In a way this is kind of a warning when looking for a A/C compressor.
My A/C compressor had went out on me and needed a new one fast as it was hot out here in Louisiana. A member on here said he would send me one he had from a 95 Talon Tsi AWD and all I had to pay was the shipping. Great! A good cheap solution to my problem, especially since a brand new one from factory was almost $1000, for both the compressor and clutch. I brought it to the dealer for them to put it on since I was gettin a timing belt job done from them as well. The next day I go up there and they show me that it fit just fine but the a/c lines are backwards and they can't be turned or bent to make fit. I was kind of bummed but it wasn't a big loss since I had only paid 15 dollars for the compressor. This is where my troubles begin.
I try locating one within an hour so I could get my car out of the shop by 5, since this is a Friday and would love to have my car back for the weekend. I call every autopart's store and NAPA was the only one that would be able to get me one for Saturday and it wouldn't be installed till Monday. Oh well, so much for the weekend. Saturday comes around and I go up to NAPA to pick up my part, and pay the $420.49, and the fricken thing is way wrong! It had no A/C ports, the clutch was way to big and the electrical plug wasn't a plug but a single wire. I returned it 10 minutes later. Great now I have to find another one.
I head up to Autozone and the best they can do is 5pm Tuesday. This one costed just shy of 300 dollars. Awesome.
My car is still up on the lift at Mitsubishi this whole time, so keep that in mind. Tuesday roles around and the part comes in and so I pick it up that night. You guessed it, wrong one! Now by this time I have done my homework and know this compressor is for the 95-96 4g63 Turbo's. At this point I'm really aggravated because no part's store can get me the right part. NAPA gave me this monstrosity of a compressor, Advanced Auto can't even get me one and Autozone can only get me one for the 95-96's. So Wednesday morning I head up to Mitsubishi and see if it's possible to just swap the top portions, where the ports are, but to no avail. (Pictures will be at the bottom to illustrate what is all going on here.) Return number 2.
As I'm heading back to work from returning the useless compressor to Autozone, I recall seeing a website that had the correct compressor with the actual picture. I get the number from my mom, who just so happened to be at home and was the only one with internet access, and give them a call. I placed the order and also had them Next Day it. It was only $37 for overnight! Not a bad price in my book. To make this long story short the compressor was the correct one and I have Antarctica in my car now.
Oh, along with an oil leak down my timing belt side but that's another story that the dealer is going to have to fix.
Pictures as promised.
The 95 compressor:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3898/1001453tr4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5485/1001452sr6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
The one from Autozone is the exact same. The compressor from Autozone:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/2585/rda1571003d8fa88se6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
A 1998 and 1995 compressor shown side-by-side:
(98' on the left and the 95' on the right)
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6460/1001469ho8.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
As you can see the 95' compressor is a little longer than the 98'.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8180/1001473ca6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
Here you can see the 95' can unbolt from the top but the 98' is molded/built into the compressor:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1111/1001474jl7.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
The correct 98' compressor I had overnighted:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7765/98compressorya4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
So the next time your in need of a A/C Compressor for your 97-99 GS-T or GSX, make sure the parts store, if you do buy from them, can get you the right one, because chances are they won't be able to.
My A/C compressor had went out on me and needed a new one fast as it was hot out here in Louisiana. A member on here said he would send me one he had from a 95 Talon Tsi AWD and all I had to pay was the shipping. Great! A good cheap solution to my problem, especially since a brand new one from factory was almost $1000, for both the compressor and clutch. I brought it to the dealer for them to put it on since I was gettin a timing belt job done from them as well. The next day I go up there and they show me that it fit just fine but the a/c lines are backwards and they can't be turned or bent to make fit. I was kind of bummed but it wasn't a big loss since I had only paid 15 dollars for the compressor. This is where my troubles begin.
I try locating one within an hour so I could get my car out of the shop by 5, since this is a Friday and would love to have my car back for the weekend. I call every autopart's store and NAPA was the only one that would be able to get me one for Saturday and it wouldn't be installed till Monday. Oh well, so much for the weekend. Saturday comes around and I go up to NAPA to pick up my part, and pay the $420.49, and the fricken thing is way wrong! It had no A/C ports, the clutch was way to big and the electrical plug wasn't a plug but a single wire. I returned it 10 minutes later. Great now I have to find another one.
I head up to Autozone and the best they can do is 5pm Tuesday. This one costed just shy of 300 dollars. Awesome.
My car is still up on the lift at Mitsubishi this whole time, so keep that in mind. Tuesday roles around and the part comes in and so I pick it up that night. You guessed it, wrong one! Now by this time I have done my homework and know this compressor is for the 95-96 4g63 Turbo's. At this point I'm really aggravated because no part's store can get me the right part. NAPA gave me this monstrosity of a compressor, Advanced Auto can't even get me one and Autozone can only get me one for the 95-96's. So Wednesday morning I head up to Mitsubishi and see if it's possible to just swap the top portions, where the ports are, but to no avail. (Pictures will be at the bottom to illustrate what is all going on here.) Return number 2.As I'm heading back to work from returning the useless compressor to Autozone, I recall seeing a website that had the correct compressor with the actual picture. I get the number from my mom, who just so happened to be at home and was the only one with internet access, and give them a call. I placed the order and also had them Next Day it. It was only $37 for overnight! Not a bad price in my book. To make this long story short the compressor was the correct one and I have Antarctica in my car now.
Oh, along with an oil leak down my timing belt side but that's another story that the dealer is going to have to fix.Pictures as promised.
The 95 compressor:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3898/1001453tr4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5485/1001452sr6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
The one from Autozone is the exact same. The compressor from Autozone:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/2585/rda1571003d8fa88se6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
A 1998 and 1995 compressor shown side-by-side:
(98' on the left and the 95' on the right)
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6460/1001469ho8.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
As you can see the 95' compressor is a little longer than the 98'.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8180/1001473ca6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
Here you can see the 95' can unbolt from the top but the 98' is molded/built into the compressor:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/1111/1001474jl7.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
The correct 98' compressor I had overnighted:
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7765/98compressorya4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>
So the next time your in need of a A/C Compressor for your 97-99 GS-T or GSX, make sure the parts store, if you do buy from them, can get you the right one, because chances are they won't be able to.
