I was hoping to revisit this again. I know it has been discussed here before, but it has been years and hoping to get some updated opinions. It's time to replace the air conditioning compressor in my 2003 360. Buying new/OEM from Europe is ridiculous. Seems like it is over $4000. There is a number of other options that I am choosing between 1) sending mine out to be refurbished. Not super excited about this, there is a number of people on ebay that are offering this service, has anyone done it and is not worth it? 2) Chinese compressor from eBay, Amazon or ali express. This is the cheapest option, many of them are under $200. I cannot imagine that there are that many factories making these compressors, so I am wondering if these are actually OEM compressors that are sold direct from China. That being said, almost to good to be true. Has anyone had any experience with these compressors, I certainly would not mind trying it and if it fails I am only out about 200 bucks, but I do not want to waste my time. 3) compressor from an Opel Vectra. This seems like a popular option. Hard to find OEM here in the United States, but again there seems to be a lot of Chinese options on eBay. Has anyone tried this route, what is the best source to pick one of these up? 4) Compressor from RNC auto. Looks like these go for about $850. Not sure where they come from originally, and they may just be another Chinese made part marked up from an American distributor. Love to hear thoughts and experiences. Thanks for the help
1. First, assuming you have confined the problem to the compressor, confirm it is your compressor itself, not just the clutch. The clutch can be replaced easily. 2. I would be cautious buying from a Chinese (Ali Express, etc.) manufacturer. I assure you that THEY ARE NOT reselling OEM units. They literally knock off the OEM units right down to the stamps, filling them with inferior parts. There is a big business right now with sellers purchasing Chinese parts and reselling them as OEM. Additionally, there are many indy shops using them as well. I recently saw a NGSC video of an Chinese AC compressor install, for example. 3. I would go for a rebuild, preferably local to you, so there will not be an issue returning it should it not work.
Austin rebuilders in Austin Texas has rebuilt many for me and many more for people here. Low price, quick turnaround. Dont get stuck with Commie junk.
I am running the Chinese compressor. It’s been on the car a year and a half now. No problems. Blows cold everytime I turn it on. Hearing the factory compressors are now made in china too. The factory compressors are junk. It does not help that the compressor is mere inches from a hot exhaust manifold. Rebuild services will buy you some time until the inevitable happens again. A lot of them are not rebuildable.
Hey im all about saving $. Owning these cars does not have to be expensive. I even throw on a used part from time to time(its a 99 so the sum of all the parts on the car are well used). Although my car is nice and very well maintained by me, its a 67k mile car. Its fully depreciated. If i ever sell, its not gonna be to your typical Ferrari type person that is looking for a garage queen and i wont be asking top dollar for it. I did keep the factory compressor to possibly rebuild one day incase this chinese compressor gives up the ghost.
How many miles are on it? If you're a weekend driver or your car is a garage queen, then Chinese parts are fine. But I drive 20K+ miles per year so I look for reliability. The factory Ferrari units can be sourced from the manufacturer as with most other parts. For example, just last week my compressor failed on my Mercedes. The dealer wants $1,900. I sourced the part number at Denso and ordered the factory compressor for $289.00. That's an OEM unit for $289, made in Japan. No need to go Chinese at that price. Same with my alternator in the Ferrari. Brand new is available online from Denso (matched the part number up from the factory unit) for $389.00. I replaced my MAF tubes as well. $150 per side from Bosch. My F1 pump from Magnetti Marelli $350.00. The list goes on.
You are 100% correct. My rebuilder local to me told me this. He backs up his work but told me in advance that the parts are not OEM quality, as the OEM does not distribute factory parts for rebuild.
FYI before I purchased my current 360, my friend's family owned a 100K mile 360 and he was able to source the factory AC compressor from a Toyota (maybe?) or a Nissan. I have to call and find out - it was a few years ago but knowing this was a direct replacement would be good knowledge.
