A/C compressor pulley bearing noise
 

Hi, hope everyone is well.

I have a noise in my engine bay that I am fairly convinced is the A/C compressor pulley bearing. Its only very slight and probably wouldn't be noticed by anyone not used to the sound of the engine. The noise goes away if I turn on the air con and thus engage the clutch. I think the clutch plate is then supporting the bearing a little.

I did the timing belt, rollers, serpentine belt, rollers etc, etc only a couple of years ago and so don't really want to be pulling the front of the car off again just yet. Is it possible to access and drop the compressor from underneath the car? I was thinking, of dropping the compressor without breaking into the a/c circuit and hopefully having enough flex on the pipework to gain access to the front of the unit. Doable, or would this just be too simple for an Audi?

Thanks Frank

Very simple to do that on the V8. The hardest part is loosening the belt tensioner to pop the belt of the compressor as its a bit of a challenge to wiggle a spanner in there. If you take the viscous fan off then access is improved a bit. Disconnect the clutch wire which is above the fan resistor panel, then you can get to the three bolts holding the compressor to the engine from underneath and it will swing out and off the engine without taking the hoses off.

Thanks for that MJ, much appreciated.

I had the same thing on my 2002 S8 back in 2007. Paid an eyewatering amount for Audi to swap it, and the same thing happened 12 months later, so they swapped it again under parts warranty....