'99 S70 Wobbly AC Compressor Pulley, Bypass Belt?

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 11 Aug 2018, 21:36

My cousin was complaining about a weird noise yesterday, and after he opened the hood today I immediately saw the problem... the A/C compressor pullley was wobbling like crazy.

He was just talking to me the other day about how the A/C cuts out on the highway when he goes more than about 70, then it'll come back on as he slows down. I thought that seemed strange, but figured the clutch would just need shimming (large gap after looking at it today).
It seems now that the clutch either failed completely or the pulley is bad.

After looking again, there are metal shavings sitting on the subframe below the compressor, presumably from the pulley rubbing against the compressor. Is this a common issue with the A/C that I've somehow never heard of? We tried to get a clutch/pulley (do they come off together?) at the junkyard today while we were there for something else, but ran out of time since the yard was closing.
Would a worn out clutch cause the pulley to wobble? I didn't get a good enough look at it today on his car because I was juggling a couple of projects, but it seems after some research that the clutch comes off after removing the 10mm screw, then the pulley can be removed. Does that sound right?
Strange thing is the noise isn’t as bad with the A/C on. Which would make sense since the clutch is holding stronger on the pulley, but I find it odd that the clutch still engages just fine.

Now to the next part... temporarily he wants to get a short belt to run without the A/C. Autozone's website showed that they had a belt for cars without A/C, but I have a hard time believing that when it was a 78" belt or something like that. Does anyone know the size required for the 1999-2000 style double-sided belt? I feel I remember a thread on here not too long ago about this topic, but I can't seem to find it.

Post by **wizechatmgr** » 12 Aug 2018, 02:47

I believe Abscate tried running a short belt on a '99 V70 and it was discovered that the alternator had a one way clutch. The belt ran it in the wrong direction and there was no charge as a result. Your mileage may vary...

Post by **bmdubya1198** » 12 Aug 2018, 07:48

wizechatmgr wrote: ↑12 Aug 2018, 02:47 I believe Abscate tried running a short belt on a '99 V70 and it was discovered that the alternator had a one way clutch. The belt ran it in the wrong direction and there was no charge as a result. Your mileage may vary...

That's right, I should have known it was him that tried that!