swamper8

Greetings all,
A few months back I replaced the timing belt and related goodies on a friends 2001 civic. (4cyl) Since then the first time the A/C is turned on there's a nasty screech, but it only happens once. Figuring the belt was loose I tightened it a little more. No change. I then figured I must have got some grease/antiseize on the belt/pulley during the engine work so I pulled the ribbed belt, sprayed all the pulleys with brake cleaner to get rid of any contamination etc and then put a second NEW ribbed belt on the car. The car still has a squealing noise. If the A/C pump is engaged and you rev the car you can get it to squeak/squeal. I feel like the belt is sufficiently tight, about 1/2" deflection in the middle of the longest section of belt. I don't want to overtighten and cause long term damage to any pulley bearings.
I'm fairly certain that it's the A/C pump squealing, however I now wonder if it's the clutch which is slipping under load and not the belt on the pulley. Anyone ever have this?I wonder if I need to make adjustment to the clutch air gap or maybe use a puller to pull off the clutch plate and replace with new? Do these cars typically need the belts extra tight or should I suspect the A/C clutch?

Car is a LX, two belt style. One V-belt and one serpentine/ribbed belt.

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

If you are not sure on how tight it is supposed to be get someone to esle to tighten it. They need to be pretty tight. You could have spilled something on it and it should burn off. As far as replacing the clutch componets on the compressor I am not sure. If the clutch was slipping under load I think you would smell it.

Biscuit

The belt is far too loose.

pwnsauce

also the clutch would make a completely different sound i would think, and easy way to find out take it for a spin see if when it squels your rpms rise while on the gas but no pull

Nosepicker

Too tight...too loose.

Just take it for a spin with the belt tight then loose and see which tension creates the nosie. Process of elimination my friend.

djarmyssg

I actually had the same issue... Did the exact same things.. Took belts off.. Cleaned belts and pulleys, Replaced... Still squeeled.. Come to find out later that my AC Compressor wasnt tight... The mounting bolts came loose and would make a HORRIBLE squeel! Just something else to check for!

04 Honda Civic

iTrader: (2)

Come to think of it you could have even gotten oil on the belt from your hands.

Nosepicker

Hmm...I've never thought of that. Mine squeals only when I activate it at high speeds. Never bothered to fix it because it's cold right now and only makes the noise like I mentioned above.

I'm gonna check the tension of the bolts this weekend and see if that works.

JD101

Does this sound like your problem?

Ever since I replaced all the three belts, water pump etc on my Civic 2003 four months ago, I have been hearing squeal noise for few seconds and then it goes away. I did not have this sound before. I don't know for sure where the sound is coming from, I believe it is from the AC belt but not so sure.

It seems I can reproduce this sound especially if I turn on AC when the engine hasn't heated up completely. After I turn on and off AC few times, then I can not produce this noise. After the engine is heated up then it is hard to reproduce this sound.

It seems when car has been sitting idle not running for few hours then first time you turn on AC, you can bring this sound for few times, then it wouldn't do it.

I'm at loss, if it was tensioner pulley it would do it all the time. If it was AC bearing etc , again it would do much more often when AC is running.

Mechanic tightened the belts twice and says there is no further room to go.