HI, I'm having a problem with my '04 MCS. This morning I smelled something burning and upon inspection of the engine I found my serpentine belt was coming to pieces. Innocently I went and bought a new belt and installed it. I checked all pulleys and everything seemed to turn just fine. With the new belt on, I go try the car and just a few blocks away same smell and belt starts coming off again. I took the car home and figured out that the belt spins fine with the AC off, but as soon as I turned the AC on, the belt slows down, stops and goes. The AC is also blowing hot air only. Am i looking here at a bad AC compressor? Any ideas before I go spend a fortune on a new one? Tx.

 

Take the belt off and hand turn all of the pulleys in the system. They should turn by hand with not more than a few pounds of turning force.

 

Yes but the a/c compressor will be 'un clutched' and it sounds like his is seized and when the compressor clutches in ... no turnee . . .

You could go to any auto a/c place (decent mechanic/garage) and have them verify.

I wouldn't run the a/c for now . . .

OP was a couple of weeks ago - sorry I missed the first time around .... did you reseolve the issue?

 

Yes, thanks for the response. It wasn't the compressor, I almost bought one. The compressor was turning fine after I removed the belt, even with clutch engaged. I found that the crank pulley / damper was bad. Ended up replacing that and it works fine now.