The car is in the garage for repair of a variety of minor ills, one of those being belt replacement on the alternator, power steering pump, and a/c.

Just got it back together, and I now have a squeak (or squeal) that I didn't have before.

I don't have the AC compressor in the V anymore. I chucked it a few years ago and hung a Sanden compressor where the air pump use to be. This system has worked well from initial installation until today. The Sanden was purchased new. All the replacement belts are new and were purchased yesterday.

Anyway, the squeal is coming from the compressor area. When the engine is running, and the compressor is not engaged, the squeal is fairly pronounced. However, when the compressor kicks in, the squeal virtually goes away.

Since I did nothing to the compressor (the belt tension is adjusted at an idler pully) my first thought is that it's a belt issue, but I can't see any slipping, so would a belt that is too tight cause this? Any thoughts on how to diagnose this further?

My car has an electric water pump and electric fans, and this noise persists regardless of if they are on or off, so I'm not mistaking the source of the noise.

Thanks,

John
1987 XJ-S V12

 

If it squeals when the a/c isn't on but stops when it is on the cause is the bearing in the a/c clutch excess belt tension could cause this and lead to eventual failure of the a/c clutch bearing. From my experience with sanden a/c compressors in Chrysler applications they seem pretty reliable and bulletproof for the most part.

 

Thanks for that Reyaj! A turn of the wrench and squeak is gone.

 

On cold start I have a squeal and after a couple minutes it goes away ??