For the last couple years, I noticed an occasional growl/grind noise at start up during the winter months. The noise would go away once the VX warmed up and would only happen on cold days. Last week the noise got much worse & after a short trip, I was too embarrassed to drive the VX because of the very loud grinding/whirling noise from the engine. After some troubleshooting, I discovered the a/c clutch bearing was the culprit. My plan is to replace the ac compressor/clutch myself and have a shop charge it up with Freon.

Luckily, I was able to use a shorter belt to bypass the a/c so I can drive the VX while getting parts for the fix. There's some reference on this site to the shorter belt but I couldn't find specifics.

Just in case this happens to anyone else, I purchased the belt from Napa, part #25060802. The belt is specified under a Trooper 3.5L without a/c & the length should be around 80 inches.