Hi all, i recently did a full timing job (water pump, belt, tensioner, spring) on my civic. Im more of a motorcycle mechanic but did everything by the book (full service manual) down to torque specs and tension checks. I used reputable parts though only used an OEM spring as the Aisin combo i bought forgot to include it. Since then i have been tracking down a squealing belt (it was the alternator) that would squeal on startup and acceleration. Im 300 miles in and now i have a weird pinging/squealing sound, almost like a power line under tension (best description sorry). I have multiple videos and they are all taken with no accessory belts on except the alternator. I only have one loose bolt which is the tensioner for the AC belt as I did not take off the full bracket, only the bearing. This sound only comes up when the engine is under load, and will only happen for a small second if reved in neutral. I will be taking the valve and timing cover off (which is all of a sudden cracked on the top) and checking the timing down on monday. Please let me know if you have any ideas.

Answer: ended up being the timing belt tension, jumped time and i assume the valves and pistons were having a little get together.

 

I believe i have found the issue, took off the valve cover and upper timing cover. Put back on the valve cover and ran it up. Timing belt flaps when ran up, i think i dodged a bullet here . Let me know if theres any reason this would be happening after tensioning it and how i can avoid it in the future. Should i maybe look into replacing the tensioner (which is new, though may have been used improperly) with a fresh one, maybe oem this time? Could this be from mixing a new oem spring with a non-oem tensioner?

 

You followed the factory guide for tensioning the belt?

Sometimes on my performance builds, I make a hook tool that lets me pull extra slack out of the belt by pulling the tensioner further 'out' while tightening it down.

 

did you spin the engine a couple revolutions (cant remember if its counter clockwise or clockwise) to take out the slack of the timing belt before tightening the tensioner down?
Reason I ask is because I didnt do that ONCE and the belt flapped like a flag in a hurricane and jumped time. Only did that once and I learned real quick

 

too late, it has jumped, but it was running strong whilst jumped as i assume that was what the pinging noise was. Im not going for speed and this is a high mileage engine, just wanted a good car to run to death and look cool doing it lol. Seems to be a tooth ‘retarded’ (is that only for ignition timing?) on the crank side. Im assuming i probably took about ten thousand miles off it but what the heck.
Also, the manual calls for counterclockwise rotation, as this moves the belt up the tensioner, as opposed to against it where it would he pushing it more slack.

 

I actually considered that my first go around, as thats kind of what i would do to help along old tensioners on the honda CB’s. Im going to try one more time to do it by the book. Also found out that pinging was because it jumped time, it ran during so my hope is it will run after lol. It’s high mileage so it’s my cheap daily driver that i decided to learn how to work on, not too concerned about it getting 5 less hp or lasting 5000 miles less i guess.

 

D series rarely end up with issues..my buddy's timing belt has fallen off a couple times and the motor is still fine 🤦‍♂️

One time his crank pulley left the chat and went rolling down the road ...

 

set the timing correctly, once that is done, you will be amazed at the abuse that d series can take, My old civic with the d15 ran like a top at 4450000 miles. sold it only because the rust was getting too much. It still averaged over 45mpg on the highway