When I turn on the A/C there is grinding noise like a old fridge, turn A/C off it's gone. I used to have the radio on so did not notice it before.

The dealer told me it could probably(almost sure) be the compressor and it takes $1200(with labor) to replace it - hell i m not gonna spend that much! My 2003 Z only has 70k miles on it but they said the noise is quite abnormal and it could happen anytime no one can tell.

i m wondering do you guys have the same noise? If I turn on the radio with volume 8-10 then couldn;t hear it.

 

Does the AC still put out plenty of cold air? If it does, it's not likely that the compressor is bad. It might be the idler pulley, since it sees more load when the compressor is running.