Timing Belt Makes Whining Noise When Accelerating
 

I own a 2000 Honda Accord EX sedan, A/T 4 cylinder. I just picked up my car from the mechanic and I can hear a whining noise when accelerating. I took it back to the mechanic that had been working on my car. He told me that it's the timing belt making the whining noise. He used a solvent when cleaning up the gunk in that area and says the timing belt has probably dried out to some degree. He says give it a couple of days to loosen up. If it doesn't and the noise persists he offered to replace the timing belt. He says no harm to the car driving it in this condition. Do you agree ? Thanks Much !

Typically a whining timing belt means it just a but too tight. But that's normal if he just put on a new belt because it's expected to stretch a bit at the beginning.

Not knowing what solvent was used, it makes me nervous about attacking the rubber teeth of the belt. The belts seem to tolerate oil leaking but some solvents are stronger. All it takes is a couple teeth to break off and throw off your cam timing, and then you're in a world of hurt. It's an interference engine so the piston can hit the valves if it goes far enough out of time.

Thanks. The timing belt was replaced a few months back when I had the 90K service. But, it was just removed and reinstalled yesterday or today when all of that oil pump work was done. I assume that if it's just too tight that it will loosen in a few days and the noise will subside ? Is this a correct assumption ? Thanks.

When I remember to look at the shop manual I'll confirm... but I think you go just a bit tighter with a new belt, compared to reinstalling the same belt that's already stretched. I think I remember that from when I had cars with timing belts.

But the solvent is the wild card. I don't know what that might do.

Can the timing belt be inspected and replaced just by removing the cover or is it more involved than that ? Thanks.

A few things have to be remove to get access to the timing belt. All of that and remove the timing belts themselves have to be removed to get the oil pump also.
- external drive belts like alternator & PS pump
- valve cover & upper timing cover
- crankshaft pulley (this is maybe the most difficult thing for DIY home mechanic to remove)
- lower timing cover
- now the 2 timing belts (camshaft & balance shafts) are visible along with their tensioner pulleys

Once the upper timing cover is off, you can see the camshaft timing belt and look for hairline cracks. But that inspection may not show anything until a few weeks before it all crashes.

The mechanic talked like he expected the timing belt noise to subside over the next several days. I will stop by his shop next week and have him listen. Hopefully, the noise will have subsided. If not, he already offered to replace the belt.

Looking for noise sources - a mechanics stethoscope (very long probe) helps to identify the source of engine compartment noises.
Harbor Freight has one for <$10.

I'd wait until he's finished with his oil pump job before I'd get too worried about it. While it's off, have him do a visual inspection of it.

I reported the whining noise coming from within the timing belt cover. Quite noticeable when accelerating. The mechanic says that the whining noise is caused by the timing belt being too tight. He needs to adjust the tensioner which he'll do later this week. How long should it take him to do this ? Thanks !