It was 92 degrees today- help a brother out!

I know y'all are tired of boring questions like this, but I'm broke and can't afford to get my XJ serviced right now, so give me a hand if you can.

I have a 96 4.0L 5 speed w/160k miles. (I ONLY PAID $1700 FOR!!). She's in great shape except for one thing: the A/C works fine and dandy, but for whatever reason, when it's on and I give it some gas, the serpentine belt screams like a banshee! When I turn the A/C off and give it gas- no sound.

The Chilton manual I bought has images of where to adjust the belt, but it looks nothing like mine. I know I'm supposed to loosen some bolts, adjust the tensioner, then tighten the bolts back up, but I can't see anywhere bolts to loosen. Do I just adjust the tensioner? (I tried and it didn't help).

My 96 has the 97+ type belt set-up. Its still very similer in design.

I'll go out and look at the 96 and talk you through it(I have 4 XJ's and they all have a different belt set-up/adjustment)

you may have too much coolant in the AC system..mine did that same crap and bleeding it made it go away. that and spraying to pulley and shaft down really well with a non-petroleum lube

All of the belt adjustment is done at the power steering pump on the XJ's

OK, you need to loosen all three of the bolts at the power steering pump(there are 3 going through the pump and into the end of the intake)

Then loosen the adjuster nut, its just under the pulley, lower side. It is along the elongated hole that the adjuster slides in.

Then you use the 15mm bolt that runs down through the bracket to tighten the belt(it can be seen on the engine side of the pump down on the bracket.

The belt should only be tight enough where you can barely twist the belt untill it goes to a 90* with a finger and a thumb. This is done on the longest span of belt that you can find.

DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN overtightening the belt will cause premature failure of the belt and other belt driven components.

Make sure you retighten all 3 of the bolts and the one nut on the adjuster before you drive it.

Excellent. Thank you sir. It's too dark out to try it now, but I'll let you know how it goes when I try it tomorrow.

my 97 has a tensioner pulley. close to the power steering pump, but not the pump itself. I only have to loosen one bolt (allows the tensioner to be adjusted), than adjust one long bolt to tighten or loosen the belt as needed. That bolt doesn't actually move up or down, just moves the pulley up or down (tighten or loosen) Once you adjust the tension, tighten the bolt that allows the tensioner to move back up so it won't vibrate loose.

Thats all I have to do on mine, 97 with A/C.

beakie said:

my 97 has a tensioner pulley. close to the power steering pump, but not the pump itself. I only have to loosen one bolt (allows the tensioner to be adjusted), than adjust one long bolt to tighten or loosen the belt as needed. That bolt doesn't actually move up or down, just moves the pulley up or down (tighten or loosen) Once you adjust the tension, tighten the bolt that allows the tensioner to move back up so it won't vibrate loose.

Thats all I have to do on mine, 97 with A/C.

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96+ has this style. All you have to do is loosen the center bolt on the idler, make your adjustment with the long bolt and tighten the center bolt back up. Much easier in the 96+ years.

beakie said:

my 97 has a tensioner pulley. close to the power steering pump, but not the pump itself. I only have to loosen one bolt (allows the tensioner to be adjusted), than adjust one long bolt to tighten or loosen the belt as needed. That bolt doesn't actually move up or down, just moves the pulley up or down (tighten or loosen) Once you adjust the tension, tighten the bolt that allows the tensioner to move back up so it won't vibrate loose.

Thats all I have to do on mine, 97 with A/C.

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Thats different from my 96 but my 96 is different from my 94? My 94 and my 90 are similer. I'll have to look at the 00' and see how it is set-up. It probably needs a belt by now anyway!

I think there was only 2 setups on the XJ 4.0s the early style 1987-1995 and the later 1996+ style, I could be mistaken though.

RenixPower said:

I think there was only 2 setups on the XJ 4.0s the early style 1987-1995 and the later 1996+ style, I could be mistaken though.

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My problem is I have too many XJ's to keep up with, and I want one more!

My name is Jon and I am also addicted to Jeeps!

xjtrailrider said:

My problem is I have too many XJ's to keep up with, and I want one more!

My name is Jon and I am also addicted to Jeeps!

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You're working on catching up with me, welcome to Jeeper's annonymous.

Hallelujah! Thanks to all of you. I got it figured out and am now basking in the glorious chilly goodness that is air conditioning (with no screaming banshees)!

How much money you figure I saved myself?

$50-$75 for a mech to look it over, find problem, fix problem, than waste remaining 45 minutes so they can charge you for the full hour.

I paid for the first tune up on my Jeep. After realizing I could have done it myself and saved $200 I decided however much I was going to have to spend to fix it, I would put into tools, and do the maintenance myself, or with help from friends. Now I have a nicely equiped tool chest, friends that ask me to help them, and some extra coin in my pocket.
Keep it up and you'll really start to enjoy your ride, once you know how things work.