Air con rattle

Johnno · Unread post by **Johnno** » 17 Jul 2004, 17:17

After investigating a tinkling noise around the auxiliary belt area, I have discovered that the air con compressor on my 2.1TD Xantia has a loose pulley, suggesting that the bearings are shot. The clutch plate appears to be sound, and the pulley is silent when the air con is on. Searching this forum indicates that others with a similar problem have fitted a shorter auxiliary belt and bypassed the compressor.
As we are off to France in a week, I have a decision to make. Either arrange a fix, pro-tem, or borrow my brother in law's M3 (hmmm...).
Can the pulley bearings be fixed in-situ? Is there, in fact, any likelihood that the pulley will fail altogether, thus throwing the aux. belt? Does anyone have a good second hand compressor? Do I really want to drive a 155mph sports saloon to the Loire Valley?
Thanks in advance for the usual good advice.
BTW, my first post on this forum was regarding the clattery, smokey engine on this car. I will be changing the cam belt soon and retiming the pump, as I think it distinctly possible that the belt is a tooth out, leading to advanced injection timing, evidenced by the slightly sluggish slow speed performance and the sharp clatter on start-up, which dies away as the electronics compensate. We shall see...

Unread post by **alan s** » 17 Jul 2004, 17:31

It can't be done insitu, in fact it is doubtful that it can even be done by a normal car mechanic, it will need a fridge/air con specialist to do it.
The belt you have on should be a 5 rib serpentine belt that is about 1275mm long as it goes via a jockey wheel as final adjustment.
Remove the jockey wheel and put it somewhere safe until you get back and as a temporary measure, use a 5 rib serpentine the length that goes around the crank & directly to the alternator (about 620mm from memory) and just avoid the compressor.
If you choose to remove the compressor for the air/con, not recommended, it is adviseable to get a specialist fridge/air-con man to do it and be sure he seals the system thoroughly so as to not get any moisture within the system.
I doubt that this really will be necessary though.
Alan S

tomsheppard · Unread post by **tomsheppard** » 18 Jul 2004, 13:47

Hang on. THe compressor pulley is loose? Uf the aircon is not engaged, it will be. The clutch needs to be in before it locks up.
Sounds like an excuse to me. "Look brother, it is loose- I'll have to borrow your M3"
Borrow it then- serve you right.

Johnno · Unread post by **Johnno** » 18 Jul 2004, 16:19

Curses! I've been rumbled! Actually, there is no need to kid my way into the M3 - it has been offered many times. But things like insurance, loss of licence etc. tend to put me off. As it happens, I will be borrowing a mate's 2.1TD instead. It was either that or press the old BX back into service before it goes to the scrapyard.
As far as the pulley goes, it is the large amount of endfloat or "rock" plus the loose change sound it makes that concerns me, and I don't have time to make repairs before departure. Oh, and also find the water leak that appeared recently...

NiSk · Unread post by **NiSk** » 18 Jul 2004, 16:25

I'd be more concerned about driving all the way to the Loire Valley (and hopefully back) with an injection pump which may be one tooth out on the timimg!
If it doesn't sound right, then i probably isn't!
//NiSk

Johnno · Unread post by **Johnno** » 18 Jul 2004, 16:40

Yes, that is a fair point, 'though I have been driving the car now for some time without any particular ill effect (ok, apart from the noise, flat performance and not terribly good economy - that ain't just smoke boy, that's money![:D]). I went out this morning with the fine intention of changing the cam belt and checking the pump timing. Jacked up the car, removed the wheel and then thought "sod it - it can sit on the street 'till I get back". Might have had something to do with the little libation last night, the threat of rain, and the fact that I'm supposed to be playing cricket at 2pm.
The only reason I haven't done it to date is that I do relatively few miles per month, and rebuilding the kitchen is taking my spare time. If I wasn't such a tight**se, I might even <u>pay</u> someone to do the belt!

TheWorker · Unread post by **TheWorker** » 23 Jul 2004, 03:12

sometimes on those 2.1s it will be the automatic spring tensioner, try getting a slightly shorter belt than whats on there and do the manual adjuster so the little square bit is at about the 6 o`clock position so its got the max tention

TheWorker · Unread post by **TheWorker** » 23 Jul 2004, 03:15

that is if the noise is around the idle speed and goes away when you rev a bit