I believe the bearing is going bad on the AC pulley. Does anyone know the part number for it? I have looked around and there appear to be 2 options that differ by 5 mm on one of the dimensions... so I am not sure which one it is.

 

A little spray of WD40 in the output shaft area behind the pulley should calm it down for a while and will not hurt the seal. IThis also helps diagnose the problem because if the pulley/clutch does not stop making noise after running for a few minutes with the WD 40 treatement, it is not the pulley. If you think you really need a new AC PULLEY CLUTCH ASSEMBLY, best to order an entire new AC compressor from someone like Rock Auto since they are not very expensive and they include the new clutch assembly and pulley. I am not really aware of anyone selling just the clutch/pulley for the Protege except a pull a part place which is risky. It is not worth the time and aggravation just to replace the pulley/clutch since something else will just go bad on an old compressor.

 

I finally got to work on this and it looks like the clutch plate is destroyed anyway. Not sure what would cause that...

 

I guess I am just going to replace the compressor since the pulley assembly won't come off anyway. I was looking on Rock Auto and they have one for $190 but the picture doesn't match my unit. I don't know if it's just a stock photo or what, and I can't find a customer service number to call. Here is what I am looking at:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...sn=357&jsn=357