Oliver882k
New Member
Hello all Im new to the forum. Ill start by saying im not a very experienced mechanic but I can do your average stuff.. Oil changes/ thermostats/ struts etc .. ive even done a valve cover gasket job on my old car.
ok so I acquired my moms old Honda Civic and she never really drove it just been sitting in a garage forever. Its a 2003 civic Ex. I got it with 67,000 miles in October of 2015... so a little over a year later im beginning to have some issues. First I noticed around the summer of 2016 the A/C was not blowing cold so I added a bottle of the a/c refill bottles you can buy at autozone. Problem fixed a/c was running great. a few months later it was becoming weaker so I checked the level of the a/c refrigerant and noticed it was low so I added some more. A/c was fine again.. blowing cold.
The Battery died on me this last December(2016) and I was going to replace it myself and realized its a Honda Battery with a 100 month warranty so I took it into the Bastards at the Dealership.. While I was there I asked the Vile creatures in there to see if they could identify the noise I was having. They said I would have to pay a 120 dollars for them to look into it. So anyways I said no. The guy was already being kinda of shiesty with me on the battery... he got mad and said they didnt have it in stock so I had to leave my car over night. basically it took them like 24 hours to replace a battery. go figure.
The problem I am having now is that I am have a squealing and grinding/ rattling noise coming from the engine. I know this is the serpentine belt.. I am assuming it is the A/C accessory. The A/C still blows cold although ever since I began to notice the squealing I stopped turning it on. Usually I will barely hear a grinding noise and I can drive just fine with no noises.. With the A/C on it is more evident. Sometimes as I speed up The squealing starts up until I reach the speed I want to be at and then it goes away as the RPMs level out. When im idling I notice a slight grinding/ rattling noise and I assume this is the cause of the squeal. After doing some research I believe it is the A/C clutch bearing is going out. I think the condenser is still good as it blows cold air. The computer isnt putting out any codes. So I am not sure. The belt seems pretty new it was probably replaced around 40-50k miles but im pretty sure there are two belts. both should have been replaced at the same time. I am now at 84k miles
My question is this... Assuming it is the A/C clutch bearing how long will it take for it to complete fail? What happens if it does fail.. can I still drive the car? will it just be a No A/C kinda thing? Will the squeal become so intolerable and make it sound like the engine wants me to put it out of its misery?? will it cause more problems if I do not fix it? Reason I am asking is I am getting ready to move 1000 miles away and I dont have time to fix it right now. (btw the engine feels very good as far as acceleration and gas mileage is pretty good. I do keep up with oil changes every 3k miles)
Any Help/ input would be greatly appreciated as this is something I havent dealt with in the past. Thanks I will keep checking for replies frequently.
ok so I acquired my moms old Honda Civic and she never really drove it just been sitting in a garage forever. Its a 2003 civic Ex. I got it with 67,000 miles in October of 2015... so a little over a year later im beginning to have some issues. First I noticed around the summer of 2016 the A/C was not blowing cold so I added a bottle of the a/c refill bottles you can buy at autozone. Problem fixed a/c was running great. a few months later it was becoming weaker so I checked the level of the a/c refrigerant and noticed it was low so I added some more. A/c was fine again.. blowing cold.
The Battery died on me this last December(2016) and I was going to replace it myself and realized its a Honda Battery with a 100 month warranty so I took it into the Bastards at the Dealership.. While I was there I asked the Vile creatures in there to see if they could identify the noise I was having. They said I would have to pay a 120 dollars for them to look into it. So anyways I said no. The guy was already being kinda of shiesty with me on the battery... he got mad and said they didnt have it in stock so I had to leave my car over night. basically it took them like 24 hours to replace a battery. go figure.
The problem I am having now is that I am have a squealing and grinding/ rattling noise coming from the engine. I know this is the serpentine belt.. I am assuming it is the A/C accessory. The A/C still blows cold although ever since I began to notice the squealing I stopped turning it on. Usually I will barely hear a grinding noise and I can drive just fine with no noises.. With the A/C on it is more evident. Sometimes as I speed up The squealing starts up until I reach the speed I want to be at and then it goes away as the RPMs level out. When im idling I notice a slight grinding/ rattling noise and I assume this is the cause of the squeal. After doing some research I believe it is the A/C clutch bearing is going out. I think the condenser is still good as it blows cold air. The computer isnt putting out any codes. So I am not sure. The belt seems pretty new it was probably replaced around 40-50k miles but im pretty sure there are two belts. both should have been replaced at the same time. I am now at 84k miles
My question is this... Assuming it is the A/C clutch bearing how long will it take for it to complete fail? What happens if it does fail.. can I still drive the car? will it just be a No A/C kinda thing? Will the squeal become so intolerable and make it sound like the engine wants me to put it out of its misery?? will it cause more problems if I do not fix it? Reason I am asking is I am getting ready to move 1000 miles away and I dont have time to fix it right now. (btw the engine feels very good as far as acceleration and gas mileage is pretty good. I do keep up with oil changes every 3k miles)
Any Help/ input would be greatly appreciated as this is something I havent dealt with in the past. Thanks I will keep checking for replies frequently.
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