Air Conditioning "Chirp"
 

Lately I have been noticing a single chirp (like the engine chirp) almost every time I give the car some gas, always shifting into 3rd gear. The chirp also comes along with a tiny but noticeable dip in power.

Yesterday it finally got to me and I went to the toyota dealership to set up an appointment with a technician to take a look at it. The service manager asked me if I could recreate the sound and I assured him I could. Their earliest appointment was this morning so I got up a little early to take the car for a spirited drive to get the crickets really going before I took it in. For the first time in the last 2 weeks the car refused to make the single chirp sound when I accelerated! Frustrated I turned toward the dealership knowing at least the idle chirping would be there for me to show them. On the way I turned on the AC and sure enough that single little chirp happened. Every time I hit the AC button it chirps. On top of that when I accelerate it also chirps!

Im trying to make this short, sorry.

I get to the dealership and the technician comes out to go for a ride with me and I tell him I can show him both problems without even leaving the parking lot. Before I could even get through explaining to him the problem he says "Oh, thats normal engine sound." He was literally ready to sign off on the inspection and go back inside but I pressed the issue a little more. He told me the single chirp is my clutch engaging. . . I told him I dont even have my foot on the peddle and he said "no, the air conditioning clutch." I dont even know if air conditioning clutches exist but I refuse to believe that is a normal sound. I can hear it going down the highway at 75mph! After showing him that sound I popped the hood to show him the engine chirping . He told me he couldn't hear it (The chirping wasn't deafening but definitely the most audible noise under the hood) but they would take a look at both issues. So now my car is at the dealership for who knows how long.

Has anyone else had this issue with their air conditioning? I havent seen anyone talk about this one yet. If you are willing to help with an experiment, go turn your car on and engage the air conditioning. Do you hear a chirp?

ALso: any air conditioning experts out there who can tell me what the f*** an air conditioning clutch is?

I think the AC "chirp" is a Toyota thing. I can hear it on my family's 2005 Corolla and 2009 Matrix. It's almost not noticeable on my BRZ but still have it. It does not happen on my 2010 Altima coupe.

Nobody's going to do anything about it until it causes an actual problem.

Officially, it's an annoyance, that is all.

I'm more concerned with the burning smell that happens whenever I turn my AC on... should go get that looked at soon. No chirping yet though.

I believe what the OP describes is normal. Doesn't everyone have that noise when the compressor turns on? I also can feel the dip in power too especially when driving slowly in the parking lot in 1st gear. But this has been the same with the other cars with MT that I had.

I think the AC clutch turns the compressor. Not sure, but they do exist, so it wasn't like he was totally BSing you.

I found the THREAD for you.

Thanks! I guess I dont know how to use the search function as efficiently as I thought.

The a/c clutch mounts the the front of the compressor. It is what allows the belt pulley to free-spin when the a/c is off. When the a/c is turned on the a/c clutch gets powered and a electro-magnetic field causes the clutch to engage. You can hear the chirp at different times because the a/c compressor is never always on with the a/c it cycles on/off as needed. This depends on a/c temps, line pressures, engine rpm, engine load etc. in such a low power car if you are driving spirited an want every ounce of power, turn a/c off.

Don't worry. It's not you. It's the search function. I use Google to do the search. The search I did, for an example, I typed in "site:http://www.ft86club.com AC chirp" in Google search. That thread showed up on the 5th result.

Mine chirps but my engine makes no cricket noises