Puptentacle

Greetings all.
I have recently serviced the timing belt on my 95 EX MT, replacing all belts, tensioners, water pump, cam and balancer shaft seals as routine maintenance.

Now after about 30 seconds of running a squealing noise comes from the engine, getting progressively louder.
I thought that perhaps I had gotten a bad water pump or tensioners, so I pulled everything apart and installed the old pump and tensioners. I was really hoping that the noise would go away.
It didn't.
Here's a some background info -

About 10 days before the timing belt service I was stopped at an intersection and the engine felt like it took a hit. It stumbled and the idle speed dropped a bit as it labored, but after maybe 3 seconds the engine started running more properly, just rougher. I spoke with a relation Honda mechanic type and his opinion was that my waterpump was most likely going out.
When me and a buddy opened it up, he was shocked to find that what he thought was the timing belt was shredded in pieces. He didn't realize that it has a balancer belt too, and that that had snapped. It was funny at the time.
It was the balancer belt that broken at the intersection and not a problem with the water pump at all.
So, unknown I had been driving around for maybe two weeks with a broken balancer belt.
Now I'm wondering if my engine is screwed as it seems that the oil pump is driven (perhaps) by the belt which had broken.
The only thing is I can't understand how it would run for that long without oil pressure. I do use synthetic oil, but I can't believe that a residual film of oil could last that long. I didn't get a CEL.

GhostAccord

The crank turns the oil pump not the belts. The balance shaft and timing belts are also driven by the crank. So I doubt you will have any oil pressure issues. Due to a broken balance shaft belt. People run their engines without the balance shaft belt for prolonged periods. That should not be an issue ether.

Did you replace the alternator and power steering belts while doing this work? 9 times out of 10 if you hear a squeak it turns out to be an accessory belt. Toothed belts don't tend to squeak.

I would suggest that you put the new water pump back on the engine, You should also look into doing a valve adjustment while the head is off. then when you replace the accessory belts ensure that they are tensioned properly. If the squeak returns try spraying WD-40 at the accessory V-belts and see if the noise subsides. If it does then the belts are out of tension and need adjusting or replaced.

Puptentacle

Sorry, I didn't mention that I re-installed all of the new stuff. I also did replace the drive belts and they aren't squealing. Things sound normal, then the sound starts building. It's not like that obnoxiously sharp sounding fanbelt noise

Puptentacle

Regarding the valve lash. Yeah, I'm going to adjust that too. Just not until this issue is resolved.

GhostAccord

If you could post a video it would help with distant online diagnosis. It could very well be a bearing screech?

Puptentacle

Yeah, I should post a video, I just hate firing it up like this. If you hear the noise, you'll understand.
I might put one up later tonight, but if anyone has a brilliant idea, I'd love to hear it.
I checked out your car and the "Ghost" is awesome. Rare craftsmanship.

Puptentacle

Regarding "bearing screech". It does sound like that to me. The engine starts off running smoothly. Better than it has in a while. After maybe ten seconds the noise begins quietly and then builds and gets louder. After 40 seconds I shut the thing off.
I just don't understand why it would start making the noise after the work.
This is why I wonder if it has something to do with the balance shafts. They weren't spinning when I started the job, the belt was broken and they couldn't.
So now that they are balancing they are working. I'm thinking about removing the balancer belt now and then trying it again.

I checked the oil pan, it's not dented and the CEL isn't on, so I'm assuming proper oil pressure.
I was stupid tired when I started doing the cam seal and started to remove the cam bolts, (just to be clear the bolts attaching the cam to the head) but I did re-torque those. That's the only weird thing I can think of that happened.

GhostAccord

Balance shafts or the gear could be bound/seized. That might be what caused the belt to break in the first place. If you don't want to replace the gears/bearings you could run the engine without the balance shafts. It will have a bit more vibration though. You should also verify that you have good oil pressure.

holmesnmanny

Is the car running bad at all or is it just a noise ? These are interference engines, normally there is engine damage when the belts break. That's why it's so important to change them before they do. If the car runs bad I would get a compression test to check the engine.

Puptentacle

Removing the balance belt did the trick. I fired it up and ran it for about half an hour with nothing but normal sounds coming from the engine.
Now I just gotta figure out which bearing is squealing.

I'm hoping that it's the oil pump, as that doesn't look to bad to replace and isn't too expensive.
Any thoughts as to what's making the noise?

GhostAccord

If you removed the balance shaft belt and the noise stopped. Than it is most definitely not the oil pump. I would say you probably have a f#@ed up balance shaft bearing... That may not be an easy fix if you want to run them. The easy fix is simply not to run the belt on the balance shafts.

Just out of curiosity, why do you figure the oil pump would be an easy fix?

Puptentacle

Well, to answer your question, I was thinking that it would be a balance shaft bearing but hoping that somehow since the shafts run through the pump, the pump would have to come off anyway and I don't know, maybe there's a bearing/bushing in there supporting the shaft or something. I've also never pulled one off of a Honda before, or even had a car that had balance shafts in it.
So now I'm wondering if the engine needs to come out to replace the shaft bearings. I'm thinking if the shafts are kinda long that I'm not going to have enough clearance.
I've checked out the exploded diagrams online, but have found them lacking.
This unit would appreciate more input.