Hi,
I have a 53 plate WRX and the air con pump squeals when the clutch cuts in. This happens for the first few minutes each day and from what I can see on youtube, it is the electro-magnetic clutch that is starting to fail.
Subaru say that will be a new pump and regas and the best part of £1000.
In the USA, they sell a a/c pump clutch repair kit http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2621484082...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
It looks about right given the location of the three bits on the outer pulley. Has anyone ever tried this kit? I appreciate that there will be shipping and duty costs to add, but should come in at £100 plus fitting (1 hour labour).

 

Try replacing the belt & correctly tension it first, the pumps rarely fail, also look at the tensioner pulley itself, they fail often & squeals.

 

The belts were replaced about 2 years ago (less than 10,000 miles) and it is not the pulleys that are squealing. You can easily see that the squeal occurs when the front pulley on the a/c pump starts turning (clutch engaged) and stops immediately that the pulley stops (clutch disengaged) as happens every 20-30 seconds. Note that the belts are still running as are the tensioners, but there is no squeal unless the pump is actually running. Also, the squeal appears to come from the pulley and not further back in the engine bay.
The car is 120,000 miles old and similar cars in the USA seem to exhibit the same issue. So the question is not about diagnosis but about whether the kit in the USA will work on a UK spec car. I have seen other threads where you are advised to just remove one of the shims behind that front pulley (http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...clutch-116835/ , http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulle...-clutch-95352/ )