USA PARTS has them listed. did anything else cook?

Advance Auto has remanufactured units on their web site, MUCH less expensive than USA. NAPA or AutoZone should have them, too.

USA Parts, is very pricy, in general.

Are you sure the compressor actually seized or did the pulley bearing seize? If you can turn the clutch rubber outer piece that turns the compressor shaft, by hand, the compressor is not locked up. It should turn smoothly without roughness.

If the compressor actually locked up, be sure to open up and thoroughly flush and clean all components in the compressor discharge circuit to the expansion valve inlet screen. You'll need to replace the receiver dryer, too. If particles made it past the inlet screen of the expansion valve you'll need to clean the evaporator and suction throttling valve and return hose, also.

HTH,

David

I drove it straight over to my mechanic's house who informed me that the internals were most likely shredded and that there are metal shards throughout the connected parts (accumulator and the drier). The wheel (clutch rubber outer piece) where the belt connects should spin freely and is now completely locked up. The rubber on the clutch was also completely shredded. Like you said David, the entire system needs to be flushed and I'll probably have to replace a few parts. All of these parts were original, and never had been rebuilt so I'm not all that surprised it broke in the first place. 

Chris I inventoried my compressors back in may and had 7 of the 1963 style compressors with raised embossed model #, and 15 of the 1964 style with the model # on the silver label. If you are still coming up on the 15th we can probably pick you out a nice used one.

Here is a breakdown of what I had as of May:

1963 and Prior style with raised embossed Model #’s stamped

5910438 – 6 total...all had the raise embossed Model #’s.

5910738 – 1 total...embossed model #

1964 and laster style with the the Model #’s on a silver:

5910485 – 12 total...

5810726 – 1 total

5910724 – 1 total

6550133 – 1 total

From Compressors on hand it appears 5910438 was the original model # for 1963 and 4910485 was the original model # for 1964.

Hey Jason, is there any difference regarding the model #'s? I'll be there on the 15th, and check those out. Tony, is that an expensive switch to convert to 134a freon? I know the 134a freon itself is cheaper. What parts did you have to change to make it work? 

No difference in function,(or casting #) but difference in model #'s between the years and the fact they were on an embossed raised metal plate on the 63's and on a sliver sticker label in 64. I just threw this out in case you wanted to stay original. As you will see form the list other later & different year model #'s were used as replacements for the original 5910438 and 4910485.

Just keep in mind that R134a is being phased out and is being replaced by HFO-1234yf.  R134a has been deemed too harmful to the environment and was banned in Eurupe in 2011. It is my understanding that some GM cars have or will be switched over for the 2013 model years.

Point being, yes the R12 is expensive, but R134a is going up in priced, and not sure if spending a lot of time and effort to switch over in the late stages in "its life cycle" is the best course of action. There was good discussion on this at the Grand National Seminar that I had posted on YouTube. Might be worth watching again. Here's a link on Wiki discussing the new stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFO-1234yf

I'll throw out that there is also a drop in replacement for the A6 compressor: The S6 http://www.s6compressor.com/

I have never used one but a friend has one in his 79 LeSabre and swears by it. It is 1/2 the weight and 1/2 the drag of an A6. It looks very similar, just the clutch looks a little different.

I did not know that R134A is being phased out, That does explain why it is $15 a can now.

Yeah, I had meant to mention that the price for R134A  is starting to rise. If you remember right before R12 started really going up some of us had the forethought to stock up on it.  I bought a few cans, but thought back man I wish I had really stocked up on it when you could still get it everywhere for well less than $10 a can.

 Now is probably the sweet spot (or maybe semi-sweet spot) to stock up on the R134A since most newer cars we now drive use it and the switchover is really still early on in the US. With that in mind, and seeing the pending switchover to HFO-1234yf, I think I'll make sure I have a few extra cans of R134A on hand before it becomes very expensive like R12 did in what seems now like very short time.

Good discussion on a topic that has not been covered much in the past.  I've added the following tags to the original post: compressor, "air compressor", "A/C compressor" "compressor repair", refrigerent, "compressor refrigerent", HFO-1234yf, HFO1234yf, R-134a, R134a, R12, R-12

Jason, thanks for the heads up on the R134a. I didn't realize that they were phasing it out. Kurt, I can't argue with those details. That s6 compressor sounds like a pretty good product. It looks like I can order it in chrome, black, or natural too. Thanks for all the information everyone. 

Hi guys, I have to change my compressor too. Now we can't find out what lubrication oil should be filled in the compressor when using R134a. Does anybody know it? When using R12 the manufacturer only writes 'mineral oil'. No information about using R134a and no specification like PAG-46, PAG-100 or PAG-150 etc. But in the paper which comes with the compressor, R134a is approved instead of R12.

Thank you for your help, guys. Paul, are you sure PAG 150 is the correct lubrication oil for the compressor, filled with R134a?