hi guys, i just found this forum and i said i would give it a try maybe someone can help me:
i have a 95 intrepid 3.5 lit.
today when i tried to start after a few secondsa weird noise came from unde the hood and after another 10 seconds smoke and smell of rubber came as well
so i stopped the engine and later on i tried again and i looked under the hood to see what happens.
my ac was not workin when i bought the car 1 year ago but i did not try to fix it.
well apparently a few seconds after i start the car the a/c compressor i think it's called starts to make a weird noise, similar to banging a small rock inside a can,
and then after another 10 seconds it stops the wheel that has the belt that goes to the engine which automatically starts smoking because it can't rotate and the engine tries to rotate it. I have no idea what the problem is or why that wheels stops and i am not a mechanic.
i would appreciate any suggestion, advices or ideas regarding this.
thank you, alin

 

Hello Alin
Definatly sounds like the compressor crapped out and the mechanics inside are binding up causeing the pully to stop rotating!
If you haven't used your AC in a year you can probably get a mechnic to put a different size belt on to bypass the compressor taking it out of the loop!
Good luck!

 

thank you for the suggestion.
another question though. On that belt there are 3 wheels one is at the engine, one is at the compressor and one is says IDL. What is the last one for?. Because i was thinking of taking the whole belt off since I don't use the ac anyway???
alin

 

do you think there is a problem if i cut off that belt because it was not serving anything else but the ac compressor? and i don't want to use the ac anymore.
i figured it would have been a lot more expensive to try to fix the compressor.
the only other wheel on the belt said IDL and I think it was there with no important purpose right?
so now the belt is off and the car sems to be running fine, at least in the parking lot....

 

If u live in Calif. u r not supposed to cut any of that stuff off?....

 

If I understand Alin correctly, he just cut the belt off, not cut his compressor out, which even in Cali would be legal. You are not required to have a working A/C in your vehicle in any state.

As for your last ? Alin, your third wheel is just an idle pulley to turn the direction of the belt, that is its only purpose besides to keep tension on the belt. As for the Cali thing, you just can't remove any component dealling with imissions from the vehicle.

 

i am not in cali anyway. i was just wondering if there are any side effects from the belt not being there?
alin

 

no there are no side effects at all other than u roasting in the summer time... ac compressors are anywhere from $400-700 at a dealer... some have an extended warranty though that cover them after the other warranties in the car are expired... it just depends on the ac compressors manufacturer......