1991 740 Turbo Air Conditioning Compressor Clutch Slippage

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1991 740 Turbo Air Conditioning Compressor Clutch Slippage[ALL/1998] posted by John Brabant on
Monday, 15 September 1997, at 8:14 a.m.

Well I took the leap and bought the 1991 740 turbo I had been looking at. I was able to get a pretty good price on it and in the course of negotiating the bottom line price to be paid, I was informed that "the air conditioning doesn't work and it will cost $600.00 to fix it." they came down to my bottom line offer, but I would have to be responsible for the repair of the air conditioning. So here I am the new owner of the 740T and it appears that the problem with the air conditioning might possibly be limited to what seems to be a slipping compressor clutch. It makes an intermittent sqeaking noise when it lets loose and then grabs again. It breaks loose for about a second or two and then grabs again for about 3-4 seconds and repeats the process. Anyone got any advice on the problem and the cure?? Is it an adjustment or does the clutch neeed to be replaced? How is the clutch removed?? Any sense on the cost of a replacement part or parts???

I also have a problem with the rear tailgate wiper. When turned off, it doesn't automatically return to the proper rest position and stops whereever it is on the rear window whn the switch is turned off. In the intermittent mode, it stops all over the place and doesn't return. I can only get it to return by flicking the switch on and off until it returns to the rest position of the cycle. Any advice on a cure?

Re: 1991 740 Turbo Air Conditioning Compressor Clutch Slippage[ALL/1998] posted by Ed Lipe on
Monday, 15 September 1997, at 10:23 p.m.

Dear John, You got the deal of the century. Buy a shop manual and have fun.

Re: 1991 740 Turbo Air Conditioning Compressor Clutch Slippage[ALL/1998] posted by Randy Riggs on
Saturday, 20 September 1997, at 11:11 p.m.

If the compressor clutch is on / off, every few seconds it is probably low on freon. This might be a good time to do the conversion to 134A. Not sure what the squeek is. Could be a clutch going out. Is the compressor noisey when it runs?
On the wipers, it sounds like the park wire is dead. You need a wiring diagram for that.
Enjoy the car.
Randy

Re: 1991 740 Turbo Air Conditioning Compressor Clutch Slippage[ALL/1998] posted by John Brabant on
Tuesday, 23 September 1997, at 9:25 a.m.

Randy, thanks for the advice. I have since located the problem. It turns out that there is a ground wire which connects to one of the compressor mounting bolts (located on the slide adjustment part of the mounting assembly). This bolt had loosened up to the point that the ground wire was jiggling, causing the ground contact to be intermittent. The result, the clutch turned on and off continually. It was a simple fix to what was estimated by the (Subaru) dealer I bought the car from to be a $600.00 repair job. I'm very glad for the problem and the simple fix. The dealer was willing to come down $600.00 additional dollars on the car's price with the proviso that I fix the air conditioning. NO PROBLEM!!! I'm told by a local Volvo mechanic up here in Vermont, who goes by the nick name of Volvo Joe, that this is a very common problem. --John

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