Trying to make a long story short...

Brought '99 Accord in for noise up on front of engine. Sounded maybe like alternator/steering pump/???. Dealer replaced timing and balancer belts again 24K miles after belts were replaced, telling me that the belt is shot because the tensioner bearing is bad. I asked for old parts back. The belts look new. The tensioner bearings look and feel fine, but I can't find the service specs anywhere for the bearings to figure out what makes the bearings good or bad. The Honda manual I found online says "make sure it turns freely" or something like that. And the car still makes the noise I originally complained about. The car has 128K miles now. $683 later, I have the same noise and a new timing belt.

Does anyone out there have any idea what Honda uses for a good/bad decision on the timing and balance belt tensioners?

thx,
Jim W.

 

When you spin the bearing, it should feel like it's spinning in oil. It shouldn't feel like it's spinning on a bunch of ball bearings.

If that makes sense. I don't think this kind of question can be answered with words. Basically it should feel so smooth that you can't feel or hear the individual bearings inside.

 

enzo. A very common thing i have seen on preludes and accords is people over tensioning the balancer shaft belt and then the bearing making noise, the tensioner should be bearly tensioned. I bearly press down on the tensioner to toghten the belt.