october_red

So I was driving down the highway at about 75mph and I hear sudden squealing noise. I immediately turned off the radio to listen for it, and after that, immediately turned off the AC....

Turning off the AC made the noise stop. But it was hot, so I tried turning it back on again.

Squeeling noise came back, and I tried toggling the AC on and off to see if I could make it stop -- no such luck.

After playing with it for a minute, the noise suddenly went away, and then there was a little thump noise, like something soft hit the interior wall of the engine compartment. It sounded like the belt broke. That's annoying, but not a huge deal, so I continued driving to my destination, which was about 5 minutes away.

The AC didn't work at all anymore at this point.

I got off the highway and noticed I had no power steering, which confirmed my suspicion of a belt problem.

When I stopped the car I checked under the hood and found the belt still there, only just hanging on to one of the pulleys. The belt was intact and looks like it is still in fair shape! I cannot see any other obvious physical damage. Weird.

Now, it looks like this belt powers the power steering, as well as maybe the coolant pump (??). I'm not sure what else it does. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I can live without the power steering and AC temporarily, but if the coolant pump is no this belt as well, than I obviously need to get it repaired and not just drive it for a few more days.

It's obviously not the timing belt or it would not have been running well, if at all (it still runs great). I didn't notice the temp increase, but I didn't drive very far. It's also not the alternator because no dash lights came on.


Anyways, can someone tell me what else this belt controls?

After reading a little bit, it sounds like the AC clutch froze up and made the belt slip/pop off. Will I need to have the entire AC unit replaced in order to have AC working again? Or is this an easy fix that can be done in a shop?

Thanks, guys.

kronikSLOW

id say that the bearings in your compressor are going bad. i.e. out of round. but if im correct all accessories have their own belt. look my sig thats what im basing info off of. also if you had no power steering how many belt did you break. also are your accessories tightend down to spec? also did the belt stretch? any fuses popped? was it raining outside if it was water couldve gotten onto yor belts causing the squeal and belt jumping. check...think let us know.

october_red

Okay, I walked out there to take another look.

You're right. There was more than one belt that popped off. I even found the other belt, also hanging on. The other belt had been flipped inside out, but was not broken either.

Both of these belts are a bit old, but in fine shape. Neither seem stretched much at all.

And what I thought might be the coolant pump looks like it is the AC compressor because it has a line running through the firewall to the interior.

The belt to the alternator is in tact and fine. It feels tight, and adjusted normally.

Now that the engine has cooled down, I could reach in and try spinning pulleys. And guess what? All the pulleys spin freely. The pulley on top spins with a little resistance, while the pulley below spins completely freely as if it is a disengaged flywheel (I don't know which one is which). Everything seems okay.

Here's proof the belts look okay:



Here's a picture of the pulleys missing belts:






kronikSLOW: I can't see your sig (probably because I'm a "trial" user at this time).

It wasn't raining. The conditions are very, very dry.

So I'm guessing this isn't a huge deal and I can drive the car as is until it's convenient for me to take it to a shop, right?

Anyone know why the belts would start squealing and two of them would just pop off like this? Maybe one was stretched a little and kicked the other off when it came off? Maybe the tensioner came loose? Maybe there's a problem with a tensioner?

Thanks again.

ricecooker415

Ok it sounds like your a/c compressor is going bad, as it's activated by a clutch every time you turn on the a/c button. Chances are the squealing was coming from the compressor every time you had it on. If the compressor seizes up then it will cause the a/c belt to come off, which also might hit the power steering belt to as well come off. The water pump is driven by the timing belt, so no worries there.

majinsoftware

Could just try sticking them back on and making sure they are on tight. They may of just become lose over time.

Also check your crank pully for damage. Mine has a little chip out of it which caused the PS and AC belts to come flying off if I reved above 6K

october_red

Interesting. I will see if I can check the crank pulley. I don't have any jack stands out here, though. All my tools are back east and have been in storage since 2003.


Last night as I was leaving the parking lot where I pulled out those belts out from, I heard another thump noise, and something knocked the bottom of the car (I could feel it under my feet).

I don't know what the hell that was because I pulled over and couldn't spot anything loose under the car, and I went back and didn't see anything in the street either.

It was definitely something, though.

It's been driving fine since then.


I'm tempted to try and work the power steering belt back on by hand because it feels like I'm maneuvering a tank without it.

october_red

I drove past the intersection near the parking lot again tonight and I saw one of my pulleys laying in the middle of the road.

The intersection was too busy to run out and grab it. It is dead center in the middle of the road, no where near a crosswalk.

Could it have been a tension adjustment pulley?

ricecooker415

probably your tensioner for your a/c