OK, so I put a new serpentine belt on EARLY Janaury 06 and I replaced the Gates ($35 O Reilly) belt that the previous owner had put on recently. It was frayed REALLY BAD and ended up braking (causing me to lose power steering)

And anyway, I was under the car a couple days ago and noticed my new (heh $12 Oreilly belt) already fraying. Anyways, I figured the tensioner needed replaced or something. I had the car at NTB to have the suspension looked at (I need Lower Ball Joints) and I had them look at the Serpentine Belt... They said everything looked fine except the AC Compressor pulley.. Its making a tick tick tick noise and they said they think the bearing is going out.

Can I just replace the pulley or do I need a whole new AC Compressor? Any tips on doing it? etc.

 

Back when I had my 94 Z28 in 2001 I shredded and lost 5 belts on the road. Very annoying. I also knew very little about working on my own car, but I did know how to replace the belt... Which I did. I just couldn't track down and fix the problem that was causing it.

So I took the car to the stealership (yeah I know) and they told me it was the A/C compressor as far as they could tell and told me I would need to replace the whole piece for $800. I instead went with the 1LE A/C delete pulley.

The belt still shredded on me a couple months later... when the power steering seized on me. Don't know if that's what was doing it all along or if it was just a symptom. I never found out what was causing it before I had to sell the car. Obviously I had an out of balance pulley somewhere if it wasn't...

Anyway, hopefully you've found the problem and you don't have a repeat of my nightmare. Good luck... and screw the dealership. I'm sure they would have loved following their standard operating proceedure of replacing EVERY accessory on the front end by emptying my wallet.

 

Thanks for the input Nate. But the 1LE pulley gets rid of the A/C all together right? Don't realy care to do that since it's my DD. Anyway, I need to figure out if I can just replace the pulley. Hopefully thats the case but if not then I guess I'll have to buy a new A/C Compressor. Stupid car.

 

Yeah it did... I had always said I would put it on later, because I couldn't stand the car not having A/C.

I would never do that to my current Z.

 

Ya can replace most clutch and pulley assy's on the AC.
Call and get a price and take it to an AC place and have it changed and the system checked.

 

Check the damper. Its made in 2 pieces, with a hard rubber ring connecting the inner and outer halves. The rubber ring can dry out and break, letting the outer ring on the damper (which is the pulley) wobble.

 

Is putting a 1LE Pulley on a easy 15 min bolt-on job? Or do I need to remove the AC Compressor?

 

PM sent.

Nah unfortunately the compressor has to come out... The 1LE setup is the pulley, and a triangular brace that bolts into the place of the compressor.

Here are some pics of what it looks like:

http://www.miamimotorsports.com/1le.ht1.jpg

http://www.projectgangreen.com/Insta...s/DSC00389.jpg

 

Take it to a decent A/C shop and they'll replace the clutch bearing without having to drain the freon. Cost me $200.
Doug