Remove AC compressor and belt
 

Hi all,

asking a question for a friend of mine. he has a 1999 classic Impreza. He doesn’t ever use the AC and recently its started squeeking. He was wondering if it’s ok to remove the ac compressor and belt? Or disconnect it and remove the belt? Will this cause any other issues? So far from what I’ve read it makes no difference to the crank. It can be removed.

thanks

The squeak could be a small pulley that’s by the plastic cam belt cover , if it goes it can ruin an engine , the parts about 20£ , putting the ac on during and after the car has been driven quite hard brings temperatures down , on the twist side as long as it’s one belt from the compressor to the engine there should be no issues , in other words as long as the same belt just drives the compressor and nothing else it should be fine , i did it on my senator no issues

My mates 1994 WRX had the compressor belt removed. If you remove compressor you need to have gas taken out.

Likewise, my MY93 has the belt removed.
Compressor etc. still there as I haven't got round to having the gas removed yet.

Thanks for the responses everyone. The AC belt has been removed now. Attempting to take out the compressor etc is the next job. any idea what needs to be done after the gas has been removed?

You can always sell it when it’s off based on it working properly ?

Once removed it sure can go up for sale. however it does squeek.

that squeaks or the plastic pulley i mentioned before ? , i thought mine was squeaking and on the way out but it was a 20£ pulley

its the actual compressor that squeeks. Not the Pulley. the plastic pulley is ok

How is it still squeaking if the belt has been removed?

Apologies, its not squeaking anymore, as the belts been removed.

If i were to sell the unit, i would have to let the buyer know it is a squeeky compressor. but is it even worth it. i need to take the dam thing out first after de gasing it.

Its basically a paper weight... chuck it.

I've removed my belt as my compressor (to my ears at least) was making a noise. The AC also wasn't working, so I felt it's just wasting energy spinning it if it's not going to do anything useful.

It was a bit annoying when we had the hot spell over summer though.