Good Morning Friends,
Brought my 01 Civic EX (194,000 Miles well maintained) to the dealership yesterday. I have always brought it there for major repairs and maintenance. I had a noise happening, they quickly identified it as the AC compressor. Not having an extra $994.00 to spend, I was hoping to put it off a month or so. They advised that when the compressor goes, normally it does not cause other problems other than your AC not working.
As it turns out, hours after leaving the dealership, the compressor went, loud squealing belts and the car shut off. I let it sit and tried to restart it, but no luck it is still on the side of the road now. Just more squealing and not turning over. Any thoughts on this? Is it possible I may have caused more damage by not having the sompressor replaced while still functioning? Where should I go from here?
I am a C- on the mechanic scale (change own oil, light bulbs, and spark plugs). Please advise...Thanks,
Aaron

 

Sounds like the compressor pulley has seized. If you remove the alternator / AC belt, the engine should start. You can drive several miles that way, but the battery will eventually run down since the alternator is not turning. There may be a different belt that would be used for models without A/C to turn the alternator only.