Electric A/C Compressor
Circulates and pressurises refrigerant, driven by its own high-voltage three-phase motor and inverter rather than by a belt from the engine.
It is a genuinely different part from the belt-driven A/C Compressor, not a variant of it, and confusing the two misdirects both the diagnosis and the repair. A belt-driven compressor stops whenever the engine stops — tolerable on a petrol car, useless on a hybrid that switches its engine off at every junction and impossible on an electric car that has no engine at all. So this one carries its own motor fed from the traction pack at several hundred volts, which is why an air conditioning part produces phase current codes and inverter temperature codes.
On many vehicles it also cools the traction battery, so its failure is not confined to comfort: in warm weather the pack loses its cooling, and the car quietly restricts power and rapid charging while the driver reports only a hot cabin. On a car with a heat pump it runs in reverse to heat the cabin too, so losing it in winter takes the heating with it — a symptom nobody attributes to air conditioning.
The service hazard has no equivalent on a conventional system. It is lubricated by a specific non-conductive polyolester oil carried in the refrigerant; the PAG oil used in every belt-driven system conducts and absorbs moisture, and putting it into this compressor degrades the motor's insulation and can energise the refrigerant pipework running through the car. These systems need equipment that has never handled PAG oil, which is why a general workshop may decline the job.
Also known as: electric ac compressor, high voltage ac compressor, electric air conditioning compressor, hybrid ac compressor, electric compressor, motor driven ac compressor, ev ac compressor
Referenced by 63 codes
Codes involving this component (63)
- P0D6F Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Current High High
- P0D7A Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase U Current Low High
- P0D7B Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase U Current High High
- P0D7C Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase V Current Low High
- P0D7D Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase V Current High High
- P0D7E Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase W Current Low High
- P0D7F Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Phase W Current High High
- P0D68 Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor A Circuit Moderate
- P0D69 Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor A Performance Moderate
- P0D6A Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor A Circuit High Moderate
- P0D6B Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor A Circuit Low Moderate
- P0D6C Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor A Circuit Intermittent/Erratic Moderate
- P0D6D Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage A Low Moderate
- P0D6E Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage A High Moderate
- P0D70 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Internal Temperature Sensor A Circuit Moderate
- P0D71 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Internal Temperature Sensor A Performance Moderate
- P0D72 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Internal Temperature Sensor A Circuit High Moderate
- P0D73 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Internal Temperature Sensor A Circuit Low Moderate
- P0D74 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Internal Temperature Sensor A Circuit Intermittent/Erratic Moderate
- P0D75 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Output Driver Temperature Sensor Circuit Moderate
- P0D76 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Output Driver Temperature Sensor Performance Moderate
- P0D77 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Output Driver Temperature Sensor Circuit High Moderate
- P0D78 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Output Driver Temperature Sensor Circuit Low Moderate
- P0D79 Air Conditioning Compressor Control Module Output Driver Temperature Sensor Circuit Intermittent/Erratic Moderate
- P0EA8 Air Conditioning Compressor Motor Voltage Sensor B Circuit Moderate
Other components in Hybrid Propulsion
- High Voltage Battery 795
- Power Inverter 370
- Motor Generator 249
- Hybrid/EV Battery Pack Sensor Module 243
- Battery Energy Control Module 228
- On-Board Charger 209
- Hybrid Battery Contactor 136
- Charge Port 131
- DC-DC Converter 99
- Inverter Coolant Pump 92
- Motor Current Sensor 73
- Inverter Coolant Temperature Sensor 60
- Motor Position Sensor 59
- Hybrid Battery Cooling Fan 54
- Battery Pack Coolant Control Valve 47
- Hybrid/EV Battery Pack Current Sensor 30
- Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 19
- Motor Temperature Sensor 18
- High Voltage Interlock Loop 15
- Drive Motor Control Module 15
- Active Engine Mount 6
- Starter/Generator 6
- High Voltage Service Disconnect 5
- Fuel Cell Stack 2
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.
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