eicca

They got my engine all reassembled today after the timing belt job, a new serpentine tensioner was also installed. Brought me in to show me what was going on: When the engine runs, the serpentine belt squeals badly and there is this nasty loud clacking noise. Then when they turn on the A/C the pulley stops turning when the system builds pressure.

He says they only unbolted the compressor to move it out of the way to do the timing belt job.
Everything was working 100% fine before they took it apart.

Anyone seen anything like this happen before? Am I about to get in a fight with the shop to make them pay for a new compressor?

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

This is the argument every non car guy has with shops. Probably 10% of the time something else goes bad when car is being worked on (and thats probably more than actual) is it truly the shops fault. Mechanics have to deal with this all the time and theres really no way to prove if they 'screwed' it up, or if when you brought it in it was 99% done for already with no signs of it going bad and all it took was for them to remove it for it to go completely bad.

The only rational thing that comes to mind is it was going bad (with no symptoms) and the belt was keeping everything in place. Once they removed the belt, it may have loosened the pulley from a resting area or angle that kept it all in place and in working order. Thats not the mechanics fault, its an old car that just went bad.

Think of the game Jenga. Say you're playing in the dark,you pull a piece from the middle on the bottom not knowing that theres no piece on the other side to stabilize it, you pull the piece then... JENGA! You just didnt know.

eicca

I'd accept that theory if I wasn't a car guy and had that engine bay pulled apart several times this summer without issues. I always do my own work.

This is my final lesson that nobody else should ever touch my car. There is only one case in my life where I've just decided to let someone else do the work and something hasn't gotten screwed up.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Well, I retract my car guy statement... but the rest still stands. Thats just what happens.

If you're certain it was them and not just 'its time', remove the compressor and look for significant marks from being dropped or abused.

eicca

"Good" news. The crank pulley hadn't been pressed fully on so the serpentine belt was misaligned and not properly tensioned. Head honcho double checked the whole thing and says it's good to go now. We'll see when I go get it Monday.