a sudden began to destroy A/C compressors. I bought the truck used about 6 years ago and the A/C has worked fine up until about 2 years ago when it developed a slow freon leak. Each summer I would have it re-charged and it would last for the entire cooling season. After a couple of times doing this, the mechanic put in some dye and determined that it was leaking from the compressor. The mechanic is a good friend of mine and I trust his analysis, so I had a new compressor installed. It worked fine for a few weeks and then it failed. The mechanic determined that the compressor had "locked up" and replaced it with another (at no charge to me). Within a few days this compressor did the same thing. It was an aftermarket compressor that the mechanic had not used before, so he assumed that it was a bad batch and installed a third compressor, this one an OE Delphi brand which costs him about $125 more. Again, he did this work for no charge to me. About 1 month later, this compressor "locked up". He replaced it again last week (again at no charge to me) and it is now working fine, but who knows for how long.
It seems odd (almost impossible) that 3 compressors would be bad, so I'm wondering if there is something else that may be causing them to go bad. The mechanic said that he checked the voltage to the clutch and it is fine. He also searched the internet to see if he could find any clues (like a wobbly idler pulley, etc.) without finding anything.
Does anyone have any knowledge of what may be causing these compressors to fail or could it be just a circumstantial streak of bad luck? I feel bad for the mechanic since he is having to absorb the cost of the labor and freon to continualy replace these compressors.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

One other tidbit of information.
When the 2nd compressor was installed, the mechanic installed a new serpentine belt. Not sure if that matters, but it might since it touches the compressor.

 

System still had stuff circulating in it from the first compressor failure (the one that locked up). This is what took out the next, and so forth. Simply not getting the system cleaned out adequately when replacing a shelled compressor causes the next one to fail..... Until it's all cleaned out the new compressors will continue to fail as the metal from the last one circulates through the next. Probably going to require some other A/C components to be replaced and the system to be flushed thoroughly before it's clean. Sorry.

 

^^ I agree. The condenser is where most of the debris ends up. Flushing will not get it out, it needs to be replaced. The accumulator also needs to be replaced, along with the fixed orifice tube. The evaporator and lines can usually be flushed out.