Can't believe it's been over 5 years since I've been here. Unfortunately Seka met an untimely end in late 2014.

I've since picked up an '03 V-70 5 speed (I assumed the manual would take care of those pesky Aisin-Warner flare problems making it the perfect car). Unfortunately, it isn't half the car that my '01 was, and so I've passed it down to my girlfriend who is giving it the love.

Wednesday it suddenly tore it's serpentine belt in a cloud of smoke. We are quite rural. A 100Km tow and dealer repair prices are not in the cards.

Investigating, the AC clutch had seized. I'm not certain why this tore the belt, as the AC (and so presumably the compressor) was recently working. Would it be because the clutch was unable to disengage, and simply built too much pressure in the system overloading the belt?

A few taps has freed up the clutch. As I said, we're rural and not swimming flush with cash. I'm thinking of just disconnect the clutch wire and replace the belt, allowing the pulley to freewheel.

Is there any reason such a "fix" won't make it through the winter?

This is probably the last few days I'll be able to turn a wrench this season - 2 degrees C and old arthritic hands. It's taken nearly 6 hours just to get the alternator and PS out of the way for a look. She puts nearly 200Km per day on the car commuting to work in Kingston. It needs to be reliable. Breaking down in the double digit minuses in the dark really isn't an option.

As well, earlier in my post.

Is it possible that my overpressure thought is correct and that the compressor itself is still good? IF so, then just a new clutch would presumably solve the issue properly. (Next spring, lol.)

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

if the clutch pulley bearing seems to spin freely, then this fix will last forever.

Based on your description I don't think I know what you mean by "seized" so I don't really have any idea about the answer to your questions. If the compressor locked and it threw the belt, then the conventional wisdom would be something there is no longer good. You can decide what it is. Unplugging the compressor eliminates one of the 2 possible culprits.

My experience is that if the compressor itself locked up it'll do it again.

 

Thanks .. (with the clutch latched) I can turn the compressor by hand but there's a lot of resistance. I wouldn't think enough to take a belt out, but it's hard to really guess.

The clutch had locked up, a few taps and it released and is spinning freely. I've disconnected the wire that commands it to latch. So it should be "fixed" for the winter anyway.

What I have no way of knowing is if it was the clutch itself faulty, and failure to disengage was building too much system pressure, and therefor too much load on the belt - or if that is even possible (ie, does the compressor have an internal "pop off" or bypass .. like oil pump circuits), Otherwise yeah, the compressor is toast.

Either way .. she's running for now.