DVexile

At idle there is an intermittent (every 10 seconds or so) loud rattle from the engine (almost a knocking sound). It sounds like it is coming from the passenger side around the area with the serpentine belt and pulleys. This just started happening within the past two days.

A possibly related problem is my A/C died and I've diagnosed that as the A/C clutch field coil is bad (open circuit). This rattle occurs without the A/C on however, but it seems odd both problems seem to have happened at almost the exact same time. Don't want to tinker with the A/C clutch only to find something else is making it fail.

It is also possible I did something to provoke this while diagnosing the A/C problem, though I don't see how. All I've done is swap the A/C and radiator fan relays to make sure the A/C relay was OK and I've reached down with my arm to probe the ground point on the A/C compressor.

Here is a video on which you can hear the rattle, I put the camera in a few different locations but you can hear the rattle a few times in just the first 30 seconds if you don't want to watch the whole video. In some cases the whole engine appears to shake along with the rattle though in this video it is not that severe.

Any guesses? I'm not at all sure where to start looking...

ezone

Get your bionic ear out (stethoscope) and try to pinpoint the source.


Long screwdriver held to your ear, a wooden dowel held to your ear, or even a real stethoscope. Place the end on the alternator housing and see if it is noisy, then place it on the compressor body and see if it is noisy.... Try it on the bolt for the tensioner pulley too. And the power steering pump.


I'll guess the bearing in the compressor pulley might have play and be going bad?
(If it is, you might even be able to see the compressor pulley shudder sideways when the noise happens.)
Remove the belt and see if the compressor pulley spins with noise, see if there is play in the pulley.

DVexile

Good call! I figured (hoped) it must be related to the compressor or clutch since I already knew something was wrong there. With the stethoscope it was pretty obvious it was the compressor. And knowing that I then watched the pulley closely and it indeed is the source of the rattle. Earlier when I tried to look for something rattling I had stupidly kept my eye on the clutch plate which of course isn't even turning (duh).

So with the pulley rattling around like that does that mean the problem is still limited to the clutch assembly or am I likely going to have to replace the whole compressor? When I turn the clutch plate itself there seems to be no play.

Thanks for pointing out what should have been the obvious next step! Looks like I've still got just one problem, only question is severity I guess.

ezone

Honda sells the clutch and pulley set, and the field coil separately from the compressor. You already diag'd the coil as bad, so it should get the complete set if you do one part.

At this point that may be all you need.

If you ignore it and the bearing in the pulley were to lock up and spin the inner race on the snout, it may end up really needing a compressor.

DVexile

Just to close out this thread, had the pulley and field coil changed out today and everything is back and working again. I didn't have the time to do it myself but a local mechanic did it for a fair price.

Thanks for the help in diagnosis! Made the fix go much faster since they could have the correct part on hand to fix the problem in half a day.

CraigW

iTrader: (1)

Congrats, and thanks for update !!!

Send ezone his steak dinner..... he is hungry.

DVexile

Dang it, I can't figure out how to post a steak on this forum and now I've got A1 sauce all over my USB port...

ezone

A good steak shouldn't need help.



Mmmmm, steak..... *drool*

shahbaz21

Man, I can't believe I have the exact same problem, ac stopped working all of a sudden when I had the pedal to the metal to keep 60 miles on a 6-mile steep hill. later on saw that the a/c clutch is not engaging and then the next day rattling coming on just like yours, was it expensive at the mechanic? also, what caused it to go bad? and can I still drive my car for a few days without getting it fixed? I need to drive tomorrow 80 miles oneway and I don't know if should do it or not

DVexile

Sorry, I don't have the vehicle or the mechanic's bill anymore to refer to but as I recall it was the parts, a few hours labor and the A/C recharge. So that was probably in the range of $500-$600 or so but I'm guessing. No idea what caused it to go bad, some things just eventually wear out and how long they last varies from part to part! I think you should be perfectly fine to keep driving for a few days (I certainly did with mine until I diagnosed it and scheduled an appointment with a mechanic). I would think 80 miles each way is fine to do before getting fixed. Really I think you are just trying to minimize wear on the compressor in case the clutch/pulley somehow causes wear or damage to the compressor itself.

Hope you get it resolved without too much trouble!

shahbaz21

Thank you so much for the quick reply, I'm just glad to found what is the issue, had been hitting computer keys for two days now to see if anyone had the same issue, glad to finally found the answer. Thanks again