My 944 Hates Me... Story of the week! (long)
10-30-2004, 01:10 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
My 944 Hates Me... Story of the week! (long)
Okay.. I think my car hates me. I just need to last another couple weeks. Pray.
Here's my story from yesterday.
I was at school at URI, which is an hour drive from my house. I go home every weekend because I work back near my house, and my parent's need some help around as of late. My GF needed to get home to bring her sister somewhere by 6:00pm friday afternoon. So, I went up to my car, which I hadn't driven since Sunday, at about 3:00. I start it up.. battery seemed a little weak but it often is after sitting that long, and my radio does not power off (idle lights stay on).
I check my gauges, Voltage gauge reads about 11, ! light is on. I pop the hood, leaving the car running, see my belt hanging off. Somehow it popped off.
This was completely spurr of the moment, I had no plans of going anywhere but down to my dorm to pick up my stuff.. Noone knew i even went ot get my car, my phone had no service. I said , well I gotta do waht I gotta do.
So I drove out of the parking lot to Wakefield, RI which is about a 10 min drive. This is where the closest autozone is. Being the genius I am, I have no tools in my car, nor a jack.
I get to autozone, notice, I must have little battery left, how am I going to get restarted? I park in the middle of the exit of the place, which was the only hill I could find.. Shut it off, put on flashers, went in autozone. I bought a 17mm wrench, a 13mm wrench, an adjustable, and a new alternator belt.
I could just barely get my head under the spoiler, but I did.. and took off power steering belt (never put it back on just for timesake) and put the new belt on. This new belt was PIECE OF CRAP. But I figured it would be better than the old one nthat was probably dinged up from popping off. I put it on.. lets say 5 times? Turning the engine a few times with teh starter, it was working its way off the engine pulley.
Now remember this is me laying in the middle of the exit under my car. Car's could get around fine it was like 3 cars wide and wasn't a designated exit.. but still it wasn't a parking space.
Now my AC Compressor I figured is teh problem.. because one of it's mounts is broken.. and the front mount and the tensioner are all tha thold it. (AC doesn't work anyway). And the front bolt that i put in often comes a little loose causing the piece to rock a little, so I figured thats waht it is. But to get at that back nut, wihtout taking the alternator off usually takes a skinney wrench and being able to see underthere more than i was able to. Luckily, with turning the head of teh bolt , the lock washer mustve caught enough for it to tighten. So i figure i'm all set. put the belt on, tighten everything.. Still pops off. Then I take off the belt.. looks like the pos belt was already stretching on one side where it was popping off. I took the old belt, tried my best to guess which side was opposite where it was popping off before and put that on the outside.. and turned the engien a few times and it didnt try to come off.
So after probably an hour and 15 min of working in my class clothes, sprawled out under the front of my car in front of the Dells lemonade building, I got the belt all squared away. threw all teh parts in my car.. try to start it.. No way in hell was it starting on that much battery. So in comes my plan b. I roll down the exit towards route 1. first two quick releasing teh clutch in 4th the engine wasnt starting. end of the hill coming, i gave it one last effort, let it go a few turns.. started as i came to the bottom of the hill!
So from there I drove back to school, left it running outside my dorm and my GF's and drove home fine.
Now for the weekend job of changing my rear wheel bearing before my wheel falls off.
Tune in next week....
Here's my story from yesterday.
I was at school at URI, which is an hour drive from my house. I go home every weekend because I work back near my house, and my parent's need some help around as of late. My GF needed to get home to bring her sister somewhere by 6:00pm friday afternoon. So, I went up to my car, which I hadn't driven since Sunday, at about 3:00. I start it up.. battery seemed a little weak but it often is after sitting that long, and my radio does not power off (idle lights stay on).
I check my gauges, Voltage gauge reads about 11, ! light is on. I pop the hood, leaving the car running, see my belt hanging off. Somehow it popped off.
This was completely spurr of the moment, I had no plans of going anywhere but down to my dorm to pick up my stuff.. Noone knew i even went ot get my car, my phone had no service. I said , well I gotta do waht I gotta do.
