at idle - whenever my ac compressor kicks on my belt tensioner makes a horrible noice and shakes all around - the whole belt looks like it's going to fly off. This only happens (as far as I know) when the air comes on - but I dunno - I can't be on the highway and look under the hood. Is this just too much stress for the old tensioner or in the ac compressor simply not turning as easily as it should? Both?

 

ac compressor goin bad

 

cool. I heard www.densoperformance.com has the best a/c compressors - that true? In a way I'm glad it's the AC compressor - I can simply not turn it on and avoid fixing it until next summer. It's gonna be 36 degrees here tonight.

 

remember that the defrost will also turn on teh AC. Unplug the clutch to keep it from going on (or unplug the pressure switch from the evaporator)

 

I agree that it's probably the compressor going bad, and you should temporarily unplug it, before it totally seizes or breaks the belt and leaves you stranded or worse. But to be on the safe side, maybe you should also get a tensioner from the junkyard, if you can find one cheap, and see if that fixes it. A new belt too, if it shows any stretching or cracking. I would also check the other accessories to see if their loose. I don't know, but if the compressor is good and you leave it unplugged all winter, (and it does not come on with the defroster), I'd be concerned it could be damaged from not running so long. A compressor will cost many times more than a used tensioner, and it can be expensive to have the system evacuated, oiled and charged.

 

The clutch is gone on the AC compression, the bearings are shot and its ruining your belt, because your belt is sliding on the pulley, not turning it.

 

I noticed a lot of noise coming from the front of my engine when the a/c was on. I have a modified setup with headers, so there's no brace on the back of the compressor. And no air pump so there was no bolt going through where the air pump was to the cylinder head. I used a 8 or so inch piece of 3/8 all thread to "replace" the air pump bolt. I put a nut on the underside of the a/c bracket where the all thread goes through. It seems that with no rear brace and no air pump bolt it allowed the a/c bracket vibrate a little causing the very noticable noise. After installing the bolt where the air pump was the noise went away.

 

this is a bone stockv6 - my only mods so far are a cheap exhaust with no headers, a shift sleeve and denso plugs (if you can call that a mod) lol - ALL of my noise is coming from the belt tensioner, when you turn the ac on it jumps around and rattles like crazy. I'm looking into some comprssors. S far it's not too terribly expensive.