Sixteen year old Air Conditioner compressor found to be making noise after 120 mile trip to friend’s funeral yesterday, that included a few steep hill climbs at 3000 rpm.

Visually checked it out this morning, hooked up the gauges, decided to try adding 5 psi of 134a to see if the sound changed, and while adding just a slight amount of freon, serpentine belt squealed, and engine stalled.

2005 3.3L Chrysler T&C extended van with rear AC option.

Who made the OEM compressor for Chrysler?
Who manufactures the best replacement?

Whose new compressors or rebuilds should be avoided?

Same questions for evaporator coils, since the one in this van is loosing about a pound of 134A every 3 months.
Halogen detector probe down dash vent after letting the van sit overnight confirms leak down there near evap.

This AC system had “Red Angel” leak sealer by Blue Devil Products added 2 years ago. Supposed to be freon recovery unit safe.

My mind is wondering if enough lubricant slowly leaked out with the freon to end the compressor’s life.....

Stay away from rebuilds. Go to a dealer and get the part number for the compressor and look on ebay, you should be able to find a NOS one there. I found one for my 95. I guess all after market compressors now are made in china, so I don't really know who makes a good one. I bought a brand new Murry compressor from O'relly's and it just lasted around 2500 miles. Life time warranty, but I have to pay again to get it changed. I found a NOS which was a ND made in Japan for my 95, and it is doing good.

Rockauto lists

MOPAR 2AMA05441A {#2AMA5441AA}

$254.89 plus shipping plus state sales tax

Then rockauto makes the claim:

DENSO 4710522
DENSO is the OE supplier for this vehicle

$205.79 plus shipping plus state sales tax

more info

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=2023084&cc=1430643&pt=6628&jsn=428

Local Advance Auto has in stock the Denso 4710522 for $323 including state sales tax

Looking over the job I also see a “Denso” nameplate on the alternator mounted above the AC compressor.

Do not get a GPD Global Parts Distributors. They are frequently on RockAuto.

They are supposed to ship prefilled with oil but if it has it it is probably the wrong amount. My experience is that their quality control is terrible and the support slow and non virtually non existent.

They taught me to not trust prefilled compressors. I trusted their prefilled compressor and it failed in less than 100 miles. Replacement was checked for oil and it was supposed to be prefilled and was prefilled incorrectly.

I have lost track of the number of AC compressors I have installed and I always manually added the oil. Theirs was the only one I have ever had fail and it was the only one that was prefilled.

Just my experience.

replacing the evaporator will certainly be one of your "funner" life experiences. unless, of course, you have already have had this "fun" before.

Can the clutch on these Denso AC compressors be adjusted on older high mileage vehicles by taking out “washers” (shims) ?

There are internet posts saying clutches are more likely to be noisy and going bad than compressors, and that some clutches can be adjusted?

Year 2005 T&C FSM Section 24-72 says
test the clutch using an oil filter wrench to
rotate the outer diameter of compressor clutch hub clockwise first,
then counter-clockwise.
If this outer hub will turn as above, then rotate it 5 turns clockwise.

Yes this was one of those times. The car came in first time with perfectly clear oil in the system so I did a flush and replaced the compressor, condenser, drier and expansion valve.

When it came back in it had grey oil. No flushing that evaporator with that crap in the system. It was a whole day to get the air box out and the evap core replaced. Luckily the owner did the under hood stuff for me while I did the dash or it would have been a 2 day job.

Like you said fun times. LOL

One of the worst kick myself moments was when I sort of did a heater core for an S10 Blazer. The owner said the heater core was leaking so I just assumed they were right and pulled the dash. No leaks so I called him and they said "yes, it had blue fluid leaking under the drivers side of the dash." "Blue Fluid on the drivers side?" I asked. "Yes, blue Antifreeze" he said.

It was the rear windshield washer hose above the gas petal had come loose.

Never again take their word for it.

I did find out that clutches are available separately at Advance Auto for $162
Seems expensive compared to $323 combo of clutch plus freon compressor.

FSM section 24-16 has quite a lot about the clutch.
FSM Section 24-72 does not mention this section 24-16 info when it describes the clutch health check testing procedure.

The clutch does have internal shims, similar to washers of a very thin thickness.

The FSM suggests starting with a stack of shims whose total thickness amounts to 0.010 inches (2.54 mm )
then measuring the “air gap” between clutch plate and pulley face
and adding or subtracting shims until
the air gap falls within the range of 0.014 and 0.024 inches (0.35 to 0.60 mm)

There is also a hidden bearing inside the clutch that is packed and sealed with grease.
Would its factory fill of grease be going bad after 16 years, or the grease retainment lip seals be shot?
This “clutch bearing” is separate from the two internal, sealed from air, bearings supporting the freon compressor shaft.
Those two internal bearing are lubed from the “compressor oil” mixed with the freon gas.

The location of this AC clutch in minivans is low to the road surface and subject to rainwater and road grit.
In contrast, the AC clutch on Ram pickups, Durangos, etc is high up in the engine compartment and sheltered from water/grit from the road surface.

May fire ants seek you out as you lay sleeping and unawares.

Just kidding

But now you have me watching youtube videos of disassembling the whole minivan dashboard.

Now you have me hating glove compartments,
because if Chrysler would leave out the barely useful glove compartment
they could design in a large enough access door to make pulling the evaporator assembly far easier.

The FSM talks about a “cabin air filter” on rear AC vans with “3 Zone Temperature Control”
and a “push backwards” latch to allow releasing this filter from its housing,
but I cannot find the latch even though the plastic shows a long rectangle that looks suspiciously like the bottom of an air filter element.

As far as the clutch goes if you try to rotate the center of the compressor (engine off of course) and feel any kind of clunking or grinding it is the compressor. If it is smooth, it doesn't mean the compressor is guaranteed to be good but knowing if it is bad is one step closer to doing the correct job.

As far as the filter housings. Some year rams had optional filters. Some would have a rectangular area for the filter but no door to remove the filter. On those trucks you can cut out the panel and add the filter and door. Most doors are rectangles with tabs that reach back and latch on two tabs.