[V8] Audi faith shaken? Need to vent!

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Bad news.  I suffered the loss of my a/c a while back and the preliminary diagnosis was the clutch in the compressor was bad.  We decided to order in a new clutch and yesterday the surgery was performed.  Nope.  The clutch was not the issue as the front end of the compressor is gone, so it the V8 will need a new compressor will be needed.  

Now new compressors are long NLA from Audi.  Despite a considerable search yesterday by John the shop owner (which I witnessed), there appears to be only one source for remanufactured compressors in all of the firmament.  My cost?  Eleven hundred dollars, clams, shekels, rupees, baht....no matter:  it’s just not happening, at least not right now.

So, plan B yesterday was to replace the scorched bearing in the old compressor housing that would at least enable the old compressor to remain in place with the big accessory belt going round and round so I could drive the car.  Part of Plan B was to keep the car in limited service depending on the ambient temperature and await a more cash heavy day for the remanufactured compressor.  Or something else, perhaps.  At the least, time to think on the subject and consider All Things Audi V8, perhaps.

There was an appropriate bearing available in the Carquest warehouse in Bangor, and at ten o’clock it was shipped down to the shop. First it had to come to Ellsworth, then to Lamoine for installation.  Meanwhile, John decided that it was high time finally, to get the Loaner Piece of Junk registered and on the road, so we went off to town hall to pay the excise tax, then to Ellsworth to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to get plates for the Loaner Piece of Junk, arriving back at the shop around one in the afternoon.

Shortly thereafter, the new bearing arrived, and of course, it did NOT fit the pully housing of the old compressor.

Another telephone call to Force 5 Automotive, probably the worlds best V8 recycler in New Hampshire.  Yup. They have a compressor.  $175 plus shipping.  Thirty day warranty.  

So what we did was order that compressor in and it should arrive perhaps late this afternoon for installation perhaps tomorrow....or Monday. Meanwhile I drove the Loaner Piece of Junk (aka Volvo V70 mt 200,000+ miles) the seventy miles home and the ugly Loaner Piece of Junk (which actually rides and runs pretty well) is sitting outside my garage in the rain as we speak.  

Last night I had a brainstorm....well a “brain-something” anyway...and shot off an email to Shokan in New York to see what they might have.  Used compressor for the V8 is $485 plus shipping, six months warranty.

So, it’s more than a little like The Highlander when it comes to a/c compressors:  in the end, there can be only one that will probably last more than ten minutes with the original wears out.  

Pretty grim.  Replacing a transmission would have been easier and rebuilding a fried one, only a little more expensive....well, actually a LOT more expensive, but not impossible.

So, I’ll just hope the Force 5 a/c compressor works for a while, and I’ll keep reminding myself that for what I have invested in total in the V8, there is nothing and I KNOW nothing I could buy that would even think of being its equal.  I’ll keep telling myself that over and over again, even when the new old compressor fails and once again, I face the prospect of a thousand dollar compressor.  

Then later last night, I was looking at a very, very nice looking Ford F150 on eBay.  It was a 1979 regular cab with really low miles and the iconic 300 cubic inch six cylinder engine.  It even had air conditioning.  I had a truck not unlike that back in the day. It was rugged and reliable and simple.  I found myself wondering how much an air compressor might be for like that.

Roger