【Car Air Conditioning】 Does the performance change!? The air conditioning belt of the JA22W Jimny is squeaking, so maintenance is needed.

The squeaking of the air conditioning fan belt, which has been occurring in my Jimny for a while. Despite the hot season, the car air conditioning has become unusable. This time, I aim for significant improvement with a simple replacement.

When the air conditioner is turned on, it makes a "squeak" noise, so I'm going to replace the belt.

In the case of my JA22W Jimny, there was no abnormal noise from the belt at idle, but once I drove for a while, a "squeak" noise occurred. When I consulted a mechanic acquaintance, he pointed out that it was a problem with the fan belt, and it was likely that the load on the belt increased when the compressor was activated, causing such symptoms. This time, I plan to complete the repair just by replacing the belt.

By the way, I will pass on the noise-reducing spray this time.

When I asked the mechanic about the effectiveness of the noise-reducing spray, he said it was temporary and not a real solution. In previous repairs, whenever I tried to save money with symptomatic treatments, it eventually led to part replacements, so it seems better to replace it outright this time.

Replacement work for the air conditioning belt.

The process of replacing the belt does not seem to be very complicated; it involved removing three nuts to exchange the belt and performing tension adjustments.

I observed the old air conditioner belt, and it does not appear to be significantly deteriorated. I wonder if losing elasticity and becoming hard is the cause of the squeaking.

The replacement was completed in no time. The work space is in a recessed area, so I cannot see what is being done. However, I confirmed that the grooves of the belt and pulley are shaped to be in close contact with each other. I think the cause of the squeaking is that the rubber of the belt no longer grips the groove, causing it to slip and produce noise. Worn or hardened rubber cannot revert to its original state, so replacement is indeed the best choice.

Finally, the tension adjustment is performed by moving the air conditioner compressor itself with a pry bar and fixing it with nuts. It seems to be a task that requires a certain feel due to the structure specific to older cars, making it difficult for amateurs. Even when explained, I couldn't imagine how it worked at all.

The cooling performance of the air conditioner has improved significantly.

After testing, the air conditioning improved perfectly. With this, summer drives will be comfortable. Until now, I have been driving without air conditioning, which has been very tough... To avoid ending up like me, how about getting your car air conditioning checked early?

Coverage/Article by Kazuma Tanaka

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