Hello,
Car is 99 Accord. Timing Belt / Water pump just replaced. The car now “whines” ever so slightly and idles loudly. Sounds like pulley chatter. I only know what this sounds like because I had a bad harmonic balancer pulley fail on a previous car.
Really the noise is only noticeable with the radio turned off. Or if you’re standing right outside the engine compartment, listening to the car idle.
Am going to take the car back most likely. I just wanted to know what may have caused this new noise and if it is a matter of a simple adjustment or if it will involve taking everything apart again. Thanks.
They probably overtightened the timing belt. Have it fixed immediately as it will cause damage to many components including the belt itself.
My mechanic is 100 miles away (I go to college out of town). Is it ok to drive the car back home or do I need to take it to a mechanic around town ?
It will cost you, but I’d take it to the nearest mechanic. If the belt is overtightened you run the risk of it breaking, you are also wearing every other component driven by the timing belt including your camshafts potentially. You could probably drive it hundreds of miles and have it fixed so the noise goes away, but by that time you will possibly have shortened the life of many different items including your new oil pump…In the future I’d find a shop that doesn’t do amateurish work. Look for an independent Honda shop, or Honda/Japanese shop where there is a technician that can do a Honda timing belt in his sleep. The “all-makes and models” shops are great for domestics usually, but are often ignorant of Honda idiosyncrasies.