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Old 06-08-2009, 09:08 PM   #2
J-Ri
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Re: I don't want to spend a ton

First, pull the serpentine belt off and make sure the sound goes away. Then, if it does, spin all the pulleys by hand to be sure that it is the A/C compressor that is making the noise. There can be more than one bad pulley, so spin them all just to be sure. Give them a good wiggle too, sometimes a pulley will get loose even before it gets noisy.

I think that most of the A/C compressors on e-bay are used or cheaply "remanufactured". One of my friends bought one and I installed it for him, so far (only 4 months) it's good. You don't have to be certified to work on an A/C system. The sticker under the hood that says "this system to be serviced by qualified personnel only" or whatever is just for the manufacturers liability. You need to take it to a shop and have the refrigerant sucked out, and take it back to have it recharged, but you can do everything in between yourself.

There are many A/C bypass pulleys that bolt on in place of the A/C compressor to maintain the factory belt and routing. Some engines don't need one, you can just go with a shorter belt. I believe you can do this on the 2.2, but I'm not sure. Check your routing before you try this, many times the shorter rerouted belt will rub on something.
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'04 Cavalier coupe M/T 2.2 Ecotec
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