Alright so it started yesterday after some driving around. After maybe 1/2 hour to 1 hour of driving, I stopped and saw a trail of white/gray smoke pouring out from the front by the passenger's side headlight. I immediately stopped and opened the hood. I thought maybe the headlight motor had fried due to me having turned off the lights about a minute ago. So, I turned off the car. After it had cooled down, I waited a while and decided to limp on home. I knew it wasn't the engine because the temp readings were perfectly between 160 and 210. So, today I take it out again to see if I can find out what it is. I have a perfect drive to the grocery store about 5 minutes away. I turn it off and leave. Come back about 20 minutes later, start it up and proceed to drive home. About a minute later I get that smell again and open the hood and see it's starting to smoke a bit. I could see the smoke was coming from the front of the bottom passenger's side pulley. So, is there anything I can do until I get it fixed? Like maybe spray some WD-40 or something on there? Or should I get it repaired ASAP? Which pulley is this? And about how much would it cost to have it repaired? Well, thanks guys.

Here are some pics I took after I turned it off. I believe the culprit to be the bottom most pulley viewed in these pics.

 

Maybe the a/c clutch or the a/c idler pulley bearing.

 

get it fixed asap it could lock up on ya

 

About how much would that cost me? And what exactly should I get replaced? The A/C clutch and idler pulley? I don't use the A/C. Would it be possible to take it off until I can get it repaired? Thanks again for the help guys.

 

you could remove the pulley or bypass it with a new belt, i would call around for prices on it might be able to find one at a salvage

 

Would I be able to remove the slack for the missing pulling by tightening the tensioner? Or is the belt too long? Would I need a new shorter belt to bypass it? Could that be used as a temporary solution until I get a new A/C pulley and idler? Oh, and thanks again for the help bro.

 

iyou would need a shorter belt, i dont think the tensioner will take up enough slack

 

alright, thanks man. i may just do that for now.

 

You can't bypass the A/C...the tensioner is between it and the crank pulley.

First, make sure of what's going on. Jack up the car and remove the belt. Try to spin the a/c compressor pulley...it should spin freely with no bearing rumble. If it does, try ther idler pulley. It should spin very freely as well.

If the A/C compressor pulley doesn't spin or spins with obvious roughness. The clutch assembly and pulley can be replaced on the car with the correct tools. If you don't ever use the A/C then you can get an eliminator which is an idler puller on a bracket that replaces the compressor.....

 

Nah, if I'm going to spend a good deal of money on it, I might as well just get it fixed. I'll have the shop take a look at it. Thanks.

 

The lowest part on the passenger side is the tensioner. It would be very easy to check that and see if its seized. Replacement would be very simple. Why take it to a shop without doing some basic checking on what is turning freely and what isn't? Did it smell like burning rubber, as if the belt is burning up?

 

I don't think it was the belt smoking, but I'm not sure. Smoke seemed to be coming from the front of this pulley. And I thought I would take it to a shop so they could tell me what it is and give me an estimate. But yeah, I'll probably remove the belts and see if any of the pulleys has a hard time spinning first. Thanks.

 

You sure it wasn't coolant leaking and burning on something hot? What did the smoke smell like?

 

Did smell a bit like burning rubber. But it wasn't like the whole belt was smoking after I stopped the car. It was just that area by the pulley.

 

So, I finally got my ride check out at the garage. Turns out I blew my A/C compressor. So, new compressor, valve, and something else is about $250 I believe and labor will be like another $200. Does that sound like a fair price? Either way I'm going to have them do it, because I don't like messing around with the A/C system. Good thing is I'll probably have a function A/C after all is done, which was already on my fix-it list.