Cause
Leaking compressor shaft seal
The seal around the air conditioning compressor's input shaft, leaking refrigerant and oil. It is the one dynamic seal in an otherwise static system — the shaft turns whenever the clutch is engaged — so it is a wear point rather than a defect.
The evidence is oily residue around the compressor's nose and clutch, which collects dust and is visible without any equipment. Long periods of disuse make it worse, since the seal dries out when the compressor never turns — which is the argument for running air conditioning briefly through the winter. Where the seal has failed the compressor is usually replaced as a unit, and the system needs evacuating and recharging by weight afterwards rather than topping up.
Typically specialist work. Needs equipment or training most home workshops do not have.
Codes this can cause (1)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Others who found this
Be the first to write this up
Nothing posted about this yet. Whatever you found is worth writing down — even a dead end saves someone the same afternoon.
What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
Sign in or create an account to add what you found about Leaking compressor shaft seal.