I'm trying to figure out what this sound could be, I had my gf's dad (mechanic) briefly listen to it and thinks it could be the auto-tensioner going out. I have had this car since september of last year, bought it at 100,700 miles, just hit 106k. I've only done 1 oil change on it, since I don't really drive her all that much. I know it has a new water pump, from the receipt that was given to me when I bought the car. Any thoughts on what might this be?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrpgFhB-h3E

99 honda prelude with m/t. All stock except for a few suspension upgrades. Any questions feel free to ask, I have searched around but how do you search for a particular sound. So please do not flame me.

 

doesnt sound good sounds like a exhaust manifold bearing

 

Should I change out the muffler bearings as well?

 

I'm guessing the assumption is that since the water pump was replaced the t-belt was done, in which case they *should* have replaced the tensioner as well. However, I have heard many stories of people that reuse the tensioner I haven't heard a bad tensioner before so I can't give you a definitive yes or no, but it certainly sounds like it could be the problem.

 

yeah on the receipt there is nothing that mentions any belt replacements, just the water pump.

 

Have you checked to make sure nothing is rubbing? Like take the driver side motor mount out, and jack up the motor some and take the timing covers off then start it up and listen and look around to see if something is rubbing on something. See if it's something easily noticeable. If not, it could be bad. Can't really have a guess from a camera clip. Camera's tend to distort sounds.
If the fifth gen's have the manual tensioner that I have, it's not supposed to go bad for a long time. The hydraulic tensioners go bad a lot. I had two of them on my h22 before getting aggravated and did the manual tensioner swap.

 

this was a one owner vehicle and he doesn't know very much about what mod that could have gone into the motor. As far as I know (referencing the helms manual) all preludes with the h22a4 engine came with an auto-tensioner. The secondary sound you hear sounds exactly like it does in person, I had my gf and a friend of mine verify before I put it on youtube. did you want me to record anything under the hood with a light showing to give you better perspective?

 

I'd verify that no belts were replaced, and if not then it's time for your t-belt job, which should include new belts and a new tensioner (make sure they replace the tensioner). If you have plans to go with an aftermarket valvetrain in the future you can do the swap to the manual tensioner, but if you're going to keep it relatively stock just stick with the auto tensioner.

 

I will be doing headwork later on, I'll post more later battery is dying.

 

lol damn figured you were a noob considering you had 1 post had to welcome u on to honda-tech the right way

 

I do a lot of lurking on this site, I just started to participate a little more. A friend of mine that owns an evo x, got fooled on that one. He knows absolutely nothing about cars, he decided one day to take it to a shop at infineon raceway (works) to get a new BOV, ended up leaving that day with a bigger turbo kit. We he previously had his exhaust done on it, with cat delete, new muffler bigger piping. Well one day man your car sounds like crap, you should get your muffler bearings checked out, I think they ruined them when they installed your exhaust. Well he went back up there angry and even angerier when they were laughing in his face.

Back to the sound, just wondering now if this could be a sign on a belt about ready to go?

 

That is an odd sound. if the belt wasn't done...do it. While you are there you can inspect the water pump. and once again while you are at it swap out the auto tensioner for a manual one off the h23.

 

I had a mechanic friend of mine look at it quickly and he noticed the crank pulley was wobbling, however when I went to record the wobbling I noticed the sound was coming more from the alternator area then the pulley itself. The crank pulley still wobbles. So below is the newer video please help me out thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-yY6...layer_embedded

 

today bump, need this figured out?

 

You could try pulling the accessory belts off. That would isolate most of the belts and pulleys and would also lessen most of the force on the crank pulley. If it's still there could be a bearing.

I would question why just the water pump was replaced. Did the engine overheat? Do you have a bearing out of whack?

 

maybe it's me, but that knocking noise sounded louder as you moved towards the middle of your motor, n it worries me that it was audiable both in front and behind the motor.

 

to be honest i have no clue why it was replaced

 

if the crankpulley was wobbling, I'd make sure it's on there tight considering the waterpump was just replaced.

 

the crank pulley has a little crack and the sound that I'm hearing is the bearings going out on the p.s. pump (power steering). I wanna go get a prob and double check to see if that's where it's really coming from, cause for whatever reason I don't think the power steering pump is going out. I'm not to sure about this mechanic.

 

If I'm not mistaken, my car does the same noise, except I own a 92.
Let me know what it is when you get to the bottom of this...

 

lol sure and your going to give me some of the money I spend into fixing the issue right? You could get a mechanics stethoscope and probe around to find out where the noise is. I know it sounds like a freaking hilarious joke, but it works.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I finally fixed the issue. It was a power steering pump going bad. My car is much quieter now then it ever was. So for those that hear that noise, listen to your ps pump

 

Yeah I just read this and you're right. I have a leak in my PS lines and so the pump is going bad fast. Very helpful. Thanks.

 

As soon as i listened to the vid, i noticed that I have a similar noise coming from my engine bay as well. What let you to conclude that it was the pump bearings? Did you pull the belts and mess with it by hand at all?

Where did you get the new pump/how much was it?

 

Yeah I don't like it when people post that they have issues, then people give them answers, and never reply what the real problem was or how they fixed it.


I took a mechanic scope and poked around listening for odd noises. I placed it on the ps pump and sure enough it was making a loud grinding sound. I replaced the pump with one I found used for 35 on pp.com.

Any other questions I'll be happy to answer them