GIII AHU: Short Belt, No AC Compressor?

Hello.

After almost 300,000 km, the bearing in the air conditioning compressor of my Golf III AHU seems to be failing, meaning it's making strange noises, especially when it's cold.
Since I hardly ever use the air conditioning anyway, and I don't want to invest too much money.
Can I simply disconnect the compressor? In other words, can I "bypass" the compressor by using a shorter belt? Has anyone ever done this? Is it even possible? And if so, what kind of belt would I need?


Thank you for your responses.

Hello.
Isn't it perhaps better to replace the bearing?
eBay item number: 180243030461

Best regards, Kurt.

Hi Kurt,

Thanks for the tip. Could you also tell me how much effort is involved in the exchange?
I actually want to fix the problem with as little effort as possible. So, I was thinking, could I just replace the belt with a new one?

Hello bindpe?
If you have the necessary tools, it takes about 1.5 hours.
We need to take a look and see if the solution with the shorter strap will work.
I've done this before on a T4 with a gasoline engine, and also on a Toyota.
You can determine the belt length using a string. Measure the distance between the fully relaxed and fully tensioned belt tensioner, and then take approximately the midpoint of that distance.
When I look at the belt drive diagrams from AHU, both with and without air conditioning, I fear that the pulleys may not be 1:1 compatible .
Take a look at it yourself .

Best regards, Kurt.