Have a 97 accord, yesterday driving in phoenix heard a screeching in the compressor and shortly after a discharge of refrigerant anyone have any info on what caused the problem and how to fix?

 

was it the compresor, or was it maybe a pipe that broke and the screeching sound was compressed gas coming out of a small hole?? also the accords have pretty nice A/C systems in that they come in lots of little pipe pieces that you can buy from a junk yard and install. after you do that buy one of those kits that you can refil it yourself [those don't acctually work but bear with me]; pump it full of stuff, if it holds pressure thats a good sign, drive it around for a bit and if it looses pressure check where it could be leaking... maybe with soap water or something. If that works the next step is to get this OTHER kit [yea yea i know] that puts this stuff in your A/C sys that glows under UV light.... once you do that, pressureize your system enough for it to turn on, and drive around for about 15-20 mins with the A/C on then go into garage and look for leaks. reason for this is there maybe a really really small leak that you can't see but is there. this stuff will help you find it. I know cause it happened to me and i had to do the same thing. let me know if you have any quesitons