So I drove out of the parking lot to Wakefield, RI which is about a 10 min drive. This is where the closest autozone is. Being the genius I am, I have no tools in my car, nor a jack.
I get to autozone, notice, I must have little battery left, how am I going to get restarted? I park in the middle of the exit of the place, which was the only hill I could find.. Shut it off, put on flashers, went in autozone. I bought a 17mm wrench, a 13mm wrench, an adjustable, and a new alternator belt.
I could just barely get my head under the spoiler, but I did.. and took off power steering belt (never put it back on just for timesake) and put the new belt on. This new belt was PIECE OF CRAP. But I figured it would be better than the old one nthat was probably dinged up from popping off. I put it on.. lets say 5 times? Turning the engine a few times with teh starter, it was working its way off the engine pulley.
Now remember this is me laying in the middle of the exit under my car. Car's could get around fine it was like 3 cars wide and wasn't a designated exit.. but still it wasn't a parking space.
Now my AC Compressor I figured is teh problem.. because one of it's mounts is broken.. and the front mount and the tensioner are all tha thold it. (AC doesn't work anyway). And the front bolt that i put in often comes a little loose causing the piece to rock a little, so I figured thats waht it is. But to get at that back nut, wihtout taking the alternator off usually takes a skinney wrench and being able to see underthere more than i was able to. Luckily, with turning the head of teh bolt , the lock washer mustve caught enough for it to tighten. So i figure i'm all set. put the belt on, tighten everything.. Still pops off. Then I take off the belt.. looks like the pos belt was already stretching on one side where it was popping off. I took the old belt, tried my best to guess which side was opposite where it was popping off before and put that on the outside.. and turned the engien a few times and it didnt try to come off.
So after probably an hour and 15 min of working in my class clothes, sprawled out under the front of my car in front of the Dells lemonade building, I got the belt all squared away. threw all teh parts in my car.. try to start it.. No way in hell was it starting on that much battery. So in comes my plan b. I roll down the exit towards route 1. first two quick releasing teh clutch in 4th the engine wasnt starting. end of the hill coming, i gave it one last effort, let it go a few turns.. started as i came to the bottom of the hill!
So from there I drove back to school, left it running outside my dorm and my GF's and drove home fine.
Now for the weekend job of changing my rear wheel bearing before my wheel falls off.
Tune in next week....
Good thinking.
10-30-2004, 02:43 PM
#7
Rennlist Member
Ahh the adventures of owning a 944....its even better when your trying to keep up with traffic and your DME relay keeps cutting out and the engine turns off.....3hrs from home..not fun.
Trending Topics
10-30-2004, 02:53 PM
#8
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by 89magic98
I always roll-started the car in 2nd.
I didn't know you could do it in second. I guess I just guessed 4th because on dirtbikes if you were in 2nd or even 3rd the rear wheel would just usually skid. I thought it was easier on teh car to do it in a higher gear...
Of course I hope not to make habit of this.. but which is easier on the car/easier to get the car started?
10-30-2004, 03:00 PM
#9
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: In self-imposed exile.
Posts: 14,072
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes
on
7 Posts
If the compressor is loose / wiggling around because the mount at the rear is broken, it's only a matter of time before the new belt fails. Is it the bracket piece that holds the alternator and the a/c compressor that bolts to the block that is broken or the compressor itself? Why can't you get the compressor rigidly secured to the bracket?
You're also probably side-loading the compressor if it's vibrating at all. You will likely cause the pulley / clutch assembly to fail if you don't use the compressor and can easily cause the compressor itself to fail if you do. Keep in mind the compressor is running if you use the defrost. You really need to fix this correctly.
As a temporary fix, you can get a short belt and run it directly from the crankshaft pulley to the alternator. There is no tensioner on the alternator so it's a bit of a PITA to squeeze it over the alternator pulley, but it can be done well enough so the alternator will put out juice and the belt won't slip. This way, you bypass the compressor entirely until you can fix it right.
Trust me, the a/c compressors on these cars are frought with problems. They're EXTREMELY delicate and you're only going to make it worse by trying to "Mickey Mouse" it. You can also cause the front a/c compressor seal fail (which means bye bye refrigerant) VERY easily if there's any sort of sideways motion at all on that front pulley assembly - ask me how I know!
