Smoke from behind a/c pulley

hey all,

trying to help a buddy who is currently in the middle of a road trip. 2001 4.0L.

Once he fires up the AC smoke appears from behind the a/c pulley. Once he turns it off, everything is fine...other than having to drive thru Kansas with no ac.

anyway, any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

Scott.

Sounds like the compressor is locked up/bad bearing and your burning up the clutch.

thank you much for the response. I'll pass along the info.

RCP Phx said:

Sounds like the compressor is locked up/bad bearing and your burning up the clutch.

Click to expand...

...or the burning/smoke could be caused by a good belt trying to turn a bad compressor. Friction, y'know.

Take the belt off and turn all the pulleys to check for smooth operation (OK, engine off). Wiggle them, pull them, look for play. Repair or replace as necessary.

Suspects sound like siezed or siezing compressor clutch...and you may get lucky and only need a $15 idler pulley.