Air compressor cluth pully halts when sprayed with water. Any suggestions?

I have a squeaky belt. To help determine that cause I sprayed the pulleys with water. When I did this, the pulley on the air compressor would momentarily stop but the belt would continue moving at normal speed. What could be the cause of this? Bad belt, tensioner, clutch, compressor, etc? I have a 2004 2.4L 2WD. Thank you in advance.

 

Did you have the a/c button on while you did this?

 

Yes. The A/C button was on.

There could be a chance it is temperature related. It has been cooler the last few days so the problem has been difficult to replicate. With that said, I cannot definitively say that it would not happen when the AC is off. I will re-test once the temp is warmer.

Thank you for replying.

 

Sounds like the pulley is still spinning with the belt, but the clutch disengaged. Spraying it with water shouldn't cause it to happen. The clutch will cycle normally with AC on due to temperatures and pressures in the system. It may have just been a coincidence that it went off at the same time. The clutch is magnetic and requires voltage to be applied to engage, so the only thing I can think of that would be related is if you interrupted the current flow and essentially were shorting it to ground causing the clutch to disengage, but that seems unlikely.

 

The water allowed the loose belt to slip even more.

Remember the pulley spins all the time weather the clutch is engaged or not .

Tighten the belt see if that fixes the problem.

 

Wyoming09, in this case the belt is not slipping just the pulley is slipping. Does that change your response?

 

I am not my sharpest after a 12 hour day

Explain what you mean ?

I can`t grasp how the pulley slips it is either turning or stopped

If the pulley is stopped the belt is slipping

Might also be the bearing in the AC clutch is about to fail when it does then it will seize up and burn the belt off

 

Here is a video:


You will see it right around ~4 seconds in.

Sorry for no being clear. My automotive skills are between the Wannabe and the Poser level and I'm trying to work my way up to Weekend Warrior. Thanks for your patience.

 

Looks like the water is getting between the clutch and pulley allowing it to slip. Might need to reshim or replace the clutch.

 

Have you tried replacing the belts yet?

 

I have not replaced the belts yet. I didn't want to go through that hassle if I need to bring my car in to the shop to have the compressor replaced. However, $12 I don't have much to lose. I will replace the belt in a week or so.