I think ya both have blown A/C compressor units. They are expensive and a real pain to replace but there'* not alot else it could be . The rattle you hear and the power rob is it saying No More...I give up :( . I would remove the unibelt with engine not yet hot and run momentarily to see if it solves the problem and confirms it'* beat,

I free-reved mine in park and it seems to be OK. No lagging.

If the compressor is bad, I'm not going to bother replacing it...yet. I'll wait until it totally dies. For the MI climate, it'* not worth the cost at this point. I'll at least get the rest of this summer out of it! I'd rather deal with the hesitation than spend the $300....especially on a car with so many miles.

Dont blame ya there Vital, it just sounds as though its really going to wear on everything while in use by the way 88 descripes it. Low 70'* here but I hear you Midwest guys got that killer California heat wave coming at ya. Mybe a weekend for sitting ijn the shade with a12 pack eh?

with the temperature in the mid 90'* today, I went for another drive. I was wrong about the lag when the engine is cold. It'* almost non-existant. The car drove no different between the AC being on, and being off, when the engine was cold. After about 5 minutes of driving though, it started to bog down with the AC on. Could the AC refrigerent not have enough oil in it? WHat would happen if too much oil were added (if I were to add more, and it wasn't low in the first place.)

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, it'* 95* here today and my A/C kept me cool today and I couldn't even tell it was on.

But srviously, I don't think is't an issue with the oil. I think that too much oil actually causes the A/C to stop cooling well because it clogges the orfice tube.

Strange. I would imagine that your compressor is starting to go out because of the noise you hear. I can't hardly hear my compressor when it'* on with the hood open.

My engine stalled today with the AC on as I was coasting at 50 MPH. The engine was idling at around 1,200 RPM from coasting, then I felt the AC kick on again and the RPM'* dropped to 600, down to a final ZERO. It'* not too great restarting your engine at 50 MPH with traffic behind ya. I wasn't too happy that the engine quit. I could tell the compressor was disengaged for a few seconds because the air was getting a little damp, when it kicked back on full force, the engine quit.

on a happy note, my #@#@#! gas gauge quit working yesterday, too. I had half a tank, and it kept going between full, and empty. One minute I'd get the *ding ding ding* "low fuel" the next minute the gauge would be on full.

I would think if it was a compressor problem it would tear up the belt before causing a major power loss & or stalling. Could the rattling noise be triggering a false knock affecting the engine timing?