Hi folks,

i have an early 2003 g35 sedan and have kept it pretty well maintained. the only mods are a z-tube and the 5/16 plenum spacer. it has ~55,000 miles on it.

with that in mind...

for about two weeks now, I've noticed that there is a whole lot of noise that starts up when I turn the a/c on. the noise goes away after running the a/c for 5 or 10 minutes, and it won't be heard again until the car's been turned off and has been parked for a while. it's a ratchet-y clacking kind of noise. there's no smoke and no smell that i am aware of.

the front belts were changed no more then 6 months ago. i am also fairly certain the TSB pertaining to the a/c was taken care of a couple of years back. so i am a bit confused about what it could be and don't want to be totally ignorant when i bring it to the shop and am handed a bill for $400.

if anyone can give me any idea of what i should look at, or what might be at fault, i would very much appreciate it.

thanks!

 

Do you have any way to get some audio of the noise?

Some 6MTs will get a little tranny chatter when the a/c is turned on because of the balance change. Is your car a 6MT?

 

thanks for the reply

[unfortunately?] it's an automatic

i'll see what i can do about trying to record it

 

with the hood popped up, turn the car on with the ac. walk to the front and look for the tensioner pulley. see if it is wobbling and or the noise is coming from that area. one possibility is the guy overtorqued the tensioner pulley while replacing the belts and the bearing is shot. when the ac is on, it put is under more load and can magnify the sound.