96 galant makes loud whining sound

[Anson]

please dont hit back just because this looks long https://www.thegalantcenter.org/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

Before everyone says check the belts, I have and tightening did help some but this whining sound still persists. I have been fighting this problem for a while but haven't yet taken it to a mechanic because I am poor. I tried getting some help from another galant message board which will remain nameless but I didn't get much response there. I am going to copy/paste what I put here from another forum. The noise sounds like it is coming for sure from around the AC area but happens all the time ac on or off

post1-
One of the pulleys on my air conditioner on my '96 galant is whining like a sumbitch. I have no idea where to begin to fix it myself. When the car is first started, the whine is loud then quiets down as the idle goes down. Whenever I am revving the car the whine becomes louder and higher pitch. Please help me, I don't want to kill my car before it drives me insane.

post2-
Okay, so I did loosen the bolt that was holding those two metal pieces together where they were adjusted.
I tightened the other bolt that was sitting against the metal stopper about ½" more and the whining noise is considerably low now, especially during idling. However! The noise is still there when I rev it albeit not as high pitched but still loud whining. grr, but is much better. Also, the belts are getting noisy too. Are there any belts that are really good about being quiet? Because 80% of the noise from my car is coming from under the hood


Also
If I tighten that bolt more than ½" the whining starts getting louder again. How much should it be tightened?



anyways, input appreciated. i did search and found a lot of mention about some vent problems? or some crank pulley or something? if people could elaborate on that more I would appreciate it. any pics needed let me know


Thanks for reading

[Anson]

^bump

willing to take any suggestions please

thanks,
Anson

[Kain]

Yeah, as belt tightening goes, there's a spec for deflection, but getting a ruler down in there while pushing on the belt and trying to read the measurement is nigh impossible. Just twist it. It should turn about 90 degrees at the middle of the longest span between two pullies. No more, no less. Make sense? You probably have a bad pully or possibly need a new harmonic balancer (not likely though, since they don't generally go bad on Mitsubishi's). Umm, you could also have a siezed A/C clutch/compressor. Sorry, that's all I can come up with 'cuz I have a really bad headache. You could try searching too, I remember seeing a couple of posts about squeeling noises in the past.

[Jesse]

DUDE I GOT THE ANSWER

My belts were squeaking.

here's what I did,

loosed the bolts, then took a crow bar or something to get leverage and pull the alternator so that the belt tightens up. While putting force on it, have somebody tighten those bolts. You'll be able to notice the belt is tighter then it was if u felt it before you adjusted the alternator.

I did this 2 days ago and no more squeeks.

Hope that fixes u're problem.

[Jesse]

The reason they get louder when u tighten those bolts is because it's acutally bring the alternator closer and putting more slack in the belt. Just wanted to give u an explanation so you know why instead of me just telling u the fix.

[Anson]

cool, thanks for the suggestions guys I will check it out and post back

where exactly is the harmonic balancer? what would it look like

[bongi]

how many miles now? take out the a/c belt, if there is no whining sound, it is probably the idler pulley, you can buy just the bearing or get the idler pulley, it is usually cheap to get, try westbroadmitsubishi if they can give a discount. if it is still there, and your alternator is working just fine, it can be the alternator bearings. if it is, you can just bring it to a local electircal shop that does alternator and have them replace the bearings and also the armature brushes. the a/c if it is bad usually will not be a whining sound but more of a grinding sound and your idling rpm will drop everytime you turn the a/c on. if it is the belt, just replace it with a new one. usually, when it is time to replace the belt, it is also time to replace the timing belt(about every 60,000 miles). if you have the V6 engine, and it is a interference engine, even if the timing belt breaks, it will not mess up the valves or pistons.