Hi

Need help with a bearing squeal from the air-con pulley region.
Recently (well 1 1/2) years ago bought my fist Magna - after I swap my VL Crapodore for a new bath vanity - lucky I got that much for it - (The heap suffered factory fitted rust, broken just about everything and generally over of the whole bloody thing). Went to hunt for a newer car, tried VT's - yuck, Fords - well .... and then found a 1996-97 TE Magna 3L V6 - much nicer to drive handle etc. I bought the car when it had "140000" on the odo. This was the first car I ever took to mechanics :rant: I discovered that the timing belt had never been changed! - so much for warranty serving! The water pump started to leak, idle was rough, chewed up one air-con belt after another and just about every pulley rattled, squealed and made other horrible noises. Spent about 2k getting it all "fixed" six month ago; that "fix" also included a failure to tighten one of the cam shaft sprocket bolts - caught that ( in time). Now somewhere in the center lower-front of the engine a fresh new squeal! :rant: It seems (i hope) to be coming from the air con pulley area - as the only change to the noise occurs when I turn air con off or on (and when turn the car off, of course!). Can this bearing on the pulley be changed without taking apart the whole air -con assembly and where would I find parts in Melbourne. After my experience with mechanics charging $70+ per hours I feel incline to fix it myself.
Sorry about the rant, the Gregories manual I have seem unhelpfull in the area.

Thanks,
Buggy

I know this is gunna sound silly but check the fan belt tension, should be firm to press, NOT TIGHT like a guitar string.
When aircon on the load it creates can make the belt slip on the pulley, certainly a cheap first check.
I got caught by this after going off on a tangent :redface: , so if I can save some one else the agro it's a lesson well learn't.

mate try this guy he is a member here and knows magnas inside and out and his rates are about half of what you have been charged ($70 p/h is dealer prices and its usually an aprentice that works on your car at $16 p/h if that)

Hi

Thanks for that info JO_KING.
As for belt slippage - I don't think thats it - just cheked the tension this morning. I have already found that the air-con pulley rattles at 1100 rpm when its not in use. It starts about 20 minutes into driving the car and is at its worst on idle with the air con off. Soon as rpm increases it eventually dissappears and is less noticable when tha air-con is on.
I hope its not something within the cam belt area and the tensioner, pump and guide pulleys where supposedly all replaced when the cam belt was changed.
It does sound as if its on the outside. :confused:

Thanks,
Buggy

i too hav had problems with the alternator/air con belt

6 months atfer i got the car the belt had a huge chunk out of it, new one put in

4 months later which was just 1 week after a major service (in which they tightened the belt) the alternator bearing failed, i blame the tension being to tight and mitsu servicing for ****ing that up, i assume the tightened for and old belt which requires to be tighter then a new one, obviusoly not checking that it was a new belt and assuming that it was an old one they tightened it too much causing to pull the bearing out of line and scrweing up the alternator, either way, rebuilt alternator, new bearing and belt

3 months later the tensioner pully lost its nut, because of a mitsu ***up they fixed for free but tried telling me that it had nothing to do with there work, then i epxlained how it worked to the service guy (not a mechanic) and he got angry

i suggest check the pullys to see if they are on properly, seeming as they obivuolsy been fiddling with them perhaps they didnt tighten it up properly, and it doesnt necessarily have to be the aircon pully just the added effort of the aircon could make it squeal as i found when my tensioner pully was loose (then it just got progressivly worse)

just read u said it was a rattle, my tensioner pully vibrated/rattled as it was lose, i would def check ur pulleys to make sure they are all on properly

Hi

I no longer believe that the squeal comes from the air-con pulley. I had a look how it is supposed to work when its off and on (from diagrams from a different car) - it just doesn't make sense that the air-con is the culprit.
Strangely, when I bought the Magna, I too found a hole in the belt. When I replaced it, I notice that the tensioner nut was loose and the pully was hanging on a slight angle - out of line. I replace that pulley myself, the mechanic having "replaced" the others. The belt is also very tight. According to the Gregories manual it should be able to move around 8 - 10 mm on the longest segment applying 10k force pretty tight!. I will check all the pulleys and do what I usually do with fan belts on previous - tighten them until theys just stop slipping and leave it at that.

Thanks
Buggy