ac compressor toasted

bjornfam · Post by **bjornfam** » 26 Sep 2006, 14:15

if you are driving an older 850 with questionable ac, you may want to stick a 50 inch 6 rib belt in your car so that if your compressor ever siezes, you can bypass the ac. or at least, write this size down in your manual so you do not---as i did---take three trips to the store to get the right belt.

why would a compressor just go? if it had a leak. why didn't the low pressure swutch kick it off?

Post by **dosbricks** » 26 Sep 2006, 20:20

Very good advice! I always keep my previous serpentine belt in the spare tire well, but it would be of no use in this situation.

I was once a passenger in a Cadillac when we smelled something getting hot. We raised the hood and then shut off the engine. The A/C compressor was so hot the pulley immediately melted right through the belt. Turns out the owner had repeatedly added refrigerant but never one with oil included. Probably not the case in your situation, but something to think about.

My wife's S70 has 142k but has never needed R134. I wonder if the system oil is still adequate???

bjornfam · Post by **bjornfam** » 26 Sep 2006, 21:26

dos b,
you may have got me.....
I replaced the original compressor (bad clutch) 1.5 years ago with a used compressor and got quite a bit of service out of it. It was installed ,recharged and supposedly oiled, by a local shop but always seemed a bit noisy to me. My system had a very slow leak that I could not find, I suspected the evaporator. I charged it once with 134. Immediately afterwards, I discoverd this site, ozbrix, bay 13 and realized i may have goofed. But it did run for a good 6 months in the florida sun. I have since been reading up on ac systems and realize the importance of a qualified tech, vaccuum, total cleaning, total charge etc. However at the time, where i live, i had no good recommendations for a shop. So I sort of gambled with the 150$ part. Then again, maybe the compressor was on it's way out.

I do agree (now) with many more wise members on this board that an ac system should be trusted to a good shop. Luckily, I have found a guy that is very good, and reasonable. However, I am not sure I will be fixing the ac. I have 168,000 miles and am really just trying to keep it running. I have treated the poor thing more like a truck than a sport wagon. It has made a great truck actually, if you disregard the interior. I hope I am not banned by the board for this admittance. But I have no plans for restoration. I do have my eyes open for one with low miles.. and I covet xc70's. Not sure I could afford the maintanence.

you really should write down this belt size, it will save you time if yours ever goes out.

claudio · Post by **claudio** » 13 Nov 2006, 09:13

bjornfam wrote:if you are driving an older 850 with questionable ac, you may want to stick a 50 inch 6 rib belt in your car so that if your compressor ever siezes, you can bypass the ac. or at least, write this size down in your manual so you do not---as i did---take three trips to the store to get the right belt.

why would a compressor just go? if it had a leak. why didn't the low pressure swutch kick it off?

Will this work on a 95 850 ?? as my compressor is making a huge noise and is probably about to go.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 13 Nov 2006, 17:39

Yes, the belt would work on all 850's and first gen 70 series Volvo's. Would like to know the routing of the belt however when you take the compressor out of the equation. Also, you would need a way to lift the tensioner...what tool do you use (keep in your trunk), bjornfam?

claudio · Post by **claudio** » 14 Nov 2006, 06:54

Yes a nice diagram of the new belt routing would be helpful to me as i will attempt this on the weekend.

thanks

Post by **luketrash** » 14 Nov 2006, 08:42

My 1991 Volvo 244 had the compressor throw a bearing and the pulley was totally wobbling around.. My wife had it that day and called me to tell me the car was making a horrible noise and there were metal shavings under the hood. When you call me and tell me "noise and metal shavings" I get concerned.

I showed up on the scene in my much crappier Volvo 242... There was aluminum shavings all over the place because the pulley was eating into the body of the compressor. On that car, it used two V belts. The only detriment of disablng the compressor was that the PS pump would also be disabled.. I drove it for a month with no power steering before fitting a new belt that bypassed the blown up AC compressor.

Just for comic relief.. v belts have nothing to do with serpentine belts

bjornfam · Post by **bjornfam** » 14 Nov 2006, 14:33

sorry to take so much time. I have been very busy.

the "tool" i keep in my car to de-tension the belt is a strip of metal about 4cm by 2.5 cm or 1" by 1 5/8" and a large adjustable wrench. I have made several of these but tend to lose them so I try to keep one in the ashtray or glove compartment.

in a flash you can make this out of an edger blade and a 1$ mini-hacksaw blade. which are available just about anywhere and cheap. I have found thinner metals twist.

as far as the re-routing, it is self explanatory as there is really only one way that it will work. I think it was from crankshaft, over oil pump around powersteering, under tensioner and down. It looks sketchy as if the belt will rub when you look at it but there is clearance. I've put about 5k on mine since my breakdown. no problems.

Post by **luketrash** » 14 Nov 2006, 14:43

The tool I made is cut from a piece of 3/4" square pipe stock. I had to fill it with JB weld to provide support so it wouldn't deform. I have this piece along with a cut piece of a nail to use to lock the tensioner in place via the little hole on the assembly.

Post by **luketrash** » 14 Nov 2006, 14:54

The above graph shows the layout.

My only concern would be to make sure the alternator has plenty of belt surface touching it (the reason for the new, longer belt usage)

So the way that makes sense to me without seeing my car or clearances would be:

around the crank - under the tensioner - around the PS pump - around the alternator - on top of the idler - back to the crank.

However, that's similar to the original belt, as far as surface to the alternator goes. Probably not a worry unless you saw slipping at high rpm by way of dim electrical system?

However, if there is room to do option B as I've crappily illustrated, I'd think it would be ideal:

And I guess there's option C, which seems like the least ideal situation: