AC V-belt installation

[92lebaronGTC]

I tried searching the forums for something as simple as this but didn't really find anything that would help.

I just had my AC serviced in the car and got it running again for the first time in almost 3 years, all goes well and the air is COLD however about a week after they installed my new v-belt and ac drier after cleaning and recharging my system with R12 the belt starts making noise.

The V-belt I gave them to put on was sitting in my garage for atleast a year so it might have been a little dry and dusty at first and probably stretched a lot in the first week of use. Anyways my AC I just spent $300 to fix is not functional now because of a $7 belt that keeps slipping any time the compressor comes on.

I grab the belt and it feels quite loose on the pulleys and I have no idea how to loosen or tighten the tension to put on a brand new V-belt I bought yesterday since the one that is on there pretty much stretched and burned up.

Is my little arrow that I attached to the pic where I adjust the tension? It doesn't seem to do much even when I loosen that long bolt about an inch.



I just want to figure out how to slap on my new belt myself since those assholes want to charge me labor to put on this belt that was insufficiently tightened since it only worked about a week.

[Sittn86]

Loosen the nut that holds the pulley on, then loosen the bolt you marked. Remove old belt, tighten belt, tighten nut.

[92lebaronGTC]

Thanks so much for the quick reply, I went in my garage today and replaced the belt in about 20 minutes!! The hardest part was figuring out I needed a 13mm and 15mm wrench and that was a piece of cake! I will now bask again in my cold air, I feel better now that I can put that expensive R-12 back to work!!! Thanks a million!!

[Sittn86]

No prob Bob.

[92lebaronGTC]

mmmmm cold air.... lucky for me I could chill in my cold car during my lunch at work, the AC in the building was out and the temps hit 108*+ today, I didn't mind letting my car idle for a bit even with gas as high as it is cause I was so hot.... I put on the new belt at the perfect time. Thanks again!

[Screamin4banger]

So how much did the R-12 run you out there per lb?

[92lebaronGTC]

$60 per pound. I only know of one place locally that still has it. (auto air and more)

[turbo1168]

Might I ask why you didn't convert to R-134?

[Sittn86]

R-12 is a lot colder than R-134a.

[turbo1168]

I would tend to disagree... A properly converted R-134 system will blow Popsicles just as well as a R-12 system. That and the 10-fold cost increase per pound sure does make 134 more desirable to me. I have converted many cars over. My '87 Caravan was as cold after the conversion as before. Some cars (Hondas especially, IIRC) do not take as well to the conversion as others, but every FWD Mopar I have done was satisfactory.

[92lebaronGTC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo1168 Might I ask why you didn't convert to R-134?

I believe I was told by the guys at the shop it would cost me maybe $500 or so to convert it, plus it might not work well because the oils don't mix and other factors that I don't really remember. I know very little about AC systems so I was just like, whatever is cheaper and I know the system was super cold when it worked before my accident 3 years ago.

They only robbed me of $300 to flush, oil, and fill my system, put on a new belt, and a new drier. I hate having people work on my car.... $$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm sure I could have done it myself with the right tools and some instructions but I figured I would leave it to the pros... $$$$$$$

Atleast now when I drive, I'm cooler than a polar bears nut sack while he's sitting down.