Ac pully question, need help fast.

Hey all, so I'm getting ready to go on a fishing trip and decided to look over my 97 buick les. Now I stay on top of the car and whats going on with it. Everything checked out except for one thing. Ac pully has shaving on it. Now the ac went out a few months ago. So I know it needs replaced. This was the first time I ever noticed it and its kinda freaking me out becasue of a trip I'm leaving for at 4 am. Should I be concerned and put the brakes on my trip?:dunno::dunno: Heres a brief descript. On the pully there is an attached box. I believe this box maybe the clutch that engages and disengages when the ac is turned on. Any way the box has 4 screws in it, one in each corned. Well the one has silver shaving all over it. There is also a little pile just below the pully.???? I really dont know what this mean as far as safety goes. I'm concerned that the entire thing is going to lock up or break off and fly into the serp belt. I dont know.... its freakin me out, any help?????????????

Do not be concerned.. what you have is V-5 classic clutch drag- the air gap of the pulley to clutch driver has narrowed due to rusting of the armature stops- the clutch rubs or drags only when a/c is NOT on. Since your a/c is inop-- your a/c is always NOT on.... hence the rubbing sound that also creates the metal shavings.

doe it look like this?

http://idle-hourranch.com/V5ClassicClutchDragMetalFragments.JPG

You can fix it yourself

It won't hurt to drive it that way- it does not create enough heat to smoke a bearing. It is present on all V-5 compressors wherever it is used, and usuallytake 7-10 years to present the problem. Most just consider the noise an annoyance and let it alone since when a/c is on, the noise goes away.

Google V-5 classic clutch drag for more info.

Do not be concerned.. what you have is V-5 classic clutch drag- the air gap of the pulley to clutch driver has narrowed due to rusting of the armature stops- the clutch rubs or drags only when a/c is NOT on. Since your a/c is inop-- your a/c is always NOT on.... hence the rubbing sound that also creates the metal shavings.

doe it look like this?

http://idle-hourranch.com/V5ClassicClutchDragMetalFragments.JPG

You can fix it yourself

It won't hurt to drive it that way- it does not create enough heat to smoke a bearing. It is present on all V-5 compressors wherever it is used, and usuallytake 7-10 years to present the problem. Most just consider the noise an annoyance and let it alone since when a/c is on, the noise goes away.

Google V-5 classic clutch drag for more info.


I can not express how grateful I am that you posted this. Thank you very much. Yes this is excatly what it looks like. The only differance is that the shavings are more concentrated around the nut/bolt. Which based on what you said dosent seem to be a problem. Thanks you very much! You have given me alot of peace. I feel better about my trip.:runaround::runaround::runaround::runaround:

Glad to help-- it feels good to "win one" once in awhile. This is what makes the internet such a fantastic device-- you aren't the only to ever have had this issue-- there are thousands out there- I fix about 1 a week in the heat season..

well I put about 6 hours of driving ont he car today and everything was fine. Thanks again. so said you fix one a week. How do you fix them with out replacing the entire ac unit? See my ac is out so what you are saying is that with maybe the only reason why? What does it take to fix?

Your a/c is "out" most likely due to loss of refrigerant due to a leak. Number one leak location is compressor shaft seal and body o-rings.

The grinding noise can be fixed by "borrowing" the clutch puller tool from Autozone's "loan a tool" program, and pulling the clutch plate out about .020"- some can be done while compressor is still mounted on engine.

Cool, I'll look into it.