Octavia SLX 1.9 TDi estate 1999 with 190k on clock and AHF engine.....have been experiencing aircon issues and reading lots of posts here but I am a bit confused. (not difficult)

Aircon (manual with compressor SD7V16) has never really worked since I got the car 6 years ago and I have never been fussed to get it fixed. Car has recently developed an awful intermittent rasping noise and I am convinced it is the compressor. ( lack of lube no doubt)

After reading posts I can definitely say the clutch is still there and the centre nut also but if I look at the pulley end of the compressor when engine is idling the pulley is barely moving and the auxilliary belt is being pushed/pulled round the pulley....so the car stays running but if this continues the belt will either keep slipping and will eventually wear away or jump off the pulley wheel I imagine.

As I am not a user of aircon I have been searching on posts to see if the compressor could be bypassed with a short auxilliary belt and just leaving all the aircon bits and bobs untouched on the car.

Most posts say this is not an option but I have seen one where somebody had an octy 2 and their garage did exactly that but there was no detailed info.

can anybody enlighten me to .......

1) is it possible to bypass compressor by short auxilliary belt on octy mk1

2) if yes how do you route the short belt as I cannot see how to do this properly with the current layout of crank,alternator, tensioner and hydraulic pump.

3) can you just leave the original aircon components to do thier own thing ( or nothing)

4) failing the short belt option can the aircon pulley just be replaced with a new pulley/bracket of some sort just to take up the slack of the long belt

and lastly if the compressor is beginning to sieze up due to lack of lube etc ( my speculation due to what I see before me)

5) why if the clutch is still on the pulley wheel is it not disengaging the compressor so it effectively becomes number 4 above ??

I am really not up for paying out lots of ££££ to fix something I never use.....too chilly in Scotland for aircon....... any workarounds for this would be greatly appreciated

many thanks in advance

Andwil001

The compressor isn't driven by the belt unless the magnetic clutch is engaged. Your problem is a seized bearing in the pulley.

I think I have pulley/bearing that I rescued from the same model compressor. If I do, you can have it for the cost of the postage.

Easy to replace.

Undo the clutch nut and pull off the clutch making sure you don't lose any shims.

Release the circlip and pull off the pulley/bearing.

Slide on the new pulley/bearing and secure with the circlip.

Slide in the clutch and tighten the nut.

Hi rwbaldwin and thank you for your swift reply.

I hadn't even considered the pulley had a bearing...I thought the bearing would be inside the compressor housing and the pulley would be pressed onto the shaft splines....which is why so many people seem to replace the compressor unit......but then there would be no need for a clutch would there..doh! a little knowledge can be a curse.

If this is indeed the case then brilliant as there will be no faffing about with opening up the aircon side of things and all that flushing/re gassing business.

If you do have the necessary parts I would be up for the postage and a donation to a charity of your choice or similar.......if you don't have them are they something i can get part numbers for and source on the net?

i live near Stirling in Scotland so any postage will be standard rates for weight/size of package. Let me know when you know.

If you do not want to divulge personal info etc on a public forum my email address is @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you again for your feedback it would be nice to keep the old girl going .....I think she is almost run in now!

regards

Andwil001

Edited 11 May, 201214 yr by andwil001

Email sent

I dont see why you wouldnt want the aircon. Since i fixed my aircon my front screen demists in 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes if its misted up. Its also going to affect the value of the car I imagine quite badly.

Hello yesiamtom....value is not really an issue as i will be keeping the car until i can no longer fix it due to some catostrophic failure for the car or me! It would be great to keep car in original condition but aircon is a nice to have in my view of the world...... if it is possible to fix due to bearing failure highlighted by rwbaldwin I will do so......if however this is not the failure then i will still be looking for a method of bypassing the compressor with a shorter auxilliary belt if possible.

regards

Andwil001

ah fair enough andwil. I am planning to sell mine or move it to another family memeber in the next 12 months so resale is important for me

I think if you can fix the aircon its definately worth it. As said, with the clutch working correctly (it should already do so) there is not really any extra load on the engine anyway. It also means you can demist the front screen super fast which is great. Other than that i would agree that the aircon is just a little extra which isnt really needed...i prefer to use Econ whenever i can so as to not destroy my fuel economy.

My air con is a bit odd. I had the car 6 months before fixing it and i've no idea how long the previous owner had the car before the aircon failed but i presume the car went atleast a year or so with no air con. Even after all this when i got the clutch fixed it instantly worked fantastically. Okay its not as good as my brothers 3 year old honda accord but it didnt even need a regas. It doesn't even make any odd noises!

I think if you can fix the aircon its definately worth it. As said, with the clutch working correctly (it should already do so) there is not really any extra load on the engine anyway. It also means you can demist the front screen super fast which is great. Other than that i would agree that the aircon is just a little extra which isnt really needed...i prefer to use Econ whenever i can so as to not destroy my fuel economy.

I have tried running my car with the air con on and in Econ mode as I am doing 500 miles per week and I get between 53 and 55 mpg regardless of the air con being on or off. So I wouldn't worry too much about destroying your fuel economy, as far as I can see it makes very little or no difference at all.

I have tried running my car with the air con on and in Econ mode as I am doing 500 miles per week and I get between 53 and 55 mpg regardless of the air con being on or off. So I wouldn't worry too much about destroying your fuel economy, as far as I can see it makes very little or no difference at all.

have you calculated it based on tank to tank readings or the indicated trip computer reading? I only go by the computer and it knocks a good portion of mpg off. 5% easily. The trip computer is wrong anyway and i should do it tank to tank really!

Hi all......I would still be interested if anybody has successfully bypassed the compressor by fitting a short auxilliary belt ( on 1.9tdi Mk1 Octavia ) or has fitted a mock bracket/pulley arrangement to take up the slack of a long belt with no compressor in the serpentine belt loops.

cheers

Andwil001

Hi all......I would still be interested if anybody has successfully bypassed the compressor by fitting a short auxilliary belt ( on 1.9tdi Mk1 Octavia ) or has fitted a mock bracket/pulley arrangement to take up the slack of a long belt with no compressor in the serpentine belt loops.

cheers

Andwil001

No. A short belt would catch on itself. On cars without a/c, the steering pump is where the a/c compressor is and there are no idler pulleys.

No. A short belt would catch on itself. On cars without a/c, the steering pump is where the a/c compressor is and there are no idler pulleys.

Beaten to it. I was going to say the belt arrangements shown in the haynes manual are completely different for the aircon and non aircon versions.

Thank you again for your input thats why I could not workout the routing if shortened.

Andwil001

Hi rwbaldwin......pulley wheel plus bearing arrived today and looks the business.....many thanks...will have to try and get it on the car in the coming week

Andwil001

Was there any success with this?

have you calculated it based on tank to tank readings or the indicated trip computer reading? I only go by the computer and it knocks a good portion of mpg off. 5% easily. The trip computer is wrong anyway and i should do it tank to tank really!

Calculated on tank full to tank full.