Serpentine belt slipping on the AC only?

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I got an Escape (2007 XLS) and when it is warm under the hood and it gets started, the belt and AC make noise when the ATX is put in Revers or Drive. Once it drives a few hundred feet the noise goes away.

The belt looks fine. Would some sort of non-stick spray work for this?
 
The spray will help for a short period of time. However, the real solution is probably a new belt or new tensioner.
 
Is it possible it is more of a compressor problem?

Would the serpentine and/or tensioner be covered under a powertrain warranty?
 
Originally Posted By: javacontour
The spray will help for a short period of time. However, the real solution is probably a new belt or new tensioner.
+1
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The reason you are seeing it slipping on the A/C is because it takes torque to turn the compressor when the clutch is engadged. (Compressor running), where as all the other components pretty much spin freely.
 
Originally Posted By: sunfire
If the car is still under warranty take it to the dealer.


Only the powertrain is under the warranty. hence my question.
 
IIRC since it is a 2007, it might be covered under a B to B warranty for the first 3 years and xxxx amount of miles. I'd check with the dealership.

AD
 
Originally Posted By: badtlc
I got an Escape (2007 XLS) and when it is warm under the hood and it gets started, the belt and AC make noise when the ATX is put in Revers or Drive. Once it drives a few hundred feet the noise goes away.

The belt looks fine. Would some sort of non-stick spray work for this?


My guess is when the engine warm up and expand, the amount of stretch it place on the belt (hence the tension) is larger and therefore no longer slip. 2 year old belt should still be good and I think they probably only need to adjust the tension at the dealer.
 
Originally Posted By: ADFD1
IIRC since it is a 2007, it might be covered under a B to B warranty for the first 3 years and xxxx amount of miles. I'd check with the dealership.

AD


Bumper to bumper ran out 5k miles ago.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Are you sure the compressor isn't locking up?


No, I'm not. Part of the reason I ask. It seems way too early to be a belt going bad. I dont know about the tensioner. I wondered if it could be compressor or clutch on the compressor. It kind of has a grinding sound to it, too. I thought that might just be from the struggle of the AC trying to start with the belt slipping.

The AC works fine. I notice that when it is having this problem, shortly after it stops, if I goose the throttle pretty good, you can definitely hear the belt slip on the AC pulley.

When the AC is off, it never makes any such sounds at all under any circumstances.
 
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It is not positively the AC . It is the AC PLUS the other components. When EVERYTHING is on, it squeaks. The AC is the unfortunate last one added to the list.
WE do not know where it is squealing - where it is emanating from.
This could be a worn glazed belt or a tensioner problem as well as a mechanical component.
 
I'll just tell the dealer the serpentine belt is slipping and let them figure out if it is covered under warranty. If nothing else, maybe they will adjust the tensioner to see if that helps.

Thanks for everyone's input.
 
Good. If you tell them it's when you turn on the AC, or in any way mention AC,


you can bet you will have an expensive AC bill [with a new belt that would have fixed it].
 
The way the serp. belt tensioners work that I have dealt with on GM cars is they automatically adj the tension on the belt. IOW there is no adjustment. The exception to this is the Jeep Wrangler 4 cyl. engine has a serp. belt that is adjusted manually- like the old Vee belts, before the new serp. design. One quick test is to take off the belt and try to spin each pulley by hand to hear any noise and feel any resistance. Of course this doesn't include the crank pulley.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim Spahr
The way the serp. belt tensioners work that I have dealt with on GM cars is they automatically adj the tension on the belt. IOW there is no adjustment. The exception to this is the Jeep Wrangler 4 cyl. engine has a serp. belt that is adjusted manually- like the old Vee belts, before the new serp. design. One quick test is to take off the belt and try to spin each pulley by hand to hear any noise and feel any resistance. Of course this doesn't include the crank pulley.


This one is a spring based tensioner according to the dealer so it isn't adjustable and is self-regulating, i guess. It has to be the AC being so hard to crank.
 
Belts stretch. At some point, if the belt has stretched enough, the tensioner will not be able to keep enough tension on the belt.

I've experienced this before with my wife's Camry. It had a squeek and we thought one of the pullies might be bad. Replaced the belt and all the noises went away.

Since replacing the belt is a PM action anyway, it can't hurt to replace the belt, keeping the old one in your trunk as an emergency replacement item.
 
Well, everyone was wrong! LOL!

The dealership reproduced our problem and did some investigation and found the problem.........

It was the motor mounts getting softer with age. The guy said there was no harm being done and that it would be a waste of $800 to make the noises go away and they would just come back as the mounts aged again.

It is well worth the $50 diagnostic fee just to know for sure what was happening.
 
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