I would have done this myself if I had the time and equipment, but I let a local garage replace my timing belt which was overdue. I'm at just over 300k now and the last belt was replaced at 197k.

After they replaced it my car now has a loud whirring sound that seems to be coming from the plastic cover on the belt. I noticed it as I was picking it up and told the owner it is making an odd whirring sound, he came out and listened and said that try driving around on it for a bit and see if it doesnt go away.
I've driven about 50 miles and its still hanging in there.

I recorded both a cold crank and a crank after 10 miles or so.
I am taking it back but was hoping to point out something more than noise, like what it might be that they should look for. Can anyone check out the vids and tell me what it might be?

Cold crank



Cranked up after driven a few miles

 

Most shops don't know how to properly tension a new timing/balance belt on CB7's so they overtension the new belt. There is a specific procedure for tensioning the belt and I have it somewhere filed away but don't have time to find it right now. As best I can recall, part of the tensioning is done by hand turning the crank... It's probably also somewhere in the the threads on this forum.

Anyway, your new belt won't likely break, and it definitely won't jump any teeth, but the whirring noise will continue for a long time unless the belt is retensioned.

 

I dug up that process on a backup hard disk. I'm pretty sure I got this directly from a big post dedicated to timing belt replacement on this or some other Honda forum:

Honda CB7 Timing Belt tightening procedure:

There is a Honda tightening sequence for the timing belt and balance belt.

Tighten the tensioner 14mm bolt and then back it off 1/4 of a turn.

Then turn the crankshaft counterclockwise (the direction the engine runs) until 3 teeth on the cam gear have gone around, you can tell this by looking at the little hash mark on the cam gear and counting 3 teeth as it turns.

After you have done this, then tighten the tensioner 14mm bolt. The belt should be at specified tension.

 

This write up contains better details on that tensioning process than what I just posted:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/how-replace-timing-belt-timing-balancer-belt-water-pump-f22b1-1908944/

 

Tensioners are too tight. You could try to loosen the large nut protruding from the timing cover, and then retighten.

Some shops do not know how to properly tighten the belts and will often not trust the tensioners spring tension to apply the correct tension, they may push or hold the tensioner with a finger or hand to remove what they perceive to be 'slop'. The belt only needs the slack taken up, it does not need to be tight-rope tight. Timing belts do not stretch. If anything too tight of a belt may snap or wear out the bearing in the tensioner idler pulleys.

 

Thanks fellas, I will definitely be passing this along to the shop!

 

heres what u do its really easy...set motor to tdc...turn engine counterclockwise 3 teeth on the CAMSHAFT.... unloosen tensioner bolt half a turn to three quarters turn....then tighten it...youre done

 

I would be willing to bet that they broke the timing cover and its rubbing the crank pulley. you really have to crank on the tensioner to make it whine.

 

No you don't.

When I did my belt on the F22 I thought it was not tight enough so I pushed on the tensioner with my finger and then tightened the lock nut. Started the car and it whined. Came inside re-read H-T article 'OH' says I. Went outside loosened nut, felt something barely move. Retightened nut. Turned engine back on, whine gone. And I used a Gates kit with new GMB tensioner idlers.

holmesnmanny procedure would be technically correct.

There does not need to be a preload on the belt from a tensioner, just the slack removed by the tesnioner is fine.

 

I just replaced all the belts on my F22B2 engine and it began whining shortly after (pushed the tensioner pulley with a finger). I removed the Power Steering Pump and belt to get access to the timing belt tension nut. I turned the crank pulley until it was at it tightest point with compression (counter clockwise direction), backed off tensioner nut and retightened. Noise is now gone. I have learned to let the tensioner pulley springs do their job.

 

Follow up

Just got the accord back today and what I was told was that there was a bad bearing in a tensioner and it had to be replaced. They took one of my old tensioners and put it on for a test and it ran smooth and no whirring. So they called the supplier and got the part replaced and installed. Seems to run well, no whirring now.

 

Did you give them the belt tensioning procedure that was discussed here?

 

I actually had my tensioner go bad and I think it was cause i tightened the tensioner bolt too much before I realized it was only 37ft/lb or so. I think I had torqued it to like 100 or more not realizing there were two bearings behind it.

Eventually it started making noise then it sounded like i was shaking a rock in a coke can when it got real bad. I wound up installing my h23a1 conversion kit I had already bought but had never installed.

 

Yep, but I doubt they read it.

 

All my timing belt jobs have had that whirring sound but only on start up and when the belt was new. After about a minute it went away but the first time the whirring noise could be heard while driving.

My DOHC head swap makes the same noise for about a minute then goes away. I don't worry about messing with it.

 

Now I have an oil leak that is leaving small pools on the driveway!!
I didnt notice it before since I normally park on the street.

In the process of replacing the timing belt and water pump, could there be something that was not done properly that would have caused this? If so I want to take it back to the shop that did the replacement and get them to repair the problem they may have caused.

 

I hear you.

I literally had a local "professional" shop owner yelling at me for leaving some instructions for him that were perfectly legit, on my old Accord, even if he thinks he knows it all, and never makes mistakes. A number of them have been major enough that the car had to be returned to them and the issues corrected. Some issues have been minor enough that I have corrected them, one being they left the oil filter slightly loose on my other car causing it to seep oil!.

 

valve cover could cause a leak.