PaulG

I have had a Griffith A/C kit installed on my 928S4. The belt keeps jumping off the pulleys. But now the belt has jumped, shredded and ripped my power steering pump belt.

Anyone have one of these kits? Are you having this problem?

Any suggestions, would be appreciated.

Paul G.
Deep East Texas

fst951

Hi there.

They are a hodge podge setup. You have to often use washers behind the brackets in order to space them properly. Get a straight edge and use it to better adjust the alignment.

Good luck. I recommend the factory setups. There are a lot of very nicely rebuilt units out there that are fairly priced.

dr bob

There are two critical factors for belts to work right-- Alignment and tension. You can verify that the pulleys are aligned with a common straightedge. A metal desktop 'ruler' will do the trick nicely. Bridge the span between the crank and compressor pulleys, and push the straightedge against the edge of each pulley, looking to see if the other is parallel and on the same line. For the tension, a rule of thumb is that you should be able to push the belt half a belt thickness at the middle of the span between the pulleys with thumb pressure. This is obviously subjective, but it's a start.

There was a recent post about a nicked or bent pulley on the crankshaft, thanks to a "mechanic" who probably pryed the belts on and off rather than removing the tensioning links. A bent or out-of-round pulley will toss a belt. Look at the belt itself to make sure that it isn't damaged by that same screwdriver used to pry it into place.

Charlie Griffith's kits are a popular replacement option for the 928. I'd be looking for installation problems before product problems, although you can't rule them out completely.

ROG100

Charlie Griffiths posts on here - have you contacted them? I heard bad things about there customer service.
If you spoke to them what did they tell you?

Paul,
I have your flappy valve cover you asked for when we last met - when are you coming to our GTS's?
Roger

SharkSkin

I had no such issues with mine -- but the compressor has a double-grooved pulley. Did you use the correct groove?

hupp

I also have the Griffith's kit installed -- no issues. Mine also adapted to the car without the need for washers to space correctly. The solid spacers provided did the trick without any hassel.

It's nice to be blowing cold for the first time in 4 years.

Charley B

I recently threw the AC belt on a stock set up S4. Replaced the belt and tensioned it a little tighter and it's still fine after beating the **** out of it on a track day. Tension seems to be pretty critical for keeping them on the pully.

Johan928

I installed the Griffith's kit on an 88 S4, and had no issues w/ the belt, nor the kit. It didn't require any washers to have the belt line up properly, and the A/C worked well for me.

Black Sea RD

I have installed a Griffith's set up in our 1989 928S4 and it has been running for over 6 years without a problem. Installation kit provided worked well and I installed the kit in about half a day taking my time and doing extra cleaning. As far as support, I have always found Charlie Griffith to be very accomodating and responsive. He also sells other 928 products, a few of which I also have in the 1989 928S4 and my past track car, and he has been a 928 owner in the past so he understands the 928.

As others have said, I would check the overall installation, the alignment of the belt, it's tension and the tightness of the mounting bolts of the compressor which, if loose, could change the alignment.

Good luck,
Constantine

griffiths

Paul,

I recently came across your post on belt problems you were having.

I see you had a like problem with belts and compressors earlier, your post back in June, prior to installing this compressor?

And you had another belt/pulley problem with your power steering pump back in December of 2006.

Were you ever able to resolve the compressor/belt problem?

If you still need help feel free to call us at 1-800-451-7225, or drop an email.

Griff

hupp

I also have a Griffiths kit installed. I did not find the kit to be "hodge podge" at all. The kit came with solid spacers (not washers) to adapt the compressor.

ibkevin

Fixed to fit the new Renn glossary.

griffiths

Paul,

A few members, as well at the host, have suggested take I try a different approach to addressing a customer complaint posted on the forum.

So I'm following up to your initial post here regarding problems you suspected may be caused by our compressor tossing belts with your car. On previous posts you noted you were tossing power steering belts which is not related to our product. This topic is the shark's air conditioning belt:

Just to recap:
Prior to installing our compressor you reported your original compressor was tossing belts, I believe that was sometime around June 23rd 2007, and before you installed our product. Reference your post here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-problems.html

We received an order from one of our distributors in late June of 2007 requesting us to drop ship you a compressor. We supplied you a compressor kit on June 29, 2007.

On July 13, 2007 you started a thread here: "New A/C Griffith Kit --- belts are being eating". Frankly, we never got a phone call from you on this issue or an email so we were a bit surprised by the post. However we did respond to the initial post when we "tripped over" it on Jan. 5th of this year. Our initial post is in this thread and suggested you contact us.

Since we never heard back from you from our initial post here, we sent you a PM around Jan 25th 2008 and asked if you still needed our assistance. You responded asking us to call you and we did, suggesting you return the compressor to us for our inspection. We immediately sent you a box and pre-paid shipping label to return the product.

We did not get back the compressor after making several phone calls to you until sometime around May 22 of 2008. You indicated that besides the weather not calling for air conditioning you had some other problems you were addressing and we completely understand. We inspected the compressor and we did not find any normal signs associated with lockup (such as damage to the wobble plate, pistons, etc); what normally can toss a belt when the compressor is to blame. There was a very slight wobble in the pulley, although not perfect, the amount of total run-out would not cause a belt to be tossed. To put your and our minds to rest we sent you a brand new compressor, refrigerant oil, o-rings, and a drier all at "no charge" and as well paid for the freight. All we asked is that you would followup with us and let us know the results.

On Oct 28, 2008 we sent you a PM asking how you made out with the new compressor. However I don't recall if you responded as I don't see any response to the PM; however you did open the PM on Nov 8, 2008.

Once again, if you need assistance regarding our product feel free to call me directly, drop and email or post a PM.

Regards,
Griff

KenRudd

Add me to list of folks with a Griffiths kit on my '88 S4. Not hodge podge at all, went together great and works like a champ. NO remorse at all over replacing the stock unit.

-Ken

Mrmerlin

This thread......