Have a 98 lude with absolutely no mods to it and have recently noticed a rattle coming from the back side of the valve cover, timing belt area. It occur's usually when the rpm's are coming down. At about 3000 rpm a small rattle can be heard, then as the rpm come down and it starts to idle @ 1000 rpm, the rattle becomes louder, and if i rev the engine to about 1500 - 1750 rpm, the rattle becomes louder yet. Now this isn't an ear deafening rattle, but it's quite noticeable and it goes away after idling for a bit. I started to notice the rattle about 3 weeks ago when i was slowing down to make a turn(manual tranny) and it seems to have gotten louder. I've already taken the valve cover off for a peek, and found nothing out of the ordinary. All rocker arms, etc. were tight, valve cover gasket ok. Again the sound seems to be originating(if your at the front looking towards the back) from the back part of the valve cover area. I'd like some suggestions as to what it could be, before i get into the engine deeper. thanks in advance.

 

Sounds much like auto tensioner for timing belt going bad , that gives the kind of symptoms your experiencing.

 

if it is the tensioner, what parts should i need to replace it?

 

My auto tensioner got replaced for free from the dealer on my 99 Base. It was a TSB so they did it for nothing and replaced the timing belt for free also. You may wanna check into that.

 

how did u get it replaced if it's a tsb and not a recall?


Modified by kelley_james at 9:56 AM 10/14/2004

 

yeah, I agree if its not a recall they don't fix it for free. I"m thinking maybe ur car was still in the drivetrain warranty period that's why they replaced it for free. I have the same problem with my lude at 74K miles and I wish it was a free replacement.

 

what did u pay for your replacement and what did it include? Is this something that i could do myself? another thing, when i go to alldata.com to look at the tsb, i cannot look at the changes to the service manual it made, something that honda won't let consumers do for some reason. is there anywhere that i can look at the update?


Modified by kelley_james at 1:50 PM 10/14/2004

 

You should upgrade to a manual style timing belt tensioner.

Read up on this thread
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=549516

 

i did mines like that, really strong and reliable, the autotensioner crapped out in my friends lude, and wrecked his valves.

 

is the manual tensioner conversion really needed for an engine with no present or future mod's? if i decide to just swap out a new auto tensioner, do i need to change the rest of the tensioner mechanism, or can i use the old one if it looks ok? while i am in that area of the engine, are there any other maintenance problems i should take care of, besides changing the water pump?





Modified by kelley_james at 2:01 PM 10/15/2004

 

once you take that autotensioner out, its pretty much worthless, honda will even tell you that they recommend changing it everytime you change your belt.

man i don't see no purpose of trying to save a hundred dollars when it could cause a 1,000 or more in damages when it collaspes

 

Seems like we all have the same damn problem. I was also told by the honda dealer it could be the heat shield. I don't know about that, but that is what the service tech said. So when I get my oil changed I will have them check it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Superstorm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Seems like we all have the same damn problem. I was also told by the honda dealer it could be the heat shield. I don't know about that, but that is what the service tech said. So when I get my oil changed I will have them check it out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

why don't you just look under you car and see for yourself

 

obviously if your going to have the timing belt off , its always a good idea to replace.

 

Was it your timing belt or tensioner kelley_james? Kinda having the same symptoms.

 

Dude if you want help with your issue, start your own thread. These threads are 4 years old.<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Quade &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Was it your timing belt or tensioner kelley_james? Kinda having the same symptoms.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Acidcrakker &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Dude if you want help with your issue, start your own thread. These threads are 4 years old.</TD></TR></TABLE>

new threads just add to the horrible search engine. Bumping threads that are old but have valid questions are ok.

and see, he made a new thread when this one could have just stayed open......