Anyone seen this problem? Issues with front AC bolt.
 

Front AC compressor bolt won't play nice.

It's broken 3 times in the past year!
The first 2 were fairly close together, then I beleive I bought a hardened steel version of the bolt, and I've been good ever since...

Until now, the day I have an insanely important meeting (of course)


I've been told it was improper tensioning procedure.
What is the proper order to tension belts in?


Anyone know why this is happening?


Thanks!
-Alex

How tight are you making the alternator belt?

The first thing I would check is to pull the tensioner off and see how much play is in the a/c compressor. I think what you will find is that the back bolt that holds the compressor on is broken and the back of the compressor is free to move around. This puts a sideways strain on the tensioner and front bolt and they break. Getting the back bolt out to replace it is somewhat of a different challenge. You may have to remove the alternator and complete bracket to make it easier to work on although that isn't that tough of a job. If you do have to work with the alternator, make sure you disconnect the battery first.

You are lucky it doesn't break the tensioner.

I've had the back bolt break before, the only reason I was able to get it out was with a very small set of vice grips.

The tensioner? Are you talking about the turnbuckle? That broke last time this happened....

Techno Duck: I beleive in the one finger test, use one finger to press in the middle of the largest leg of the belt. Should move ~.5 - 1"

Thanks!
-Alex

Tensioning sounds reasonable. It has to be moving around to break the bolts or it's not lined up correctly. Use a straight edge to make sure all pulleys are on the same plane if you know nothing else is broken. Not sure how it could be off but a straight pull would take a lot of pressure to break a bolt.