RE: Attack of the giant woodpeckers

["Englert, Rick" <RickE@triadperform.com>]

Mine (86 CGT) did this for a while too and boy did I smack my forehead when
I figured it out.  The good news is total repair cost was $0 and took about
15 seconds.  Somewhere along the line I must've bumped a parking berm or
something because the sheet metal below the bumper and behind the plastic
bumper cover was pushed in just enough to contact the spinning compressor.
It was easy to pull back out by hand - there's not much reinforcement there.
I guess this happens occasionally because there was actually a plastic
shield attached to the inside of the sheet metal right in front of the
compressor.  (emphasis on WAS)  Of course you couldn't see it from the front
because the plastic bumper cover is resilient and had sprung back - it
wasn't even scratched.

-Rick

************
Rick Englert
Triad Performance Technologies
Farmington Hills, MI
http://www.triadperform.com
mailto:ricke@triadperform.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kurt Wesseling [mailto:kurt.wesseling@nexusmgmt.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 1999 12:49 PM
> To: 'quattro'
> Subject: Attack of the giant woodpeckers
> 
> 
> Ok, here's the deal...hit the "auto" button on the CC 
> controller and a noise
> comes from the compressor like a woodpecker or jack hammer.  
> Or, if you're
> one of those people you can trill an "r" with your tongue 
> continuously,
> that's the sound it makes...much louder of course.
> 
> So, knowing that the R-12 level is like, zero, I first try a 
> 2 oz oil charge
> in the system. Result: No change---still get the jackhammer, 
> woodpecker,
> whatever noise.
> 
> Bright idea #2--put some freon in there.  Not a problem since 
> it only costs
> $780,000 an oz.  Put in 24 ozs.  Result: jackhammering continues.
> 
> Lamo-no-chance-it-will-help-but-I'll-try-it-anyway-idea 
> #3--try driving the
> car to "mix up" that freon.  Result: return of giant 
> woodpecker.  But don't
> quit now, dear reader, it gets worse.
> 
> Get home.  Turn on a/c -- SQEEEEAAAAL--shudder--clunk.  
> Engines dies.  Too
> much drag from compressor.  That's where we are now.  I can 
> use "econ" ok,
> but hit "auto" and the woodpecker kills the engine fast.
> 
> This is the part where you all come in 8-].  How can I exterminate the
> woodpecker??  Do I need a entire new compressor, or just a 
> clutch?  Any
> BTDT?
> 
> --Kurt
> 
> 1989 200 TQ
> 140,000 miles
>