AC compressor seized, Sebring 3.0

Okay folks, trying to help some friends of mine get their car back on the road, on a budget! yaaaay...

Its a 2002 Sebring coupe 3.0L engine.

It hasnt had functional AC in a while, guessing the refrigerant leaked out. Well the compressor recently seized up ( again Im guessing lack of lubrication since all the refrigerant leaked out)....at any rate, destroyed the belt, and of course for the moment cant put a new belt back on it.


I thought of putting a bypass pulley on it, but it seems no one makes one for that particular car...

I also thought of getting a cheap used compressor off Ebay, which is a gamble that could lead them back to the same boat. They dont have the money to pay a shop to find the leak(s), fix, vacuum, recharge, etc etc, and AC is not something Im overly familar with. But, since they dont intend to fix the AC, the newused compressor would still be running without proper lubrication, so Im afraid it might eventually seize up again.

My next thought was to use a shorter belt, and reroute it to avoid the AC compressor, but just from looking at the diagram, it doesnt look like thats an option, not even with removing the compressor. Although I havent physically seen the car yet, so I dont know for sure. Plus none of the diagrams show the water pump? Im assuming it has one haha.

Anyone been in this situation before and rigged something up?

I just had the same problem with my 2003 Sebring LX, 2.4, what I did was had a used compressor from a salvage yard installed and the problem was solved. I also recharged the a/c and now have ice cold air.

Yeah, just replace the ac with a pump from salvage, clean out lines as good as you can, flush system, vacuum it, (if you have air comp, harbor freight sells a 15 dollar venturi vacuum pump that works off air.). Put freon in it and run it. You other options are not looking that much better.

You need to flush system, probably metal all in thsoe lines. Put full of oil in it too, DUmp old oil out of salvage compressor. Good luck. Your going to need orings too, 6 bux for a set probably.