90 loyale, can I bypass the ac compressor?

[sunking247]

Hi, this is my first time posting, but I've got a real problem here.

 

I own a 1990 Subaru Loyale Wagon, bought it with 120,000 miles and have since put on another 30,000. The last owner treated it pretty well, but did alot of the repairs himself, and not very well. On a trip up to the Rockies 6 months ago, it threw the timing belt and I was stranded. Long story short, had it towed to a nearby town and ended up spending 2 nights in the mountains while I waited for the par to show up and the labor to be done. In doing the labor, most of the front half of my car had to be removed and then re-installed in order to access the timing belt casing. When it's all said and done, I've spent about $700. 2 months later, a bearing in the tensioner pulleys seized and froze up, and burning rubber smoke starts coming out from under the hood. My poor wife was driving and was able to limp the last mile and a half home, but was literally scared out of her wits that the car might explode on her or something. Anyway, had the pulley replaced, had the belts replaced, good as new right? Wrong, in the last 3 months have had to replace the ac belt twice, both times getting stuck on the side of the road.

 

From the comments of you good people and from picking a mechanic friend's brain, I have narrowed it down to the AC compressor. I think the pulley is slow, putting undue heat and pressure on the belt, causing them to eventually and prematurely fail. Further proof of this is the clicking sound that comes from this pulley any time I turn on any of the heating or ac functions, it immediately goes away once I turn off the defroster, ac, etc... And that my AC doesn't work anymore anyway.

 

My question is: can i bypass the AC compressor pulley and just use a shorter AC belt? Or do i just always have to keep a spare ac belt in the car and be ready to replace it at all times?

 

Steven

[calebz]

Which AC unit does it have? Ther were 3-4 different ones mounted in 2 different locations. For your purposes, manufacturer isn't as important as location.

 

If it is between the atlernator and the battery(outboard), you can just but a belt for one with no AC.

 

If its between the power steering and the alternator, you will probably have to actually remove the compressor.

 

Either way it can be done.

[canajun2eh]

It sounds as if the AC compressor is seized. You can disable the compressor by unplugging it.

 

The AC pulley runs all the time, but is disengaged from the compressor by a magnetically operated clutch. When power is applied to the magnetic clutch, the compressor is connected to the pulley. Therefore, by unplugging the compressor, you prevent the magnetic clutch from engaging. Thus: "no drive to the compressor".