Questions and Answers
Civic A/C Belt
Q. Hi? How are you. I have a 1992 Honda Civic carburetored engine. Not sure about engine size! Its automatic transmission with around 144,000 kms. I am student studying in a caribbean medical school. I go to school in the Dominican Republic.
The roads here are very bad. I guess what happened was that possibly a rock hit the underside of my car while driving. Nothing happened then. But later on as I got back in the car and turned off the A/C, I noticed a really weird noise coming from the engine. I had no clue. I took it to the mechanic and he looked at it and then pulled out a torn A/C compressor belt. That did stop the noise, but the belt had to replaced.
My question for you is that: one of my friends had told me that A/C compressor belt, timing belt, and some other belt were all connected to one pulley or something to that extent. He said that if my compressor belt broke, it must be a cracked pulley? I wanted to know your opinion. Would be able to show me where to find a diagram so I can show the mechanic? It's not like that USA, where when you have a problem, and they'll fix it and that's that!
The mechanics here are very money hungry, so they'll make up stories for extra cash. Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
RJA. All the belts run off the crankshaft pulley. That much is true. That your A/C belt was destroyed by a cracked crankshaft pulley, well, I find that hard to believe. Not that it is impossible, just not very likely. You do have to be careful if you have the flat, serpentine type of belt. Installing ribbed A/C and P/S belts may seem foolproof, but you'd be surprised how many of them are installed one groove off on the engine pulley. If allowed to run in this condition, the pulley flange can cut the belt in half longitudinally. I've even seen cases where the belt rubbed through the timing cover, destroying the timing belt and causing major engine damage.
I think what happened was the belt just wore out and gave it up. It was just it's time to go.
I don't have a picture of the belt routing otherwise I would post it here.
Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA
