Serpentine Belt Question

[Fummins]

I often have to retighten the belt after installing a new one. Start car turn on the ac, rear defrost, crank up the fan, headlights on, and watch the top of the belt between the alternator and the harmonic balancer. Tighten belt until it it stops bouncing up and down like crazy and it should be quiet when the ac kicks on.

[Wallythacker]

Belt squeaks are usually caused by a slipping belt. If it's happening during the first few minutes of startup, it sounds like the alternator is slipping under the load of recharging the battery. This could be made worse by running the headlights at the same time. (just a guess.) The A/C compressor could also cause this but might do it more than the first few minutes. In any case tightening the belt usually fixes the problem.

Isn't the serpentine toothed? Or am I thinking of another car.

[mohammad]

Isn't the serpentine toothed? Or am I thinking of another car.

It’s not toothed that’s normally only for vehicles who use a timing belt. Mirages use a timing chain. The belt groves run the whole length of the belt and stop the belt from moving side to side.

[KosmoCramer]

Can you post a link to your purchases? Water pump and AC compressor?

AC Compressor / Clutch (the 2014/2015 is compatible with the 2017) - https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-Mitsubi....m46890.l49286

Water Pump - DNJ WP4365 Water Pump For 14-18 Mitsubishi/Mirage, Mirage G4, 1.2L L3 DOHC Naturally Aspirated 3A92 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XHNVRBM...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[Mark]

I started hearing a constant rattling (like a marble rolling around a metal coffe can) as well as a bad bearing noise. The Bearings in the AC clutch were pretty warn and you could feel metal on metal grinding when spinning it by hand. Picked up an AC compressor with the clutch on eBay for $320 (the only other option was Mitsubishi and they wanted $1300) and luckily I had a friend who installed it for me for much less than it would have cost elsewhere. Unfortunately that fixed one bearing noise but not the rattling and another noticeable bearing noise.. which wound up being the water pump.. picked one up on Amazon for $40 and luckily the same friend installed it as well. The belt wasn’t in need of being changed at the moment but I figured why not change it anyway since everything was off and it only cost $18 at autozone.

So I think the Water pump was really my main problem .. but the AC would have needed to be changed in the coming months regardless.. but besides the slight squeak right now from the belt (which I think will be fixed once I tighten the belt a bit) the car sounds and drives like it did the day I bought it.

So the parts total was around $400 and labor was about $200

I drive a lot and this is the first major repair that I needed to do on the car.. my normal commute is about 130 miles a day total. I have 130,000 miles on the car.

Back a couple years ago, Steve & his "plastic car" (Mirage with 300,000+ miles) replaced the A/C on his Mirage. I don't remember him replacing much else other than tires & headlight bulbs.