hey,
i'm a newbee here, got a question on an issue that's kinda been going on since i got my 92 accord ex about a month ago.
ok, i noticed when the ac was engaged a screeching, terrible noise would errupt from the engine compartment. I at first thought this was a bad ac compressor, cuz the guy i got the car from said he had put some oil in the ac comp. To calm down the noise. I later noticed something rather odd. When i looked down at the belts and pulleys, i noticed the main pulley on the engine was wobbling at low rpms...is this normal? If you increase the rpms, it levels out and the screeching subsides.
well yesterday i had to pull the alternator cuz it stopped charging the battery. Turns out hydraulic fluid from the power steering pump leaked down into the alt. And fried the brushes. Never did this kinda work on a car before, and needless to say it was a real treat getting normal sized hands into those impossibly tight spots under the alt. Anyways, got the new brushes installed, and reinstalled the alt., when i got the belt on, i noticed it was riding just over the edge of the bottom pulley. I corrected it, or so i thought, and retightened the belt, but apparantly not tight enough...cuz a couple miles down the rd. The belt was cut by the bottom pulley and i lost about an eighth of an inch of it. But when i looked down i saw the pulley was wobbling really bad, like it's about to come slap off! This doesn't seem normal to me...so i told my dad and he suggested maybe the bolts were loose on said pulley, and that it may need shims behind it. Could this be true?
any ways, now when i run lights and ac, my battery light comes on, and the belt goes to screetchin...im thinkin its not tight enough, but with part of the belt missing, maybe its just not grabbing like it should because of that.
how tight should i make that belt any ways? Is there a way to correctly guage how tight to make it? I realize it's not tight enough now, and that i need to get a new belt, that's obvious with the screeching, but i didn't want to over tighten and burn up the bearings in the alt. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

 

Check that the crank pulley bolt is not loose. You will need a deep 19 mm socket. It is normal threaded.

 

Best replace all the belts in case it's really past due for their change.

 

Thanks for the heads up man... Hey is it normal for these to come loose?

 

No It's deff not normal..those should be very tight and stay that way..Look at your pulley when it's going around and see if you see the pulleys wobbling..also check for your belt tensioner...

WheelBrokerAng

 

I may be missing something...but I didn't see a belt tensioner on this ride... the only way tension is put on the belt, is through tightening the alternator upward. Let me know if somethings missing, don't know to much about the car.

 

That is correct.

 

While the crankshaft pulley retaining bolt could be loose (don't drive until you check), the crankshaft pulley bushing is likely worn out. This may be the squealing you hear.

The rubber bushing connects outer drive pulley to inner crankshaft hub/woodruff key arrangement. The bushing can and does wear out w/ just the symptoms you have; squealing and loss of alternator charging. Since the belt is not turning full speed, the alternator cannot charge.

A new crankshaft pulley, properly installed, should fix if that is the problem.

good luck