had same problem before.. ac pulley was meesed up cost 200 for new pulley and belts intalled. seem alot but after noise was gone veryy pleased so money dint matter

AC pulley-80 or 90

belts - 30

labor -45

turning on my car with no noise or issues running clean -- priceless lol

 

my car makes noise all the time lol

 

^Really? You should have that looked into. Mine only makes noise when it's running

 

Can you drive the car without the AC belt installed? Obviously, the AC won't work, but are there any other issues??

 

^You can. Just make sure you leave the AC completely off.

 

What happens if I press the button to turn it on?

 

 

No wai

 

Because I'm hearing a "hooptie" noise coming from the AC belt side.

 

^Ok, you got me

Actually, now that I think about it... all it would do is just engage the clutch on the compressor (which wouldn't spin)
So it's probably not a big deal.

The only thing is if it senses that there isn't a pressure difference between the hi and lo sides of the system, it might disable the AC or possibly throw a code... just a theory though.

 

OK, might disconnect my AC belt to see if the noise is still present.

 

Uh, no you don't...

I lost my AC idler pulley @ about 120K miles. I was getting squeaky belts so I replaced them. The pulley went out completely 3-4 days later and I had to buy a pulley new belts cuz they got shredded. Luckily it was the AC so I could still drive my car with just the drive belt on. No defrost though. That was in Salt Lake. There is no problems driving without the AC belt. You obviously wont get compression on the AC so no cold air, but no ill effects either.


If you remove the belt, loosen the idler pulley and spin it by hand you will hear the ball bearings if it is going bad. Spin both sides. If they are not equal then one is bad. If they both sound like ball bearings rattling around then you will want to replace both.

 

Not sure if this was said but i had a screeching sound from my car as well after installing new belts. The belt that runs the power steering and a/c just needed to be tightened more. And dont pay anyone to install or tighten belts... they cost like 40 bucks and take maybe 30 min to do if you have the bottom cover off.

 

That's also what I was thinking. One morning I heard like a metallic grinding on the AC side, so I thought it was a pulley/tensioner. I haven't heard it since, but I'm still hearing like a hissing noise coming from the belt area...

 

Same problem @ 82K. I have new OEM belts. It squeals below 34ish degrees. I'm convinced its the pulley on the A/C because it also squeals if I cut the compressor on. I've removed everything and retensioned using tension gauge, used CRC belt conditioner, and reinstalled twice this week. BTW this is not a fun process because the full undercover removal involves like 20thousand bolts. I'm going to change both pulleys and I'm sure this will resolve the problem.