I have had my 2005 GT for about 18 months. 30 days ago I noticed that when I turn the A/C on, I can hear an audible cylcing of the compressor purge valve about every 30-45 seconds. It sounds a lot like what you would hear if you can imagine a bicycle tire air pump given one pump when NOT hooked up to a tire. Just a short "pshhhht" sound. You can REALLY hear it if you have the windows down, but with the windows up and the fan on setting 3 or 4 you really can't. However on setting 1 or 2 you can.

I took the car into my Ford dealer yesterday. The technician could clearly hear the sound but after thorough checks, he said it is functioning normally. My service guy then told me they are having other reports from mustang owners of a similar sound (though sometimes after a few minutes, not every 30 seconds). After a hour or so, my service guy told me the technician hand been "messaging" a number of times to Ford and that Ford said this normal and not to replace anything. I was mystified since driving the car ALL LAST SUMMER it never once made the noise. Having said that, my service guy said even the brand new ones are doing this, though with variable frequency.

My A/C blows cold and I don't notice any power losss. It's just an annoying sound and intuitively it just does not seem right, especially since it did not occur last summer.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any known fixes? Thanks.

 

This was discussed many times ( I can never get the right results searching or I would post a link ) and the conclusion was that it was normal. I have had it since new myself.

 

Maybe the clutch is beginning to fail since it is a new noise..

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/alb...0rev%204.6.pdf

 

With the hood open watch the air compressor clutch ( sorry to dark right now for a pic) but on the battery or passenger side I was told that the same clicking is said to be normal for the AC or even when the heater is on , my service dept told me that with most brand vehicles this happens, So I found that if I set the selector to " O " that it shuts it of no clicky ?
btw I drive a 2005 Dodge Sprinter or Mecedies and the same thing with it as well.

 

Thanks for the thoughts on the compressor clutch. I will look at it. However, I was told the purging is critically important, and I suspect disabling it would be a bad idea. My serivce tech said if the compressor did not release the pressure as it is doing, the compressor would literally "freeze up" and fail.

I just wish it was not every 30-45 seconds. The noise is quite audbile and just is annoying.

 

Maybe this TSB will be of some help with the dealer. Let me know if it is, because I have the same problem, as do many others.

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/alb...0rev%204.6.pdf

 

This is normal, if it's the sound I think your talking about it's the blower motor kicking on and off, the only other noise I have ever heard is a hissing noise that comes out of the vents with the A/C on that also is normal. Mine does this and has since day 1. Never even thought about, the Toyota truck we have does the same thing.

 

Just came across this thread after starting one complaining of the same problem.

The noise is driving me nuts. At this point, with the summer here, it's taking a lot of the pleasure out of driving the car.

Clearly, the assembly is of inferior quality. It is inconceivable how anybody could put this on a car.

It also looks like the standard line from the factory is that "the noise is standard/normal behaviour"

I'm almost certain that after warranties start to expire...these things will be barfing their guts out and needing replacement.

 

I called my service guy today and discussed the TSB with him posted here. This is of course after having the car in their shop last week for 3 hours on the issue. The conversation was polite and all, but cutting to the chase he said they did not believe that "clutch failure" was the problem. They believe there is no problem, per se. Just because it makes an annoying noise doesn't mean it is broken. Basically the service guys is simply telling me it was designed poorly, and he even said it was "placed" poorly---meaning if it was lower under the hood and closer to the block you just wouldn't hear it. Bottom line, they will not authorize the TSB as the "fix" to this noise because the clutch is not failing (how would I know??? I am not a mechanic).

I suggested they did not really know what the problem was and that they should experiment. Try replacing the clutch per the TSB,....hell....try replacing the whole compressor. Apparently the number of customers at my dealership complaining of this "noise" is rising, and yet the service department is not willing to try different fixes. In the end, their game plan is to wait for Ford to issue a fix. And, Ford won't do that until enough people have complained, their engineers undertake a re-design process, and something comes of that. In other words, it could take months, if it happens at all.

I am pretty disappointed Ford slipped up on this on what is otherwise a very satisfactory car. Seems like the air compressor from the 2004 Mustang would've worked just fine. But every new model I suppose is susceptible to the engineers trying to "next gen" something. In the case of the air conditioning system on my 2005 GT, I give them a D-. Thank God it still blows cold. Else they'd get an F.

 

I'm glad you started this thread because my wife thinks I'm nuts. I heard the noise for the first time with her in the car. She likes AC and I'm all about 2/80 Air. We're going to take a 3K mile trip next week and I'll have to buy some new CDs to avoid going nuts!

Thanks