A/C broke on 2005 Tacoma

[webber9966]

I have a 05 Tacoma d/cab. I turned on my a/c this year and it wasn't working. the light just blinked and made a loud scheeching sound. It worked fine last year when I turned it off for the season. The other bad news is my warrenty ran out in Dec. 07. I have only 19,700 miles on the truck. I took it to the Toyota dealer to let them check it out, they said my compresser and clutch was out. They wanted $2400 to fix it, well I talked to them about the price and they said they would do a 50/50 split with me. That's the best they'll do so I guess I'll have to pay it. I told them that I don't run my a/c in the winter, if I did I would have known it was broke and had it fixed before the warrenty ran out.
I have been looking on this forum and noticed that a lot of other people have problems with their A/C to. I think Toyata has a problem with the A/C in the tacoma's.
I called Toyota customer service and told them about it they couldn't help me. This was the first Toyota I have owned and it will be the last.
Who else has had problems with thier A/C?

[NicksToy]

I may be wrong, but when you use the defroster in the winter, the AC automatically comes on. Even so, it's a good idea to run the AC once a week in the winter to keep it lubricated. Since you're out of warranty, you're probably better off getting the work done at another shop, and I doubt it would cost you as much as the 50/50 split Toyota wants you to pay. When you think about it, why would you want to spend so much money putting in the same exact brand of parts that failed in the first place?

[webber9966]

I actually took it to a local guy who does a/c repairs and his price was $1200. He said he would have to order the same parts that Toyota gets. He's the one that recommened that I take it to Toyota and see if they would pay for it since the warrenty was only out by 4 months. So I figured why not just let Toyota fix it. I still think it's wrong that Toyota want pay for it, there is no reason the a/c should have went out with only 19,700 miles on the truck.

[lelandstanford]

Sorry to hear about your A/C failure. Just so you know that the compressor is made by Delphi.

I run A/C briefly in the winter time, too. Mostly decelerating but sometimes defogging.

[05Moose]

So you never ran the defroster in the winter? Running it on Floor/Defrost or straight Defrost with the fan ON (Low, Med, or High) will automatically run the A/C compressor.

[webber9966]

Yes I do run the defroster in the winter time but I don't push the button to turn on the A/C.

[hobbes013]

Originally Posted by webber9966

Yes I do run the defroster in the winter time but I don't push the button to turn on the A/C.

Don't need to, the AC compressor turns on anytime defrost or defrost/floor is selected, without hitting the button.

[lelandstanford]

Unless you already have done the DEF mod.

[webber9966]

My defroster works fine, so does that mean my compressor is not bad and Toyota is just B/S me?

[L R H]

Whenever it made the screeching sound is when it bit the dust, so it most likely had been working with the defrost all along, just happened to happen when you switched to A/C.