Greetings,

A few months ago I reported on intermittant A/C problems with my UK-reg '95 850 T5 wagon - the A/C was good and cold when working, but had a tendency to sometimes stop working after a while. There were a few suggestions from people here (thanks for those) but then for a while the A/C was fine again so I did nothing about it.

Then recently it got so that it worked for a while from cold start, but after 10-30 minutes (depending on journey type) the A/C would always stop working.

Last week it was still doing this, but I noticed on the motorway that if I cranked it up to 3500-4000 revs or so (100mph approx) the A/C would work again.

Start of this week there was a groaning/rumbling from the bottom left (looking from the front) of the engine bay - suspected it might be the A/C compressor or possibly the alternator.

Today after a short journey to the local rubbish tip (10 minutes each way) I got out and smelt a mild burning rubber smell. Opened the bonnet to find the auxiliary drive belt had snapped and was snarled up in the pulleys. I was able to free the belt once it cooled down a bit, and the belt doesn't seem to be badly damaged or worn (it was replaced 5K miles ago) except for the actual tear.

So I guess my theory is the compressor had started to stiffen up some time ago, had got real bad this week and then finally seized today. Sound right ?

It's got to be fixed so it's booked in for Monday at the local dealer - they are suggesting £400-£600 for a newly installed compressor if that is the problem :-(

Would welcome any words of wisdom from the board...

Regards.

Nick Pitfield.