Noisy A/C compressor

[Terry Lange]

I just picked up my '63 Series 62 from the shop yesterday, after it spent 51 days there for repair of various oil leaks.  Started it up and turned on the A/C, it ran great for about 30 seconds and blew cold air, but then the compressor started screeching loud enough to bring people running out of the shop.  My mechanic looked at it for short time, rotated the clutch back and forth for a bit, and things were okay again. He thought it may have been from sitting too long.  I got about 3 miles down the road and it started screeching again. Same deal again this morning.  The noise starts when the clutch engages.  The belt is not slipping.  Any ideas what I am up against?  This is a 34,000 mile car, so the A/C components are all original equipment. Thanks!

[Terry Lange]

Thanks for that info, Mark.  I checked the '63 shop manual and it says the air gap should be 1/32 to 1/16, and mine is within that range.  The center hub also turns smoothly when turned by hand.  I'm leaning towards just ordering a clutch plate and hub assembly to start with, as it can be replaced without removing the compressor.  Looks like there are many after market ones available on line that claim to fit a '63 Cadillac compressor.  Mine is a Frigidaire model 5910438.  

[Terry Lange]

Tony and Ginny 429, I always turned off the A/C at the dash control as soon as it started screaming.  But I did take your advice and disconnect the compressor harness this morning, and found out that I can still get outside air through the A/C vents in the car, so that was definitely a bonus. Prior to doing that the only way to get outside air (with the A/C turned off) was to switch the control to heat, but on the coolest setting.  The only problem is that the air came in through the floor vents, which wasn't much help. So thank-you for the suggestion.   

[Kim K Kaiser]

on my 73, it was the bearing, I replaced it, and it stopped,,