Mark: Hi, it's Mark. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada, Vancouver's best auto service experience, and we're talking cars. How are you today, Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: So today's guest is a 2014 Subaru Cross Trek hybrid. What was going on with this vehicle?
Bernie: So the owner of this vehicle came to us with a noise coming from under the hood while the engine was running. So we had a look at it, road tested, it confirmed there was a loud noise, did some diagnostics and found the air conditioning compressor bearing, was basically fried.
Mark: So Subaru hybrid, this is not a very common car?
Bernie: No, it's not. It's an American car probably made for the California market. We've actually serviced this car a few times. It's a strange vehicle. It's not a full hybrid, it's what's called a mild hybrid. It just has a small battery under the hood. Just kind of assists, probably improves the fuel mileage by two to 5%. You know, to me, kind of a useless hybrid, but nonetheless, this is what it has and so it makes the compressor a little bit more of an issue. The compressor is unique to this vehicle. The vehicle runs a wider belt. We'll look at pictures in a minute, but it runs a wider serpentine belt. And the alternator is a starting assisted motor as well as an alternator to charge the battery. So it has a very robust pulley system on the front of the engine.
Mark: Okay, well, let's go to some pictures here. 2014. So this would've been fairly early in the cycle of hybrids or mid range?
Bernie: Yeah, well, I mean, Prius have been around since, what, like 2000, so it's, yeah, I'd still call it early. Yeah.
Mark: Yeah. They're changing quite a bit recently.
Bernie: Yeah. They don't make any kind of half-assed hybrids like this anymore.
So here's a view under the hood from before we change the compressor, the red arrow points to the AC compressor. That yellow arrow is pointing to one of the air conditioning fittings and we'll have a closer look at it, but you can see a bit of darkness around it. That fitting was actually leaking a bit of refrigerant, which is actually common on a lot of Subarus for that high side fitting to leak air conditioning refrigerant. It doesn't happen on all models, but it does on some.
Mark: And that leak would be, what would be the result of that leak ultimately?
Bernie: Eventually the air conditioning stops working because there's no refrigerant in the system.
Mark: And probably not good environmentally?
Bernie: No, it's not good to leak refrigerant, definitely not. You can see this picture's more of a closeup. You can see that fitting on the right side. There's a bit of greenness there. That's a bit of UV dye that's in the air conditioning oil, that's kind of seeped out.
Mark: And this is the real big failure item.
Bernie: This is a failure item. Yeah. Pictures don't quite convey it.
This is sort of a backside view of the bearing and you can't really see it so much here, but you can see like bits of the bearing or seal coming out the backside behind the belt.
And there's a view of the oil filter and you can see sort of a black line going up. That white cylindrical device there, that's the oil filter, that's metallic material that's been sprayed out from the back of the bearing.
Mark: Not a good sign.
Bernie: Not a good sign. No, definitely not. And here we have the old compressor and the new one on the right hand side.
Mark: What sort of kilometreage or mileage did this vehicle have?
Bernie: I think it was 166,000 miles. So it's got a fair bit of usage.
Mark: And this part looks like it's had some use.
Bernie: Yeah, it's been in there a long time. So in all fairness, you know, it's a good, honest amount of wear.
This photo here, this shows the new compressor installed. And the yellow arrows are pointing to this interesting tensioner system on the alternator. It's got a very large, unique alternator, and this tensioning system has, has actually two pulleys that are squeezed together around the belt. You can't see the lower pulley, but the amount of tension on this spring is insane. It holds this belt in place so.
Mark: This is the spring here?
Bernie: That is the spring right there. Yeah.
Mark: What kind of spring is this?
Bernie: It's just a big band of steel, and it's under an immense amount of pressure. It holds the belt tight, so to remove and replace this compressor is quite an ordeal because of that tensioner. But nonetheless, we completed the job and the noises were gone. The air conditioning system blew cold. And everyone's happy.
Mark: Another happy customer. Is this condensation inside the car or outside?
Bernie: It's outside. That's an early morning shot. It's Vancouver, November. It's winter. No snow, but damn.
Mark: I guess I was alluding to, sometimes you have coached us to turn the air conditioning on in the winter when the windows are all fogged up because the filter will remove that excess precipitation moisture from the inside of the car.
Bernie: Yeah. You know, air conditioning is actually very functional in the wintertime because it dries the air and so it'll defrost your windows very quickly. And sometimes in a damp climate without air conditioning, your windows don't even defrost properly. It's not as critical as it is when it's cooking hot in the summertime, but it is good to have it in the wintertime.
Mark: So once all the repairs were done and there were some challenges with that heavily tensioned spring, how did the vehicle run?
Bernie: Yeah, it's good. Excellent.
Mark: Another happy customer. So if you're looking for service for your Subaru, the people to see the experts, are at Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. You can reach them online and book right there, pawlikautomotive.com. Or you can call them at (604) 327-7112 to book your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks Bernie.
Bernie: Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
