Dear all. Hope you can help me. I also been searching the threads but couldn’t find one with issue I’m having.

I have 2001 Honda Accord, 4 cylinders and automatic with 190,000 miles. Last weekend I changed the timing belt, balancer belt, power steering belt, compressor belt, water pump, valve cover, camshaft seal, crankcase seal, and spark plugs. The car now is having a growling, a light bass noise similar to a leak in the exhaust system. And I checked the exhaust and saw no leak or anything broken. Before the timing changed, there was no noise like that.
And that growling noise, I can’t hear it if I were outside the car. Only hear it when inside the car. The noise is proportion to rpm. As it revs up to 2000 rpm or above, the noise is getting louder. Below 2000rpm, the noise is not that bad. Also the car seems to be less responsive especially when going up the hill.
Anything thought what went wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Your timing belt might be off a notch or two, that would explain the lack of performance.

 

Scottwax, thanks for inputs. I'll check the timing again. But I also heard if timing is off, the car won't even start or the head is toasted. I'm driving it now, it's just that noise is troubling. Any idea where it could come from?

 

yep the timing belt may be too tight. I havent done too many honda timing belts but im guessing its like a spring that pulls on the tensioner pully, then a bolt that tightens down that bracket. What I do is put the timing belt on, slide the belt over the tensioner pully, and then simply tighten down the bolt. If your gonna put some force on the tensioner to (tighten up the belt a bit more than the spring is already doing) dont put alot! Just a little is ok but in my experience just a little too much tightness on the Timing belt will cause that groaning. Give the motor a little rev. If it revs right up without any hesitation, u know varoomm varooom, then your timing is correct. Im pretty sure the car will run a tooth off but it will just run like total crap. If it idles normal and revs up smoothly then ur probably right on the money. So did you put to much force into the pully tensioner before u tightened down the bolt?

 

did you not change the tensioner?
That would be silly?
The bearings in them will fail and brake your belt.
Changing everything else without changing the tensioner is like changing the oil but not changing the filter.
When I changed mine at 105K miles, the bearings were already going.

 

i actually mentioned the tensioner but acidenttly edited it out. THe tensioner is actually the cause of the groaning due to the belt being too tight. It may disappear though when he loosens up the belt a little. But yep u sure do wanna replace that tensioner pully. Thats why you dont want your belt too tight as it puts way more force on ur tensioner pully than should be on it leading to premature failure of the pully.

 

If the timing is only a tooth or two off, it should still start but not run well. Tensioner could also be a problem, had that happen on a 626 I used to have. It went out and it was all kinds of noisy until the engine was above 2000 rpms.

 

That was my first thought that the belt might be too tight. So loosen up and noise got even louder. It started to "growl" around 1200 rpm and got louder as rpm went up. Also when checking the timing belt, I felt certain spot is fairly loose and other spot is fairly tight. Is this normal?

The tensioner pulley, I checked by spinning it and didn't hear anything unusual, no bang or clicking noise. Still I need to replace it? The growling noise was not there before the timing belt was changed.

 

In the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum, there is a link to a tip on changing the TB tensioner. Maybe you didn't get the tensioner back on the pivot?

 

Hummm, pivot back the tensioner, let me check on that ...