- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by
.
-
Topic
-
Hi,
I bought this type of car in August 2015. It had about 162,000 miles on it when I bought it, and is an auto transmission 4 cylinder with A/C
This car’s been nothing but problems since I bought it. First the water pipe broke, then the starter had to be replaced. That all happenned in September and for a while everything was fine. In mid December I started driving to work every day in the car (about 60 miles/day round trip). Did that for 3 or 4 weeks with no problems. One day I drive to a work site 10 miles away (in addition to the 30 miles I drive to get to my regular worksite), and when I come back to the car a few hours later, I can barely turn the steering wheel. The Triple A guy showed me the broken belt, looked brand new.
I get a mechanic to come out and put in another belt (that was Tuesday of this week). This time the car’s really loud and rumbly when I drive it the next day, and the AC seems not to work anymore (no cold air) but the steering is easy. On Thursday(yesterday), I drive it to work and about 20 miles in I have a faint smell of burned rubber in my car. I still had no problems steering the car, got all the way to work and parked no trouble. But sure enough I come back to the car to drive home for the day, steering wheel’s tough to turn. Broken belt again.
So now I know it’s not the belt, I look up cause of serpentine belt breaking….all these other possible factors come up – pulleys, water pump, siezed bearings, A/C unit, power steering, tensioner….
As I said this car’s been mostly trouble since I got it. I don’t have money to sink into big repairs for this car. I’ve already exceeded what I paid for the car in repairs. The belt replacement was a cheap fix and I could manage that. My question is are any of these other possible problems that cheap or a few hundred bucks? I’m interested to hear anyone’s guess as to which of these issues could be at play also.
At this point, with the other issues before, is it worth it t o get further repairs done?
Thanks for any input and if any other info is needed, please let me know.
EDIT: Just found a picture of what my belt breaks look like, it’s attached. They are clean breaks, like it was just snapped in tow at a certain point in the belt.
-
Replies
-
For a belt to snap like that something is seizing and snapping the belt.
They may spin by hand when cool but running is heating it and seizing.
I’m gonna suspect the ac pulley.http://www.ericthecarguy.com/engine-videos/838-belt-and-pulley-basics
Thank you for your guess and the video. This helped me to start somewhere with doing more research.
I’m having some trouble distinguishing the different parts of the AC though. There’s an AC compressor and an AC clutch. Since the car makes noise while it’s on regardless of whether the AC is on or not, I read that it’s the clutch that’s the problem. Is that right?
I also read that if the AC is the problem, there’s a bypass belt that’s shorter, and will keep the AC unit out of rotation completely. I wouldn’t have AC but the car can drive fine on the shorter belt. This is the option I’d prefer to go without AC.
This is great, found a page with diagrams of all the different belt setups – https://www.2carpros.com/diagrams/mitsubishi/eclipse/2001
I think this one’s the serpentine belt one.
The ac clutch should only be in play when the ac is on. Otherwise the pulley is
supposed to free wheel. If you removed the belt and none of the other pulley
components are hard to roll then try the shorter belt.Thank you. …..I removed the belt so I guess that leaves the tension and crankshaft pulley to be checked….???
I’m pretty sure (very sure) that the belt diagram you posted is not for you car. On the front of the engine you should have the PS pump on top and the AC compressor on the bottom, with the tensioner for that belt midway down between them. Then you have the alternator on the back of the engine below the intake manifold, and it has a belt around it, the water pump pulley and the crankshaft. I did not see the correct diagram on that page you linked, but I found this page that correctly shows the belt routing:
As for what’s wrong. It’s very likely that the AC compressor clutch bearing has failed and the pulley is loose and flopping around. That is why it is noisy and rumbly when the AC/PS belt is on there. The belt is falling off the floppy compressor pulley and because it’s the inner belt and the alternator belt is outside of it, it’s swung into the way of the alternator belt and gets sheared apart around a pulley for that belt. If your battery light comes on at the same time as you lose steering assist, then you would find that the alternator belt had gotten derailed and came off instead of cutting the AC/PS belt, which you have been lucky is happening because you can keep driving the car without AC and PS if you have to. You need the alternator running to keep the battery charged and able to run the engine electrical system. With the belt off you should be able to grab the AC compressor pulley and easily feel excessive looseness.
[quote=”Fopeano” post=157204]I’m pretty sure (very sure) that the belt diagram you posted is not for you car. On the front of the engine you should have the PS pump on top and the AC compressor on the bottom, with the tensioner for that belt midway down between them. Then you have the alternator on the back of the engine below the intake manifold, and it has a belt around it, the water pump pulley and the crankshaft. I did not see the correct diagram on that page you linked, but I found this page that correctly shows the belt routing:
As for what’s wrong. It’s very likely that the AC compressor clutch bearing has failed and the pulley is loose and flopping around. That is why it is noisy and rumbly when the AC/PS belt is on there. The belt is falling off the floppy compressor pulley and because it’s the inner belt and the alternator belt is outside of it, it’s swung into the way of the alternator belt and gets sheared apart around a pulley for that belt. If your battery light comes on at the same time as you lose steering assist, then you would find that the alternator belt had gotten derailed and came off instead of cutting the AC/PS belt, which you have been lucky is happening because you can keep driving the car without AC and PS if you have to. You need the alternator running to keep the battery charged and able to run the engine electrical system. With the belt off you should be able to grab the AC compressor pulley and easily feel excessive looseness.[/quote]
Awesome. Took a couple reads but I got it. Thank you. I will check the pulley or get it checked and see about getting the clutch bearing replaced.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.