Permit me a dumb question here - I just bought an 88 M3, seems to be a good car and the A/C was converted to 134 recently. On the way home from Memphis to Washington State, the air conditioner "pitched" it's belt and I see that the compressor is now not quite lined up right, as if one of 2 or more mounting bolts or bushings has broken or come loose. I can rock the compressor back and forth with my hand, I need to fix this before driving the car much. I have not had a chance to get under the car to check it out. I see that this system has an idler pulley to adjust tension on the belt - is this the stock setup or did the conversion to 134 include some sort of non-standard brackets?

I have a paper factory manual for the 89 year E30's and it does not show the accessories on the front of the motor.

I understand that the S14 is rough on accessories, are there any upgrades or tricks that I need to know about in fixing this?

The original S14 compressor was mounted on rubber bushings that were bolted to a bracket on the engine block. There was no tensioner pulley. This setup sounds like it may be aftermarket, as I am unaware of any original BMW AC systems with a 13mm belt (not the 5 or 6-rib serpentine) and a tensioner.

Yeah, the vibrations of the motor will sometimes break accessory brackets and bolts. Make sure all the hardware is good quality, not gouged or scuffed up, and at least grade 8.8 metric or grade 5 standard (if aftermarket)

Jim,

Thanks! Sounds like this is a jerry-rig and I may want to do a more comprehensive re-work before next summer. My wife actually likes my 88 M3 - even though she does not generally like sporty cars - go figure!

Mark

Take a few pics and show us.

There is no tensioner, it does attach to the block. There are 4 rubber bushings in there, they may be toast. These get a lot of heat, road grime, and engine oil on them. Just jack the car up on the passenger side and take a look, you should be able to see it.

I to am in WA, Seattle actually, you don't need AC up here!