YACT: '97 Altima serpentine belt squeal

[CigarSmokedByClinton]

Last year I bought a '97 Altima GXE for my wife to drive, and the dealer told me they had just put a new serpentine belt on it. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

Fast forward to today. Whenever you put the A/C on or the defrost on, the belt will squeal for about 4-6 seconds. Then it will run fine for a couple minutes till it squeals again.

Now I did a bit of trouble shooting and it seems as though it happens when the compressor comes on. Assuming the squeal is not normal, why dies this happen? Is my belt too loose? If so, can I tighten it? Or is my compressor "sticky" and takes a lot of torque to get it to spin up. Some sort of clutch problem on it?

Money is tight right now so we've just been running without A/C and defrost for fear of wearing out the belt. Do you guys have any other solutions?

TIA
Cigar

 

[StageLeft]

I would guess the compressor is sticky!

 

[v3rrv3]

I'm no genius but it doesn't sound like it is the belt. If it's only doing it when the compressor turns on, sounds more like it's something with the compressor. My dads old Chevy truck did the same thing, after a long time it went away and didn't seem to do any damage.

- Kevin

 

[TechnoKid]

Most likely it sounds like the clutch bearing on the a/c compressor is wearing out, or the clutch itself. I don't know how much it costs to replace the clutch on the compressor, but it should be cheaper than replacing the whole compressor, as long as you don't have to take out the whole compressor to replace the clutch.

Another guess would be a belt tensioner somewhere along the line of the drive belt. If the tensioner is failing, or it is too tight, it might squeal when the a/c compressor comes on.

 

[NutBucket]

Yeah, first step is to replace the belt (cheap) and check the tensioner.

 

[Quixfire]

If the belt replacement doesn't solve your concern, it could be rust on the A/C clutch plates. It might go away after a few days of driving.

 

[crab]

My van squeaks on hard (WOT) acceleration at every shift when RPMs drop - I was told its normal.

But yeah, replace the belt...cant hurt.

 

[fredtam]

The extra resistance on the belt when the compressor engages will cause the belt to slip if it is not tight enough. Your compressor may be beginning to hit the skids to. It may lock up on you and smoke the belt (had a neon do that). Check the belt for wear and proper deflection. Tighten it if it is loose. If your really lazy just poor some dish soap on it.

 

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: fredtam
The extra resistance on the belt when the compressor engages will cause the belt to slip if it is not tight enough. Your compressor may be beginning to hit the skids to. It may lock up on you and smoke the belt (had a neon do that). Check the belt for wear and proper deflection. Tighten it if it is loose. If your really lazy just poor some dish soap on it.

I know why your Neon did that. 😉

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: fredtam
The extra resistance on the belt when the compressor engages will cause the belt to slip if it is not tight enough. Your compressor may be beginning to hit the skids to. It may lock up on you and smoke the belt (had a neon do that). Check the belt for wear and proper deflection. Tighten it if it is loose. If your really lazy just poor some dish soap on it.

I know why your Neon did that. 😉

I know too. Because neons are pieces of sh!t.

 

[Quixfire]

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: fredtam
The extra resistance on the belt when the compressor engages will cause the belt to slip if it is not tight enough. Your compressor may be beginning to hit the skids to. It may lock up on you and smoke the belt (had a neon do that). Check the belt for wear and proper deflection. Tighten it if it is loose. If your really lazy just poor some dish soap on it.

I know why your Neon did that. 😉

I know too. Because neons are pieces of sh!t.

A/C High Pressure cut-off switch fails causing the system to over pressurize and lock up the compressor.


And what you said. 😉

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: fredtam

Originally posted by: Quixfire

Originally posted by: fredtam
The extra resistance on the belt when the compressor engages will cause the belt to slip if it is not tight enough. Your compressor may be beginning to hit the skids to. It may lock up on you and smoke the belt (had a neon do that). Check the belt for wear and proper deflection. Tighten it if it is loose. If your really lazy just poor some dish soap on it.

I know why your Neon did that. 😉

I know too. Because neons are pieces of sh!t.

A/C High Pressure cut-off switch fails causing the system to over pressurize and lock up the compressor.


And what you said. 😉

Yeah I understand what happened from the mechanical side but it was my sister's car and only had 6000 miles on it so my response was more fitting.

 

Possibilities in order ;

Worn belt

Weak tensioner

Plugged AC lines/accumilator

Failing AC compressor

 

[CigarSmokedByClinton]

Ok, since the belt is decently new, I will check for a weak tensioner. Someone said to just run it and maybe it will go away. How many times can the 4 second squeal happed before the belt burns through?

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. This place rocks!

Cigar