My son has a 2000 Dodge Durango SLT 4.7L, 196K miles, that has a very distinct ticking noise. I am very confident that the noise is coming from the rear area of his a/c compressor.....used a mechanics stethoscope and zeroed in on the noise at that spot. It's not the same noise as when the compressor kicks in, but more of a metal on metal noise. The a/c works fine, except for that annoying noise. Any ideas what is causing it and if it's fixable or should I replace the compressor? He is graduating from Army basic training in a couple of weeks and I want to make sure to have his vehicle ready for him....doing some maintenance and other work on it for him as a grad gift. Any help would be appreciated.

 

If your 100% sure its coming from the A/C compressor i would just replace it. It sounds like something internal is about to fail but, again i would make sure that's where its coming from.

 

If it is the compressor, you want to replace it BEFORE it goes out. That can leave a crap load of metal shavings in the refrigerant, and can get inside your evaporator and condenser, and also probably clog up the orifice. You don't want that.

 

Yeah, definitely stop using it and replace it if that is where the noise is coming from. Otherwise you'll have to replace every component in the system to get rid of the debris.

By the way, Durangos have expansion valves instead of orifice tubes.

 

My point was that everything will get jacked up.