'93 90 A/C problems

[Elliott Potter <epotter@abraxis.com>]

No, this is a *new* one!  Really!

Some slight background--for about 3 years after we bought the car, the
A/C had a problem where it would cut off if the interior of the car was
too warm.  Towards the end of 3 years, before it got fixed, it would
sometimes "flicker" on and off, perhaps 4-5 times per second.

Now that's fixed, but there's another problem.

When I turn on the compressor, the car drops to about 150-200rpm's,
almost stalls, then pulls back up--but the compressor makes a *loud*
grating noise, so loud that people in cars next to me look over to see
what's going on, and it saps a noticeable amount of power from the car.

I'm going to try to get the dealer to pay to fix it, saying that it's
their fault, but I was sort of hoping to have some sort of
ammunition--does anyone know what could have caused this, or even what
it is?  It seems like perhaps a bearing sort of noise, but I'm not
sure--I don't know exactly how the variable volume compressor works so I
don't know what else it could be.

Any hints?

Thanks
-- 
Elliott

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."