unanswerable clacking noise

[toeachitsown]

my 93 saturn sl2 has had a clacking noise for quite some time now...it seems to be coming from the belt area....(please dont say its the timing chain cause its not!)...heres what happend...i was in an accident...so most of the air conditioning parts were replaced...it got changed over to r134a and for some reason the compressor couldnt handle it...it was all converted properly too...it worked for a day and then the compressor started smoking from where the pulley is and later on it tore the belt to shreds...so i got a rebuilt compressor and the belt supposedly messed up the tensioner, so that got replaced too...a/c has been working ice cold...i mean friggin cold, but for some reason when i'm in gear (d or r) and stopped with the a/c on, the belt or something shakes and clacks...what could this be? is it the tensioner...it never did it before...and what can i do to fix it...also sometimes it will clack for a quick second when the a/c is off and i turn the wheel..i'm guessing the belt cant handle the compressor or the power steering or whatever when its being used due to the tensioner bein ****ed up or not installed right...anyway i have no clue ..these are my assumptions...someone help!

[dohc 97]

You could put a 9/16 box wrench on the tensioner bolt and see if there is strong resistance when you rotate the tensioner.
There also should be a tensioner mark that enables you to determine whether it's within limits. The Haynes manual describes this.

[toeachitsown]

thanks ill try that..also i think now that it could be the power steering

[sl2NewBee]

Actually; it's a 14mm bolt.
I found that it's easiest to access by removing the front, inner fender plastic. You have to remove the plastic "rivet" at the rear of the panel, then simply pull the bottom towards you, and unhook the front panel from the rear panel where they interconnect.
All this is accomplished by raising the car and removing
the wheel. It might sound like a lot of work, but it really makes it easy to access the belt and tensioner.
With the inner panel off, it might be easier to diagnose your problem, too.

Good luck,

[toeachitsown]

ive taken all that off before...its not hard...but ur right it would be a lot easier to find out whats wrong thru there..anyway ur sayin that the bolt for the tensioner might be bad...?

[sl2NewBee]

I'm not saying the bolt could be bad. I was just saying the
bolt takes a 14mm wrench, not a 9/16" wrench.



SJ

[John S]

I just installed (today) a Power Stack intake tube and I did not notice any unusual noise. I did replace the PCV valve and noticed that the replacement has a real metallic tick to it. I also recently had a lifter that was sticking (and that maded a noticeable click). I used a pint of Marvel Mystery Oil and now that lifter is silent. However, I think that I am going to take the div into Synthetics while the engine seals are still good.

John S, Rosamond CA

[Terrandus]

on the synth oil.. I heard cases of saturn engines not running as well with synth oil. Just remember hearing it somewhere, don't even know wether its legitimate or not...

[DarkAngel]

when you get synthetic oil be sure to refill it with the same kind of oil. Or you want just regular oil. Remember not to let the oil run too low for a long time. I learned that the hard way. Now I too have a knocking sound for a different reason. I just noticed you bouncing over to pcv valves and oil. Make sure your pcv valve is clean and the right one as well.