Bad A/C Comp Clutch?

[ahabion]

Well, I did a full belt change about a month ago (timing and drive belts) and noticed that one of my belts were squealing on and off, both under load and idle. So while under the hood and engine running, had my wife turn on and off the a/c and yes, diagnosed it to that (as it does not produce the squeal when a/c is off). It is also pretty obvious that the noise is coming from there.

So based on that, I am pretty sure that it is not the belt because I just replaced it and there is very minimal play in the belt tension itself. Also, the noise occurred on and off for the first two weeks and the a/c was still working. But after that, it blew hot.

While idling with the a/c on, the idle bogs down when the a/c clutch kicks on.

My predicament is which do I replace and what's the cheapest route or a better question is: What would you do?

I'm looking at either replacing just the clutch bearing, the clutch assembly, or the entire compressor itself with a new/used one. What would be easier?

This is for my daily driver so definitely need to remedy this soon because it's freakin' hot!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Barefoot]

replace the comp with clutch less stress and faster

[redciv1]

I agree. Just went thru the same thing with my Legend. AC was working with no issues except bearing noise then all of a sudden it started smoking and burnt smell. Replaced Compressor and probably want to do Drier as well.

[civicturbo10]

i had a similar prob when my compressor wasn't engaging. I had clutch shimmed and it works great. But now the original compressor is toast, it's a 92 and lasted this long. it works but high side is very unstable.

[hondaxpurt]

compressor dragging. replace compressor and dryer.