dbailey

Hey guys and gals. So my son's '04 Civic LX 1.7 all of a sudden starts making a dry bearing type of a squeal sound and kicks a P0344 Camshaft Position Sensor 'A' Circuit Intermittent code.

I replaced the catalytic convertor not long ago and all was fine.

He let it sit for a couple of weeks and used the battery in it to charge his phone til the battery in his car died. Wasn't thinking to start it and let it idle while charging. Gotta get him a house charger! Jump started it and drove it and enter the squealing and P0344.

I initially thought it was a loose belt when I fired it up today but when I got out and stuck my head under the hood it sounds more like a dry bearing type noise right under the upper timing belt cover area. My initial thought is maybe a tensioner bearing?

Any thought/suggestions? Thanks all for your suggestions.

dbailey

Timing belt and water pump replaced around 40,000 miles ago.

NDNV

If the noise is coming from under the timing belt cover then it could be from a failed tensioner or idler pulley. The P0344 code is probably from the failed component under the cover. What is the mileage? Many recommend replacing the tensioner and idler pulley at the same time as the timing belt and WP if you plan to keep long-term.

Another idea is a failing alternator but you mentioned noise under the TB cover.

dbailey

Thanks for the reply and ideas. I got with my son again today and started it back up and found that its the a/c belt that's squealing. Only squeals when I turn on the a/c. Must not have tightened the belt enough with I R&R'd the cat. It's not REAL loose but it could probably stand to be snugged up a bit more.

Forgot to take a look at the receipt for the timing belt to see if I replaced the tensioner AND water pump at the same time. I want to say I did but not positive. Car has 167,000ish miles on it and 40,000ish on the timing belt.

Guess I'll have to watch the P0344 code. When I cranked it up the check engine light didn't come back on. I'm wondering if since he DRAINED his battery charging his phone without starting it up if that would contribute to it kicking the P0344 code and now that the battery has some charge on it if it'll stay off. Guess only time will tell. Thanks again and if anybody has any other ideas/comments please don't hesitate to chime in. Great site!

dbailey

Replaced the camshaft position sensor and light off and THINK its running better. The squeal was the a/c belt. When I replaced the cat a few months ago I must have cross threaded the alternator bolt. The alternator belt also serves as the a/c belt. Looked at the bolt that the alternator swivels on and it was sticking out of the bracket like 1/4"! Total screw up on my behalf when I reinstalled it on the cat. It was cross threaded and I made it worse by trying to tighten it down. Dugh! There is a reason why a bolt that has not totally tightened down and feels like it has is NOT going in correctly. To keep trying to tighten it down was pure stupidity on my behalf. It was pure hell having to remove the bracket that the alternator mounts to that is mounted to the block and thank God I was able to use a tap to reset the threads. Man-o-man!

NDNV

Don't feel bad. I paid dealer prices to repair that alternator bracket only to have it shear off and cause a return visit.