Had Timing Belt and other belts replaced - making noise now

Tiny
LAURIEBGORI
  • MEMBER
  • HONDA CIVIC
I just had a bunch of belts replaced on my 1998 Honda Civic with 85,000 miles on it - timing belt, power steering belt, AC belt, and alternator belt. After having all that work done, I would expect everything to be really quiet. There is now a whirling noise, not there before the belt replacements. The mechanic explained this as the timing belt is nice and tight and needs to get stretched out a bit so that the grooves in the belt will fit correctly. He said the noise should go away after 100 - 150 miles. Is this really what's wrong and everything is working the way it should?
Thursday, May 25th, 2006 AT 9:52 AM

2 Replies

Tiny
SDALTON19
  • MECHANIC
  • 87 POSTS
Sounds like a lazy mechanic timing belt tightness should be measured and adjusted during replacement a mechanic claiming that it needs to be tight to allow for stretching just means he doesnt want to go back and do it right you should never overtighten a timing belt to allow for stretching especially not on a newer car this will cause crackshaft and camshaft prematures bearing wear from pulling on them so hard the only belt I can think over that I would over tighten a little would be a v style belt as these belts do stretch a bit but in case your not aware of this they dont make v style timing belts v style belts are only for accessories such as power steering pump, ac, and alternator but even at that I dont think your 98 has any v belt at all actually i'm positive in any case take it back to him and ask him nicely mechanics tend to get really defensive when they get accussed of doing the job wrong to set the timing belt at the correct tension just say you looked it up on the internet and you found somewhere that it should not be overtightened anyway if its not the timing belt thats over tightened it could be a timing cover that was not positioned correctley during re-installation and is touching the timing belt or components thought this is usually associatted with a smell of burning plastic or rubber I hope this helps
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Thursday, May 25th, 2006 AT 10:20 PM
Tiny
LAURIEBGORI
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Yes, I have noticed the defensiveness. I have already taken it back to him to adjust the timing - twice. It was making a pinging noise - this is in addition to the whirling noise. It is still making the noise, so I am scheduled to take it back to him on Tuesday. He says he needs to get the car up on a lift to look. Plus, when you really punch it, it does start to smell like rubber and plastic. So maybe it is the cover and he will adjust that when he takes a look for the 3rd time since the installation of the belts. If this doesn't work out, I may just take it to another place and not go back to him.

Thanks again for all the info!
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Friday, May 26th, 2006 AT 4:35 PM

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