loose pulley? help needed
 

So I was drivin' home yesterday from my girlfriends which is only about 10 minutes from my house. i started smelling smoke and when i came to a stop at a stop sign i noticed that it was my car that was smoking. the next street was downhill so i pulled onto it and turned the car off and coasted down the street with the hood popped up a bit. the next stop sign i started the car again. it wasn't smoking anymore but when i got to my house i let it cool down for about 45 minutes. i went back out and opened up the hood and the belt that drives the alternator and such looked like it had started to melt and had slung rubber pellets up onto the underside of the hood where they stuck. also the pulley down below the alternator (i think it's the compressor, i don't know for sure) looked like it was loose and was clicking a bit. this morning i went out to move the car into my garage and it still clicked but when i put it into drive and started to ease it forward around the street to pull into the driveway the clicking stopped and it didn't start again, even after i put it into park.

it's a '97 accord lx with about 169,000 miles on it

any help would be great please. i'm hoping for feedback so i don't have to drive it to a shop to find out i have to pay out the ass when i need to save for school and such. thanks

Picture car002.jpg is the AC compressor, below the alternator.

Which pulley is loose? Does it wobble? You can remove both belts & check each pulley. None of them should wobble sideways. If they're all OK, then read on...

Sometimes the real problem is the AC compressor seizing up. With the AC turned off, the pulley should just freewheel. When the AC clutch engages, that pulley just STOPS. Then the belt begins shredding itself.

Down in picture 002 you can see a wire. Unplug that. If that makes your problem go away, then it's your AC. Of course, you can leave it unplugged until you have the money to fix it. But you won't have AC...

it's the pulley to the a/c compressor shown in picture 2. it doesn't lock up when the car is running or regardless of if the a/c is on or not

on the right hand side of the compressor's pulley (if looking at it facing the windshield there is the wheel that spins only when the a/c is on. it has some rubber shaving on it, but i'm confused a bit cause the belt that is melted slightly isn't the one that turns the compressor. it turns another pulley which in turn powers another belt connected to the compressor

would you like more pics?

There should only be 2 belts. The one closest in to the engine, powers the AC compressor and the alternator.

The one further out from the engine runs only the power-steering pump, in picture 001.

The one & only pulley that has BOTH belts, is the crankshaft, which provides power for all this stuff.

So which belt is shredding itself? If it's the one in picture 001, that's the power steering pump. You can remove that one entirely, and you won't have power steering. Good exercise for your arms while saving up the money for repair.

ps... I can't find a good drawing of both belts together installed on the engine.

yeah it's the power steering belt. but that's what confused me. that's the belt that was shredding but the ac compressor was where the loose pulley was. and i couldn't find any either, i've already looked. thanks for your help though

There isn't much clearance between the 2 belts. Maybe the loose pulley just wobbles enough so it rubs against the side of the other belt?? Especially at higher engine RPM.

Remove both belts & repair/replace the loose ones. Then get new belts.

yeah that was probably it. i was on a freeway goin about 75 and had to speed up pretty fast to be able to merge into traffic, so it probably got too fast among other factors. thanks for the help. it'll hopefully save me a lot of time and money =D

sorry i'm bringin this up again but just had to add that i now found out that the a/c isn't blowing cold at all anymore. it's blowing hotter than if the heater was on =P

so if anyone has read the problem and has something to add other than what JimBlake has already, it would be much appreciated

Download 94 shop manual from Online Manuals thread in DIY section. It is almost identical to your accord and will help out a lot.

Here are some basic test for the a/c. Both radiator fans should turn on when you turn on the a/c. The a/c clutch plate (metal plate outside of the a/c pulley) should only engage and spin when you turn on the a/c. Also, one line heading into the engine should be hot and the other should be cold to touch.

As for your specific problem...

If your a/c was not working, the temperature of the air coming out of the vents would be the same as running the heat on the car. The temperature should change when you turn the knob. Coldest setting should be around the same as the outside temperature.

The temperature control knob could be cracked, so turning the knob will do nothing meaning your car is stuck on high heat. Check that the heater core valve (in engine bay near passenger firewall) can move.

Back up in my post #2... Did you unplug that wire as a test & leave it unplugged?