Hello fellow Acura CL/TL owners. I own 2 ACURA vehicals and have owned them BOTH since new. I have a 2001 CL-S and a 2000 TL. They BOTH are having the same exact squealing/skreaching sounds coming from the AC compressor (or as it seems to be). The CL has 112,000miles (3 trannies!) and the TL has 47,000 miles. (1'st tranny about to go!)

Anytime the AC is turned on, you hear the clunk sound, then the compressor starts to squeak and squeal. It is a faint sound. The AC seems to be working, but it just has the annoying squeal. the clunk is normal from what I can hear.

I am leaning towards the compressor. If I remember correctly, the compressor has a clutch like mechanisum that allows the belt to rotate off the compressor pully with little to zero friction while AC is off. Once AC is on, the clutch-like mechanisum kicks in, which allows the compressor to start compressing,which in turn creats the resistance which hurts your MPG with AC is on (so they say?!? ((watch mythbusters))

My guess is the squeal is that clutch-like pully. Could this be right? Is anyone else experiencing this issue? I did a search and nothing came up.

Thanks. It's cool to come back here after all these dang years.

P.S. The only time my CL has left me stranded was the stupid cold solder joint inside my fuel pump relay. Funny, ACURA wanted like over 100 bucks or something for the relay, Radio shack wanted $2 bucks for solder.....

 

i have the same squeel. my mechanic says it's my compressor and that its not worth changing until it goes out.

 

It's funny, one of my friends said he could smell something from my car and said my compressor is gonna go. This was like almost a year ago.

BTW, I live in Miami, so the climate is hot. not sure if this holds revelance.

 

Not really. I'd try to isolate it. It could be a bad slipping belt or a bad or loose belt tensioner. Both are cheap & easy to replace. I'd do that 1st.