Mazda AC woes

Chuck writes: I have a 84K mile 2006 Mazda Tribute that had a AC compressor fail last December. Since then, I have had it fail two more times. Is starts by getting noisy and a week later, it quits cooling. My repair guy has been good and replaced them under warranty, but I can’t keep doing this. It is starting to make noise again. What can I do?

Mike:
Let me explain little of the problem. When your original compressor failed, it more than likely pumped metal shavings throughout the system. This type of contamination is difficult to remove. Even with repeated flushes, it is hard to get the system completely clean. Invariably, some little slivers of metal still in the system break lose and travel right to the compressor and kill it. (like a blood clot heading for your heart) Many times the slivers, or splinters are embedded in the rubber AC hoses and vibrate loose weeks later and cause the problem again. Of course, when that compressor fails, the cycle starts again. I would remove the evaporator and condenser and send them to be power flushed. Replace the compressor, hoses and accumulator and you will be fine. Always use a new compressor if possible.