Subaru air con - ideas please

lisyloo

Our air con stopped working over a year ago.
It MAY have been related to breakdown caused by a fan-belt failure. The clutch coil melted onto the connector.

We had the connector bodged up (at a garage) last year, which worked for a short time then failed again.

One option is to buy a new compressor/pump.
This is about £1200 for a genuine Subaru part and there are no factored parts.

Another option is to recondition the compressor.
This is about £600 all in with VAT, carriage, fitting etc.
BUT if it's not possible to recondition it then we'll have to pay for the failed reconditioning AND £1200 for the new part until which time the car will be off the road.
I'm told the "belt" cannot be adjusted so the car cannot work without the compressor.

It's a 55 plate, 3 litre legacy B-spec - so 9 years old, 67K miles.

We now have an advert on "findapart" asking for a second hand compressor.

Just wondering if anyone has any bright ideas we might not have thought of.
We've already thought of sell it, put up with it, get a new one etc.

TIA

JustinR1979

A shorter belt?
Isn't compressor cluthched - is it seized or something?

lisyloo

I'm told there is no option to shorten the belt and I have no reason to disbelive the garage who seem to be trying pretty hard to find options.

Yes it's clutched I believe, but you cannot buy the individual smaller parts so have to get the whole compressor.

No it's not seized but it doesn't work, so yesterday (with 4 people in the car) the windscreen was getting fogged.
I know that "put up with it" is an option (already mentioned) unfortunately it's not an acceptable one to DH.

Personally I would either sell it to someone who is not so fussed about the issue (with a discount but hopefully not as much as £1200) or trade it in.

I was jsut wondering if anyone had any other bright ideas that we might have missed.

JustinR1979

So it's off the road because screen misted up?
Other than getting broken part fixed, only bright idea I can think of is to crack window slightly and put blowers onto screen like people did for 100 years before aircon was fitted to cars.

AdrianC

I suspect you've got the problem you know about - the compressor clutch having failed - and one you don't. If aircon is left unused for a while, the seals tend to dry and shrink, causing the refrigerant to leak. When the pressure's too low, the clutch won't be switched in, to prevent the various bearings being run dry of oil (in the refrigerant). Obviously, older seals are more likely to fail than newer ones, so a shortish period out of use on a ~ decade old car carries a high probability of failure. And a used compressor is similarly likely to not be great.

Have you had the gas checked since the short period of working ended?

I'd be surprised if the compressor can't be worked around with the belt routing.
A quick google finds...


So it'd seem to me that removing the compressor (top right) and the idler below the alternator (top centre) would allow a shorter belt to be routed straight up from the crank (bottom centre), round the alternator, and to the power steering (top left). The tensioner remains.

Gotta be worth a try...

If the clutch is not seized/stuck on, then there's no problem with the compressor being left in place, so no need to reroute the belt. The compressor just won't be spun, just as if the aircon was off.

If the 'screen is misting up, then you merely need to change the controls about - remember before aircon? Warm air to the screen. All aircon does is dry that air, too. Perhaps the pollen filter is overdue a change and is waterlogged? Or air recirc is on?

lisyloo

No - The car is currently on the road without working air-con.

What I was saying was that if they take the old compressor out and the reconditioning fails then the car (unlike most other makes) is then off the road until the air-con is fixed. That leaves us no choice but to pay for the £1200 new part plus failed recon plus wait for both to complete.

The garage say on most cars they can adjust the belt to get the car back on the road but not on this one.
They are a highly reputable local garage who are trying to save me money, rather than the other 2 subaru dealers who didn't consider/offer any other options except a £1200 compressor, so I have no reason to doubt what they are saying.

JustinR1979

I'm sure they could find a shorter belt to fit if they tried
Or even bolt a pulley in place to take up the slack failing that.


For the price on a 10 year old car I'd leave it.
As Adrian says you could be chasing leaks, very rarely is aircon used regularly to keep seals from drying out.
I replaced a compressor on a car years ago, chased leaks and gave up.
Gets expensive if it doesn't go according to plan.

lisyloo

It was misting up because there were 4 people breathing in the car.
Unfortunately we can't turn that off :-)

remember before aircon? Warm air to the screen

Yes that's what I did several times, but we also had to open windows as it was too hot in mid October.
That was on the motorway at 70 mph (honest), so it was very unpleasantly noisy (probably in the range of causing hearing damage after 5 mins TBH).
I wear contact lenses so I can't stand a howling gale.

Pollen filter was changed in August at service.

I know no air con would not be an issue for everyone.
I was just looking for any ideas we might have overlooked.

Personally I'd change the car if it's an issue (which it is).

Slowly_does_it..

Random thought - obtain an AC pump that is known to be broken - someone might pay you to take it away - then get yours taken out and re-built. If it works, good, now go chasing leaks from dried out seals, if it all fails, put in an AC pump that does not work as a simple idler puller? - you might even be able to buy an idler pully which was put in place if the AC was only an option when the car was ordered?

JustinR1979

lisyloo wrote: »

It was misting up because there were 4 people breathing in the car.
Unfortunately we can't turn that off :-)

My first 10 cars had no aircon, I didn't crash and die.
I don't get it, crack some windows, adjust blowers.
I don't use aircon for clearing my screen, just crack a window and prevent it misting up.
Can be a pain returning to car after using aircon.


Anyway good luck with it.

lisyloo

I don't think anyone will die either. It's just a matter of preference really.