A/C Pulley Problems

[Richard Wise]

I am having a problem with the air conditioner pulley assembly on my 1993 XLT. Over the past few days, it has begun to catch and let go and catch and let go. It does this when the a/c is on or off, when the defrost is on or off and it makes a lot of racket. I popped the hood today and noticed that the top part of the "cover" was about 1/4" away from the pulley assembly and there was a smell of burnt rubber. This smell was from the serpentine belt which was smoking and I also notice that the belt had a small tear in it. I took the "cover" off of the a/c compressor assembly and cleaned some gunk and debris out of it but it still won't line up properly and still makes that loud racket. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this problem or know of any place on-line that I can purchase a new a/c compressor pulley assembly from?

 

[sink]

Does your A/C pully spin freely with the car off and the belt removed? It should, because the pully clutch is off. It seems you may understand the clutch action tht is supposed to occur, from your details. However, to be smoking the belt, I would be guessing that when the clutch engages, the A/C compressor is reluctant to spin.
Are you able to verify whether the compressor itself, not only the pully, is bound up, with the belt off and the pully assembly off? It is also weird that the compressor sounds like it is clutching when the AC and defrost are off. If you unplug the power leads to the clutch, does the belt roll freely on the pully. If so, your A/C controls are goofed and your A/C compressor is bound. But while unplugged, you could continue to use the vehicle (with a new belt).

 

[Richard Wise]

I found the problem. The pulley had broken and was continually being soun by the belt. This caused the belt to overheat which caused the smoke. It was obvious when I saw sparks flying around and decided to take the belt off. I will have to buy either a new pulley assembly or a/c compressor if I can't get the pulley. I get a quick fix by purchasing a belt w/out a/c and bypassing the a/c compressor. But summer will be here soon.