So damn loud! AC compressor caput.

About 3 weeks ago I drove my Poison Arrow(old nickname when it had a purple hood) into Boston and found a great parking space at my GF's office.

We went to go see Wanda Sykes and she was awesome! After the show I drove my GF and her friend to the "gahhden" were the North train station resides. And somehow I used my memory of the city from 6 years ago as a pedestrian college student to make my way back to the highway home, directly on the opposite side of the city. Suffice to say the 'ole memory wasn't that good and it took much longer than it should have.

Making it to the highway was like Icabod Crane making it to the covered bridge leaving the headless horseman, or in this case the mindless jaywalkers and kamakazee (sp?) drivers behind me. And like a Ronco rotisserie I "set it and forget it", the cruise in a leasurely 55mph making my way to the toll booths many miles ahead.

Suddenly I'm "airborne", or at least it felt that way, a good 10 to 12 inches above the pavement and then coming down hard. I laugh cause I never did anything like that before. Stunt driver Andy, that's me. No noise, no check engine light light,... normal.

Then arriving home on that hot night with the windows down I arrive home and hear it. It just seemed extremely loud. I looked at my tach and it didn't rev to match the sound I was hearing. I knew something must have shook loose at that point before the toll booths.

These are the days I appreciate having more than one car. I let the guys at home give me their opinion while I went to a wedding with my GF the next day. The AC compressor seemed to be the consensus when figuring out the issue.

Later I researched some AC compressors that would fit a 1995 Riv, was like looking for the holy grail. Rare item apparently. Amazon did have my back. Before I placed the purchase for an over $200 piece of automotive history I was informed I could bypass the compressor by getting a smaller belt.

This is where I could use some assistance. Does anyone know the size/type of the belt I need to bypass the AC compressor?

I called Advance and they mentioned since the Riv did not have a model without AC, finding the right size for the belt to 'bypass' the AC compressor pulley would be a trial and error challange.

Somehow taking a string to measure the need for the belt sans the AC was his suggestion.

My GF's dad did this process on my GF's first car, an old RoboCOP-generation Taurus. They had a non-AC option and the parts stores knew the size needed.

The Advance guy also mentioned quickly of a dummy pulley that doesn't do anything except spin freely preventing the belt from skipping like it is now by the seized compressor.

If this part exists, can someone please direct me to the number of the part.


Need to get this taken care of before the end of October when the 'toys' get put away and I need a durable car.

BUMP



I found this Bypass Pulley but it states it works with 1996-1999 Rivieras. The site says it will work with (8th VIN digit '1') of which mine is, but its a 1995.

Will this work?

Owning a 1995 is curse. There's little to no parts that are not 'discontinued'.

Is there a difference between a Series 1 and Series 2 AC? Something tells me there is but I could be wrong.

Andy, I might have a solution for you that has worked on previous cars (especially if you don't care about the AC working). Is the sound you're hearing a jingling/ringing? I've had that before. Hit the outer part of the pulley with heavy duty spray lubricant. Reach down and see if the outer part of the pulley will spin freely (something tells me it will). Try to rotate it 90*. Start the car and see if the sound goes away. A lot of times, when the clutch fails, the outer part of the AC pulley will grind on the inner and you can spin it to a point where they no longer touch. This is trial and error to find the happy point. You can probably spin it while the car is running but be VERY careful (obviously) with the moving parts.

Again.. this is only from personal experience and I'm doing a terrible job of explaining why this works from a technical perspective. Another thing I used was a telescoping magnet to try and get any metal shavings off of the pulley. Seemed to help.

Hopefully this may prove useful to you.

Quote :

Reach down and see if the outer part of the pulley will spin freely (something tells me it will). Try to rotate it 90*. Start the car and see if the sound goes away.

Are you talking about the clutch? On mine (series II) the clutch does not spin when the AC is off. When you turn on the AC, it engages against the AC idler pulley at random, since the idler is always spinning. I don't see how indexing the clutch 90º would matter much. You could be right, but imo just turning the AC off and on with engine running would accomplish the same thing.

I am talking about the clutch. It shouldn't spin freely by hand when the AC is on or off. When the AC is on and it engages, the AC should spin at its own pace and not allow a person to spin it. When the clutch fails, you can spin it by hand at all times. The darn thing makes quite a racket. Just indexing the outer part a few degrees can allow you to find the quiet part and shut it up.

Just my experience. Could be different in Andy's case. :/

The pulley has stopped/seized.

The sound from inside the cabin sounds like someone filling a tub with water, just a contant rushing muffled noise.

We've hit and sprayed the area but it doesn't change.

I don't care about the AC since I never used it EVER in the Rivs I owned. Never really understood how it engaged and when I found out, it wasn't worth it. The windows are so huge it almost feels like being in a convertible with structural roof bracing a la Regal convertible concept from the early 2000's.

Buying the compressor is a big purchase but it wouldn't break the bank for me. Getting it installed by a mechanic would, I've heard it would take hundreds of dollars and if I took it to my local mechanic problibly near $1,000. Totally not worth it for a car I paid $1500 for and already put it $4500 worth of stuff to make it work. And then having the car value near $1500 for resale. I just want to be able to run the car for my commute.

How difficult is it to put on one of these bypass pulleys? It appears to be a bolt-on part and looks like it doesn't interact with the original part.

Update!

I've agreed to getting the compressor fixed. The price of the repair fell short of my exagerated expecation and was pleased.

$125.00 for refurbished compressor
$150 for installation

Under $300 to get my beast up and running before snowfall....DEAL!

This is being performed by my NEW mechanic, the one who was able to figure out the issue of my car not starting in certain situations. Starts reliably every time and strong. Unlike my local guy it was a one visit fix without the "could be this, could be that" and "you needed to replace that part anyways".

This guy loves Rivs and took his woman out on the town with my Riv in order to figure out the former issue. I was totally fine with that. I appreciate and enthusiast working on the car versus someone who has no passion.

And my old local mechanic would have charged me $300 to put in the pastic by pass part anyways.

This is going to be a STRONG Riv with many young vital parts. I am ready and willing to sell at anytime someone wishes to get their hands on a sub-80k mile Riv. Need a little bit of money toward downpayment on a newer 'mule' commuter car. GF is on my case about 3 cars; won't let me park them ALL at the home she is purchasing. <key point: the house SHE is buying. Can't complain.

I has become aparent that I've never had a Riv with working AC cause it kicked on a few days ago and it was ICE COLD. I love it.!