in the past when i have my air conditioning on and am at a stop , a belt or somthing squeals violently! lately it will do it even if i just have my defrost or heater on. any suggestions?
Sounds like your alternator belt needs help just replace it and set the tension. If it breaks you lose your water punp and that's not too good ( my kid just did that and I had to go get him)
if it only does this with AC on, and you have a V balt motor, replace all the belts. (It's not worth the trouble to just do one and have the one behind it break next day.)
If it's a serpent belt motor, a wide belt with allot of notches, replace the belt and check the tesioner device Very carfully. If the tensioner is failing then the new belt wont last long.
The AC runs any time the heater/AC controls are not set to off or vent. This is to Dehumidify the air when heating. This is normal behavior in all cars since some year in the 80's depending on make/model.
My 87 SE (2.5 liter) is having the exact same problem as Bonnovy's car. It's an intermittent problem that seemed to begin about the time the A/C quit blowing out cold air. I know the serpentine belt is very old and needs replaced, but could this alone cause the squealing noise? I suspect the A/C compressor being the culprit, but not sure if I want to fix the darn thing. Can I bypass the A/C compressor? How does one check that belt tensioner? I know the water pump is ok. One last thing, how does one get to the belt and accessories, there doesn't seem to be any room to work on that stuff in that cramped engine compartment. Bonnovy, did you ever figure out what was wrong with yours? If so, what was the trouble? Help!!!
The A/C sudenly not pumping and making noise often indicates a bad compressor. If the compressor is bad it's time to convert to R134. Replacement of the compressor generally requires replacement of the ACC/Dryer, and orifice tube, anyway. Gee just so happens the R134 conversion requires the same thing.
yes the belt alone could cause the noise. yes there is on some motors an alternate serpent belt that will run everything but the AC. This is true of the 4 cyl, but I don't know about the 6. Try the non AC belt and see if it hits every thing. (My 4 cyl belt routing sticker actually shows it with, and w/o the AC)
The tensioner is an idler pully mounted on a spring loaded arm. It usually runs on the back side of the belt.
The tensioner must be running true on the belt. it's spring must be able to turn the arm freely. the bearings in the tensioner pully must be in good condition. DANGER: DO NOT disassemble the tensioner! Even with the belt off there is load on the spring.
there is a long, thin, wrench from Lysle tools to rotate the tensioner. it's a common problem for it to have minimal clearance in front of the pully bolt. The tool is about $30us and can be had at most auto parts stores.
You have a V6 right? then don't look for a tensioner you don't have one. If you want to disable the air cond pump just unplug the 2-wire connector near the pully on the pump
You have a V6 right? then don't look for a tensioner you don't have one. If you want to disable the air cond pump just unplug the 2-wire connector near the pully on the pump.But it still sounds like the alt/water pump belt. When you turn on the air or defroster/heater you are running fans which puts a load on the alt therefore a bad /loose belt will squeal
Thanx for all the replys. I have been too busy to look into the problem yet( my wife's car is having tranny problems IE: posting by ATLAS 5-28-99 ). I suspect the belt myself.Just to summerize: my air works just fine, my water circulation is fine, no temp problems, no noises in the water pump, and it does not squeal if I am driving at city or highway speeds. At an idle it takes from 5-15 seconds before it starts to squeal. I will get to the root of the problem in the next week and will post what I find. thanx again
