Reviving old Air conditioning.

So I bought a used car more than a month ago. The previous owner, hadn't had it long, and wife decided she didn't like it. When I got it, the A/C belt had not been hooked up. The previous owner stated that he wasn't sure if the A/C worked as he hadn't had a chance to hook it up. He even had a brand new belt. I got home, hooked up the belt, and found the tensioner needed replacing. That was done and easy. A/C didn't work, so I bought a can of refrigerant(A/C pro) that is suppose to have oil and leak sealer in it. Charged it up, and it works great. 45 days in, it still cools well. However, from the get go, when the A/C clutch engages, it nearly causes the car to lurch if the belt is good and tight, if a little loose, it causes the belt to slip and chirp. So in my mind, the compressor sat too long and probably isn't in great shape lube wise, causing to have a tough time spinning when the clutch engages. What does the collective think? Is it a case of putting in compressor oil, and it will get more free? It wouldn't be the compressor clutch, correct? Or suck it up and get a new compressor?

Sounds like the clutch is just a bit grabbie. keep using it and see if it wears in a bit. it might have some rust pits or stickiness from sitting.

Concur with the thinking the issue is more likely the clutch than the compressor.

Small and weak engined cars are prone to letting you know when the ac compressor kicks in. Percentage wise, it can be a very substantial hit on their available power. Depending on what this car is, it could be perfectly normal operation.

It a 2000 Subaru 2.5rs. I've had a few, and many other subie's and this is the first time I've encountered it being quite this severe. If anything, they are known for not grabbing when magnetized. I may pull the clutch apart and see how much corrosion is in there and see if I can address it.

You can probably clean it quite well with a small jumper wire to a hot lead or battery. Just keep touching the clutch lead; on, off, on, off.

couple of drops of ATF on the clutch would help it slip stick not just grab hard.

In reply to 44Dwarf:

Yeah those are typically metallic linings so a bit of oil wont hurt it any, worst case it slips and burns it off.