[348] Show us your belts and bearings!

Either the compressor seized or the clutch windings shorted and overheated the belt, causing it to snap. Easy enough to determine by trying to rotate the compressor shaft. That said, even if the compressor spins I'd be tempted to have it gone through while it's off the car.

If the compressor did seize you need to determine if it threw shrapnel, because in that case the system will require more flushing than usual.

But something tells me Wade already knows all of the above.

Sorry it happened, Wade. Best of luck getting it all sorted. Let us know how you proceed. I've been jealous of your chilly AC system for a while now so I'll be interested to hear how you go about resurrecting it.

 

Do you know what the root cause was, Wade? I'm guessing compressor failure from what you wrote, but just curious...

 

Thanks for the response, Wade. I've seen the windings in those clutches short out before, so it's entirely possible that's what happened here. That's the absolute best case scenario since it doesn't leave shrapnel in the system. I'd pay the clutch $2k to fail instead of the compressor, and I do my own work so it’s all just labor to me. The point being that it’s an everlovin’ bear to get those crunchy bits out of your AC system…

What refrigerant did you use this time around? Is it as cool as the previous system?

 

If the compressor turns, then that is ok. The pulley bearing must have seized Wade.

The a/c compressor will never spin freely like a bearing as it's a pump so it will always be 'firm' to turn by hand.

They are even tighter to turn when they are brand new.

 

No worries mate, keep it in the shed.

 

Just finishing up my major+ and here is my contribution. All parts (minus oil pump related, for which kilometers are unknown) have 8 years / 10'000km on them.
All bearings feel fine by hand, the only thing that surprised me is how worn the oil tensioner pads are.
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Slightly OT; Which muffler is that, and how do you like it?

 

Very helpful and descriptive pics, Luigi. Thanks for sharing.

How many miles are on the old tensioner pads?

 

Great pic man, did you perform the major yourself?

 

Nouvalari Sport w/cat bypass. Don't know about the sound, haven't started it up yet lol

I do not know for certain, as I don't have records of the tsb being performed, but I believe they have 40-50'000km (25-31'000mi) max.

Thanks Pap. I wish I had a garage big enough to carry out this work, would have made a good father/son project with my dad. All I did was read fchat and provide the parts to my trusty tech lol

 

Thanks for the additional info, Luigi. So are you saying that total mileage in the engine was 50k km?

 

Hi Mike,
The car got its last major at ~60'000km w/o the oil pads on the invoice. I'm assuming the oil pump tsb was performed some time after the car rolled off the lot, that's why I'm assuming the pads have around 50'000km

 

Too easy mate, thanks for sharing.

 

I can add to this thread, let me dig up my old parts.

Mine was 9 years and the belts just barely started to show wear. I don't drive it hard and it was about 10,000 miles.

I didn't deliberately wait 9 nine years, I wanted to do it at about 4-5 years (but that's a story on its own as to why)

 

Thanks for sharing. Does the 355 have these oil tensioner pads ?

 

Yes,

 

Thanks Mitchell. Where are they located ?

 

Behind the front engine cover.

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Two years later from my above post, and here is an up date. I have just swapped my 12 year old Hills engineering thrust bearing and carrier, for another Hills unit.
So this is what a 12 year old (25k miles) HE unit looks like in terms of wear and tear next to a new HE unit. Only the bearing its self has worn in terms of hight.
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