Drew96EJ

somewhere around the lower portion of the timing-cover area of my engine I can hear a clicky/ticky loose-bearing type of noise. i've driven the car close to 500 miles since i first noticed it and it hasn't gotten any louder, so i don't think it's coming from within the block. it's not very loud at all, but it's definitely an abnormal sound. it's most audible from beside the driver's side front tire...can't even hear it from above.

what could this be? timing belt tensioner? water pump? i guess i'm wondering what's a typical cause for this type of noise in that area? engine runs perfectly otherwise and has not lost any power due to this noise. i'm just afraid that something connected to the t-belt might snap, and i know that could be real bad. but it's very hard to isolate this noise.

please advise, thanks...
-andrew

wilsel

Could be a lot of things, AC compressor, water pump, tensioner pulley, etc. How many miles are on the car?

00Red_SiR

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wilsel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could be a lot of things, AC compressor, water pump, tensioner pulley, etc. How many miles are on the car?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep exactly, when's the last time the car had a valve adjustment?

lohatch

it sucks because in order to pull that cover off you have to loosen the belts on the pulley and remove the pulley in order to take off the plastic cover to inspect whats underneath. it wouldnt be so bad if you dont have PS or AC cuz then there is just the alternator belt. there isnt much in there that could come loose. about the only thing i could so coming loose in there would be the spring on the tensioner falling off and rattling around, but you could test this by loosening your tensioner bolt, and readjusting your timing belt. if you cant adjust it back to spec then that spring might be loose in there. hope that helps

undertheradar

I'm having almost the same problem. Mine is a ticking noise that is constant when at idle, but increases with the engine rpms. Is yours the same? I can't seem to isolate the noise either. I've ruled out the injectors and exhaust manifold. I just did a valve adjustment ....right after I started noticing the noise, and everything seemed to be withing specs, but it was my first tme and I wasn't sure of what "slight drag" was. I'm going to pull off the VC again and recheck the clearances, and also check the tension on the timing belt. Anybody know where exactly the tensioner bolt is? I know the proceedure, just not sure where the bolt is.

Hopefully it's one of the two. The car runs perfectly otherwise. If we're in the same boat, I'll definitely share the results with you.

Drew96EJ

yeah pretty much. the noise doesn't get louder on mine with RPM increase....it only gets faster...

i used a mechanic's stethescope on it today and it's definitely coming from under the timing cover. so it's probably either the tensioner or the water pump. Since the tensioner was the only thing that wasn't replaced when i did the t-belt, i went ahead and bought one. i'm going to try and install it tomorrow.

can't i just keep tension on the t-belt while changing the tensioner so that i don't have to redo anything else?

thanks,
andrew

slambedcivic

most likely the water pump....

Drew96EJ

really? ****.

slambedcivic

hey, at least its not a main/rod bearing

Drew96EJ

EXCELLENT POINT!