air con belt

[firie]

G'day,

I have 2006 VE SS. I had trouble with my air con today. I got home quickly logged on here and checked out a few threads. It seemed common for the belt to be thrown off. So I went out to check and sure enough belt thrown off!!

Engine is still hot before I have a go but how do you get it back on??!!

Cheers.

[firie]

Ok. I fixed it.

I don't think this will be the last time I will be fixing it though!!

She seems a bit loose on there!

Again this forum has saved me.

Cheers.

[VNV8]

maybe try a shorter belt mate? i.e. 5mm-10mm shorter. It may just be stretched though if its the original.

[Highway]

There is also an updated air con bracket to stop this happening that holden has released.

Have you checked the harmonic balancer to see if has much wobble.

Mine has the balancer problem that holden are still trying to fix.

[dawkinsdisciple]

sigh holdens...

i just had my ac cack it on the way back from daintree, i checked the belt as i unbidden thought it might have been that and i bought a spare at home but surprisingly still intact by the looks.

is there any other common reason the air cons just stop blowing cool air? just wondering what i might be up for... its at the shop now.

i also have a spare balancer and will be chucking it on when the car comes off the road soon, whats this bracket to reduce the belt coming off?

does it have anyhting to do with the f*cking annoying squeak when the cars cold starting? lasts about 5 minutes, until warm... can't get it checked because by the time i get to a shop the cars warmed up...

[dawkinsdisciple]

well, i'm feeling stupid. despite my quick look about the belts, the ac one had slipped off. d'oh feeling stupid... but does anyone know about the other bit of info i posted

i also have a spare balancer and will be chucking it on when the car comes off the road soon, whats this bracket to reduce the belt coming off?

does it have anyhting to do with the f*cking annoying squeak when the cars cold starting? lasts about 5 minutes, until warm... can't get it checked because by the time i get to a shop the cars warmed up...

[firie]

Thanks for your replies. Just a couple of quick questions.

Holden will charge $261 for the new bracket and obviously more if its the harmonic balancer. Is it difficult to fit the new bracket from Holden?

How much wobble in the harmonic balancer is too much wobble?

Would I be able to get a shorter belt from supercheap or something?

Cheers.

[dawkinsdisciple]

i just bought pk1995 i think ac belt not long ago, i could give you the length when i get home (or google it) but that seems to be the std belt for the ac for the L98/Ls2 motors. the other, which i'll probably get when one comes up cheap is pk1100 and does the rest of the ancillaries.

i got in contact with mace, they had the better prices on balancers when i was looking, check their site out. mine has a fair bit of wobble so i'll be getting mine replaced soon when car comes off the road for a bit.

will also investigate that bracket, christ GM/H slipshod engineering gets me sometimes. i don't give a toss about IQ systems but having to chase your tail over the same reliability issues they just seem to keep having has been a part of the paradox of owning commodores for all of mine. twitch.

quit b*tching and try suss it out i guess

[SAMCRO]

i just bought pk1995 i think ac belt not long ago, i could give you the length when i get home (or google it) but that seems to be the std belt for the ac for the L98/Ls2 motors. the other, which i'll probably get when one comes up cheap is pk1100 and does the rest of the ancillaries.

i got in contact with mace, they had the better prices on balancers when i was looking, check their site out. mine has a fair bit of wobble so i'll be getting mine replaced soon when car comes off the road for a bit.

will also investigate that bracket, christ GM/H slipshod engineering gets me sometimes. i don't give a toss about IQ systems but having to chase your tail over the same reliability issues they just seem to keep having has been a part of the paradox of owning commodores for all of mine. twitch.

quit b*tching and try suss it out i guess

:rofl::rofl::goodjob::goodjob: It's a love/hate relationship with holden.. always has been, always will be :)

[dawkinsdisciple]

heh heh, sure is! i reckon i'll have a crack at another make next time to see if i'm being neurotic. i love the car to bits, don't care about the rough edges but it still drives me crazy it has the same groaning power steering pump noises as my VN, belts fall off, electronics problems of various sorts...

eh. i'll suck it up and get on with it! just need some time off and off my lazy ass to get the "plan" finally up and running.

if anyone can point the finger at "annoying squeak when cold from engine" would be awesome. exactly the same noise in my VN was the idler pulley, almost changed it but meh.

[mickeyrourke]

How much wobble in the harmonic balancer is too much wobble?

Any wobble in my opinion is a sign that the balancer is ready to fail.
To see what you're up for when it does have a look at post #6 in thread titled "Underdrive pulley kit.. Feedback Please." (apologies - I don't know how to link it)

[firie]

I know this has been done to death but...

The only belt I have thrown is the air con belt. it has only happened once about a week ago. So is this caused from a faulty harmonic balancer or bad pulley design?

Also how much wobble is too much wobble? The wobble I have had in my harmonic balancer seems to be the same amount of wobble I have had since I bought the car about 18 months ago. Car has only done 90 000 kms.

Also, what other symptoms are there of bad harmonic balancers?

Cheers.

[Arrow420]

Mine has a wobble as well, when I replaced the belt I check the balancer out, didnt seem amything wrong except for a slight wobble, be interesting to know if other have a little wobble as well in the VE s, the we can all wobble together he he

[dawkinsdisciple]

The only belt I have thrown is the air con belt. it has only happened once about a week ago. So is this caused from a faulty harmonic balancer or bad pulley design?

probably. as in either. it is a commodore.

Also how much wobble is too much wobble? The wobble I have had in my harmonic balancer seems to be the same amount of wobble I have had since I bought the car about 18 months ago. Car has only done 90 000 kms.

for whatever reason, it seems to be a common problem with VE's got mine at about 90,000 and its steadily gotten worse. now car idles pretty poorly so it'll be getting done soon... if it goes i've heard it can do some damage too

Also, what other symptoms are there of bad harmonic balancers?

it wobbles? mines idling crappily too sometimes. going to get balancer fixed and go from there.

[Arrow420]

Im wandering if you have to change the harmonic balancer anyway, are you better of to buy one of those 25% underdriven kits, I dont know anything about this sort of stuff and be intereresting to hear some comments, may be a better way to go if your replacng it anyway ?

[firie]

Thanks fellas for all the replies.

I think I will keep an eye on it for the moment. If it gets worse I will do something about it. It's had the wobble since I bought it about 18 months ago.

It has a bit of a wobble at idle. I had a friend rev it a bit and it looks fine under load. It spins true without any wobble. If that makes sense to anyone.

I also replaced the air con belt. The original is a 4pk1100. However I noticed that I was pretty much able to slip it off the tensioner with my finger!! So from previous threads about this I took the advice and put on 4pk1080. Slightly smaller.

In the mean time I will keep an eye on things. I will try and find someone with another similar car and compare 'wobbles'!

[huggies]

Ugur, sorry for no reply to your msg, easier to explain in person.
my ve has thrown a couple of a/c belts with its past owner and they ended up replacing the balancer.

will have to get you validated too ;)

[firie]

Cheers Josh.

Just sent you message through FB.

I am on a rotating roster at work. My weekends are pretty free at the moment. Plus I am free during days a fair bit.

Cheers.