Love the 02 Intrigue I bought for my daughter. It was babied by the 90+ gent who had it from new.
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Hoping someone knows if I can possibly bypass the AC compressor with a shorter belt? It'* seizing and is noisy as hell.
Of course there isn't a delete pulley made for it either that I can find.
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Not sure I'm willing to fork out the big bucks for a new one and the extras involved.
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Appreciate any thoughts out there .
Vince

I am having a difficult time finding a belt routing diagram for your car, but from the ones I see it looks like it is possible to route a belt from the crankshaft pulley to the idler above the A/C pump, and bypass the pump. Use a piece of string to determine how long the belt should be.


If you post a picture of your belt routing diagram I can be more positive on my response.

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I know there isn't a delete pulley made for the 02... what are your thoughts on just acquiring a cheaper import compressor and running it as a semi-delete?
( avoiding all the expense of bringing back to spec )
Does the compressor always have to be part of a proprly charged system to avoid burning out again?
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This stuff always perplexed me .

What is it you want to do?

Do you want to fix the A/C system, or do you just want to eliminate the noise?

There are plenty of old compressors in the boneyards.....you just swap them out, and noise is gone.....

But if you want to fix it to work, you are going to pay some bucks, because the system could be contaminated from the compressor, with debris in the lines....and there could be a possible leak somewhere in the system...

There is no way to reroute a shorter belt, without an a/c pulley or dummy pulley...........especially if it looks like this:

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So yes thank you, I believe I was misled by one mechanic who wanted me to believe that the compressor relies on the refrigerant and an independent lube source that runs only when it is under full refrigerant charge ?
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what I want to do is simply squelch the howl without having to dump a grand into the kid'* beater.
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If it will run quiet with a cheap replacement compressor that won't seize again running " dry " then that'* my secondary solution next to finding a route to simply run a different belt.
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Appreciate your time .

The compressor doesn't run at all, until it is commanded to run...leaving it disconnected will prevent this from happening.....

What it sounds like is, your compressor clutch is making noise due to rust build up......

An easy way out, is to just increase the gap on the clutch plate, so when the pulley turns, it is not making contact with the clutch....disconnect the harness, and there should be no more noise...no a/c either, but you save a grand....easy peasy lemon squeezy....

And also, if the clutch has been fragged because of the seized compressor, you should be able to replace just the clutch on the failed compressor, and then leave the compressor power disconnected.

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By disconnect, I take it you mean pulling the fuse ? I wonder though, the compressor bearing itself being the likely culprit, will always howl whether or not there'* power to it based on the fact that the belt will always be running at least the bearing itself...
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I wonder if I should opt for a bearing replacement and a clutch service as it still runs..
. Glad to meet you and appreciate the advice

You would simply leave the power lead going to the compressor disconnected.

The compressor bearings are only in use when the compressor is engaged. Otherwise the clutch is just free spinning on its own bearings, which would get replaced with the clutch.

Good news is yes, you can bypass the AC easily enough. run the same route just not around the compressor. very inexpensive alternative if you can accept the fact that the hot days will be just that.