Also, when "pop starting" a car, it's generally better to do it in a lower gear (in my own experience). This way the instant the clutch is released the engine is forced to turn at a higher RPM than it would be if the same rear wheel rotational speed was transferred to the engine. As such, the engine is less likely to sputter and die - it's closer to a "normal" idle speed. Just get the car rolling to about 5mph and pop it - it works fine in 1st gear.
You're also probably side-loading the compressor if it's vibrating at all. You will likely cause the pulley / clutch assembly to fail if you don't use the compressor and can easily cause the compressor itself to fail if you do. Keep in mind the compressor is running if you use the defrost. You really need to fix this correctly.
As a temporary fix, you can get a short belt and run it directly from the crankshaft pulley to the alternator. There is no tensioner on the alternator so it's a bit of a PITA to squeeze it over the alternator pulley, but it can be done well enough so the alternator will put out juice and the belt won't slip. This way, you bypass the compressor entirely until you can fix it right.
Trust me, the a/c compressors on these cars are frought with problems. They're EXTREMELY delicate and you're only going to make it worse by trying to "Mickey Mouse" it. You can also cause the front a/c compressor seal fail (which means bye bye refrigerant) VERY easily if there's any sort of sideways motion at all on that front pulley assembly - ask me how I know!
Also, when "pop starting" a car, it's generally better to do it in a lower gear (in my own experience). This way the instant the clutch is released the engine is forced to turn at a higher RPM than it would be if the same rear wheel rotational speed was transferred to the engine. As such, the engine is less likely to sputter and die - it's closer to a "normal" idle speed. Just get the car rolling to about 5mph and pop it - it works fine in 1st gear.
10-30-2004, 03:32 PM
#11
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I dont use the AC. It doesn't work. No refrigeration, dead compressor.. I don't know. The rear mount on teh compressor broke off. I will try to fix it this winter.. I really can't deal with it in the next week or so.. I Will tkae that advice for when i getg the chance to look at it though.. thanks.
10-30-2004, 04:31 PM
#12
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: In self-imposed exile.
Posts: 14,072
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes
on
7 Posts
I have a spare Nippondenso I can sell you with all the bolt-up points intact. I was sold it with a warranty that it didn't leak, but I can't be sure since I've never used it. If you're interested, make me an offer on it. At the very least, at least you wouldn't end up trashing the pulley.
I recently went through something similar on my 951; the pulley was siezing up (the bearing race seal had failed, so the bearings were turning metal-on-metal, plus they'd been sitting awhile - not good). If it siezes up even without running the compressor at all, it'll snap the alternator belt and you'll end up dead on the side of the road. You need to either get a freely-turning pulley that has no play in it (a compressor that doesn't wobble) or an a/c delete kit right away to avoid this. If that compressor is wiggling due to the back bolt hole being busted off, it means it's shaking from side to side everytime you go over a bump and putting side-load stresses on the pulley and the bearings. It will soon fail and you'll end up in the same predicament I did with a bad pulley that likes to sieze up and snap belts as fast as you can put 'em on.
Alternatively, try to find some way of securing that compressor from moving.
I recently went through something similar on my 951; the pulley was siezing up (the bearing race seal had failed, so the bearings were turning metal-on-metal, plus they'd been sitting awhile - not good). If it siezes up even without running the compressor at all, it'll snap the alternator belt and you'll end up dead on the side of the road. You need to either get a freely-turning pulley that has no play in it (a compressor that doesn't wobble) or an a/c delete kit right away to avoid this. If that compressor is wiggling due to the back bolt hole being busted off, it means it's shaking from side to side everytime you go over a bump and putting side-load stresses on the pulley and the bearings. It will soon fail and you'll end up in the same predicament I did with a bad pulley that likes to sieze up and snap belts as fast as you can put 'em on.
Alternatively, try to find some way of securing that compressor from moving.
10-30-2004, 04:35 PM
#13
Rennlist Member
Rip it out...save some wieght and get the one from paragon for 160 or see if anyone has the delete kit hat was offered here earlier this year for 100.-chris
