Red powdery stuff on ac compressor? (Pictures)

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Replace it. That way you keep the whole system.

What do I know? The shop in two seperate companies want to yell at me some more after I had a TA replace entire AC in the deep south twice... unauthroized billing of 1500 or so dollars.

 

Looks like coolant but its not easy to tell from a picture. Usually rust powder is more red than that and doesn't "flow"

Just for future reference, there is a bearing on the AC clutch and it turns whenever the compressor clutch is disengaged.

 

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A/c comes on when defroster runs.

 

If it is indeed the bearing it will keep spinning. What was nice about the old engines was a guy could just pull the AC belt off in a pinch and run it. Not so easy with a serpentine setup.

If it is just the bearing, they are usually replaceable but good luck getting the dealer to cough up a P/N.

 

Replacing the A/C comp. and dryer before comp. locks up and spreads powered parts thru the inside of all the a/c hoses is a good idea for your ck. book!

 

The question no one has asked: @PermanentTourist what COLOR is your coolant?

Also, best way to detect the leak, is to spray-wash/power-wash the area to remove the existing mess, then monitor from that point on. Remove guess work, isolate, identify and then fix - basically that's how a competent shop would do it.

 

Those late model a/c comp. have a sensor that will cut the power off to it when belt 1st starts to slip when a/c comp. starts to lock up when hot, this new sensor is good at keeping the belt on after comp. locks up, that ck. eng. light may have been a warning of comp. failure?