2000 S70 - Question about A/C compressor shim fix

[erikv11]

Zip ties. I've done three cars that way, never had one fail or fly out. And they stay in without any superglue so you can just cut them off to remove when/if you ever need to.

[Adler]

Just did this on my 98. Clutch gap was way over 1mm! I used copper spark plug indexing washers I had laying around, snipped them into C shapes and slid them under the plate. Now to wait for a hot day...

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[RigsPGT]

I did this on my 98 which is the same looking compressor as Adler's picture above without luck. Within minutes the shims flew underneath the car like BBs. I bent some thin galvanized sheets in half and now im thinking it would have been smarter to tie the 3 shims with safety wire from one to another to prevent them from falling or just simply use zip ties.

[Adler]

Went to replace the air guide today so while it was out I could see that one of my sets of shims had disappeared. I made a new one and added safety wire to hold them all. I'll check again in a week and see if they've moved. AC has worked fine since I added the shims and I couldn't tell when that one came loose. The gap was still close to even all the way around.

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[erikv11]

For this application zip ties never move around, never fall out, are easy to put in ...

[geokilla]

I got an oil change done today and asked the mechanic to take a look at the fix. Him and a colleague said they can't get access to the AC clutch because it is covered by metal (forgot the proper names) to the left and bottom of the AC compressor. Basically the only way to do it is to drop the compressor down. Is there any other way to zip tie the AC clutch? Or are you guys all dropping the compressor?

I showed the mechanic this post.

[abscate]

Ouch.

On a late P80 car you can access the compressor clutch about 1/3 at a time. EZ PZ

[dosbricks]

If you can remove two 10mm bolts and drop the plastic air guide (cover) under the front of the car, the clutch can be accessed as abscate indicated, by rotating it 1/3 at a time to face the side you are working on toward the bottom. It's not nearly the kind of tussle that's going on in your avatar

They didn't want to do it. First of all, they are leery of any "non standard fix" because they fear being named as the one responsible for it and appearing non-professional. Plus almost all shops are on computer now and they don't know how to bill for anything not assigned the designated hours or fractions thereof by alldata. They would be happy to charge you $350 for a rebuilt compressor though.

[geokilla]

If you can remove two 10mm bolts and drop the plastic air guide (cover) under the front of the car, the clutch can be accessed as abscate indicated, by rotating it 1/3 at a time to face the side you are working on toward the bottom. It's not nearly the kind of tussle that's going on in your avatar

They didn't want to do it. First of all, they are leery of any "non standard fix" because they fear being named as the one responsible for it and appearing non-professional. Plus almost all shops are on computer now and they don't know how to bill for anything not assigned the designated hours or fractions thereof by alldata. They would be happy to charge you $350 for a rebuilt compressor though.

Actually this shop would be more than happy to bill me just labour work. They even said if they could, they'd do it. They're the kind of shop that a lot of Toyota and Lexus owners go to because the owners made a name for themselves for their honesty. I'll show them what you posted next time and hope for the best lol.

[dosbricks]

Well, as professionals, if they don't know they can drop the air guide and rotate the compressor, then they don't know beans about Volvo cars.

The gist of what is being implied in this thread is that if you have 20 spare minutes and a few small zip ties, then you are not going to find a DIY repair much easier than this one. Much easier than doing an oil change.