This is weird, I had a squealing AC belt so I cut it off since the AC compressor didn't work anyway. After doing so, now the Alt light starts coming on and sure enough the battery wore down after 1 short ride. Belt on the alternator appears to be fine, turning like its supposed to. Any idea what might cause this? Is the AC belt somehow associated with the alternator charging (?) It is an 84 Riviera with the 5.0 liter Olds 307 engine
Not familiar with the belt setup on your car but if it was a dedicated belt for the AC, removing it should not effect charging. It could just be a coincidence. Check out the alternator/battery to see if they are still good. Could you have loosened the alternator belt to remove the AC belt and not tightened it back up????
No I just cut the ac belt with snips. Before cutting I did try to loosen the ac bracket bolt but it was too tight so I went fro the snipping method .
I'd be willing to bet if you tighten the alternator belt the problem will correct. I think you have a little slippage. The ac belt was shouldering part of the load, assuming it shares a pulley w the alt belt. I ran into this exact thing on my 84hurstolds 307 when I removed AC.
Thx I will check that. I think they all connect to the central crank pulley. Also I could be wrong but I don't think I heard the clutch fan come on either
I went to check the alt belt, and I can actually move it by hand, which turns the fan as well. Should it be this way, or did the ac belt create some kind of needed tension? The alt belt is very slightly loose, more like not tight enough. Also, which bolt is used to loosen the alternator? Looks like 2 on the back and 1 large bolt sticking out on its own bracket at the bottom front.
from a 307 forum: The Olds 307 as installed in A/C equipped GBodies has a terrible design fault; The alternator belt is driven by the water pump pulley alone, the water pump pulley itself is driven by the power steering and A/C belts. If you remove the A/C belt the power steering belt has to do all the work, and if the belt or pulley is slightly worn it isn't up to the job. Tightening up the power steering belt helps a bit but imposes a lateral load on the water pump which does the bearings no good. Non A/C cars have a different arrangement and don't have this issue, you could replace all the brackets and remount the alternator on the passenger side, or simply keep the A/C pump and run a belt simply to help the water pump pulley cope. Alternatively you could fit a serpentine belt kit, a more expensive cure but effective. Or keep the A/C, get it working and use it during the summer, beats lowering the windows at highway speed, and you can't lower the rear windows anyway.
LOL, that's a wacked set up. Of course this is from around the time of the Olds diesel 350 and Cadillac 8/6/4 so I guess it shouldn't be surprising. Is the 84 Riveria considered a G body?
Oh no ... So much for removing the AC belt My p/s belt is loose and the steering sticks when parking, so that prob doesn't help matters much. I guess the easiest thing would to put another AC belt on. Does this mean that the water pump was disabled as well?
Does this mean that possibly the AC belt was squealing because the steering belt is loose? It appeared to have many teeth missing when I removed it. What a crazy setup
Water pump was not disabled. Though it may not have been spinning as fast as it could because of slippage. I would not only put a new AC belt back on, I would probably replace all the belts. That setup means all the belts need to be in good condition for everything to work right. The teeth on the belt inside diameter are not needed, but if some were missing it means the belt was probably worn out. If it was worn out, that's likely why it was squealing.
this olds 307 has the a/c pump removed there are still parts of the system in the engine bay (see arrow) in this video the owner of the car is showing how to adjust the power steering pump belt: Oldsmobile 307 power steering pump belt adjustment pt.1 A common problem with these Oldsmobile 307 engines is a belt that squeals when the headlights, heater, or any other electric accessories cause a load to be put on the alternator. Because the squealing happens when the alternator is under load, the alternator belt is usually misdiagnosed as the problem and is unnecessarily replaced or adjusted and the squealing is still present. Here is what I usually find to be the problem.
Just figured out that the ac belt is the rearmost pulley, which means they all have to come out first
Yea, they were going thru some kind of 'phase' during the 80s. Lucky you don't have a transverse mounted V6 from that time. Changing the back 3 spark plugs was an adventure because they basically wedged the engine up against the firewall.
Changed the belts, and 5-6 hours later (!) all seems to be better. Major job including climbing under the car and removing a plastic shield, and the steering has 3 adjustment bolts just like the video. Of course they all had to be taken out since the AC is the rearmost belt
