Strange sound from belt area (video)

jabraham2005 · Mar 10, 2021

I agree with the comments others have made regarding the timing belt tensioner. It sounds similar to the noise I had on my 2005 Odyssey and it was the timing belt tensioner. What you could you to eliminate that it isn’t the serpentine belt, is to remove the belt start up the van and see if the noise is there. If it is still there, more than likely it’s the timing belt tensioner. Also when it was replaced at 44K they may have just replace the belt and not the tensioner so the tensioner is long overdue along with the idler pulley‘s and water pump etc.... Only get that Asin kit from Rock Auto. I’ve purchased three of these and have had no issues.

jiantao · Mar 10, 2021

I'm late to the party here but +1 on timing belt tensioner. It was probably not changed during the 44K belt change. I would not be surprised if the tensioner needed replacement. +1 on the advice about the Aisin kit from RockAuto. You're due for it anyway so change everything and drive on.

Gates technically IS the OEM belt supplier, but their aftermarket kit is different. Their water pump is absolute garbage and if/when the water pump seizes, it'll take the belt with it. Don't allow a mechanic to put a Gates timing belt kit on the car. Aisin or Yamada is the OEM water pump supplier, not Gates.

If your harmonic balancer has excessive play or is wobbly, replace it too. Harmonic balancer failures seem to be a bit of a crapshoot.

Any GOOD independent mechanic should be able to perform the timing belt job on this car. The Honda J35 engine is a very, very common engine. My indy charged me $528 in labor last year, I supplied my own parts... Aisin TB kit from RockAuto along with a new serpentine belt. Total cost was under $800. Shop around. $1100 at a dealer is not terrible, but you might be able to do better.

StephenCao · Mar 10, 2021

I am having the timing belt tensioner vibration on cold start (overnight). I had the timing belt job done 2 months ago, is it possible to replace only the timing belt tensioner?

Vibration turning on cold start

I am starting a new discussions since I am unable find the exact symptoms in any other threads/discussion. I have a low mileage 2010 EXL. During the pandemic I have been doing highway driving to the office. After a while, I noticed transmission slipping, I found that the transmission level was...

www.odyclub.com

danlee1222 · Mar 11, 2021

I posted a reply on other conversation but I think the sound I have on my 2010 Odyssey EX-L (162K miles) is exactly the same.. And I have exactly the exactly same chirping/gurgling sound coming from the timing belt area most notably when I am starting the car cold... but I had the whole timing belt kit service not long ago(at 127K). I am really curious to find out if it's really TB tensioner that's causing it.. then I think that it's possibly my tb tensioner gone bad prematurely.

StephenCao · Mar 11, 2021

danlee1222 said:
I posted a reply on other conversation but I think the sound I have on my 2010 Odyssey EX-L (162K miles) is exactly the same.. And I have exactly the exactly same chirping/gurgling sound coming from the timing belt area most notably when I am starting the car cold... but I had the whole timing belt kit service not long ago(at 127K). I am really curious to find out if it's really TB tensioner that's causing it.. then I think that it's possibly my tb tensioner gone bad prematurely.

Did you get the noise on cold start? Mine minivan doesn't have this vibration noise on startup, only when I put it on drive or reverse.

I am planning to change the power steering fluid first to see if that is cause of the vibration.

danlee1222 · Mar 11, 2021

StephenCao said:
Did you get the noise on cold start? Mine minivan doesn't have this vibration noise on startup, only when I put it on drive or reverse.

I am planning to change the power steering fluid first to see if that is cause of the vibration.

The sound is more pronounced on cold start especially when I put on gears... but as the engine gets warm, the sound gets a bit less noisy however, the sound would still remain. since I have done the whole timing belt job about about 35K miles ago, I want to isolate the problem either on timing belt tensioner or water pump or something else..

StephenCao · Mar 11, 2021

danlee1222 said:
The sound is more pronounced on cold start especially when I put on gears... but as the engine gets warm, the sound gets a bit less noisy however, the sound would still remain. since I have done the whole timing belt job about about 35K miles ago, I want to isolate the problem either on timing belt tensioner or water pump or something else..

Any vibration before putting it in gear? My ody only vibrates when put in gear on cold start. This morning I let the ody warm up before putting in a gear and I experienced no vibrations. This makes me think that it might be something else, so I am going to change the power steering fluid to see if it helps.

danlee1222 · Mar 11, 2021

StephenCao said:
Any vibration before putting it in gear? My ody only vibrates when put in gear on cold start. This morning I let the ody warm up before putting in a gear and I experienced no vibrations. This makes me think that it might be something else, so I am going to change the power steering fluid to see if it helps.

Yes. I hear the noise even before putting in gear, as well. For my car, I don't think it has to do with power steering.

NoelMat · Mar 12, 2021

Oddtodd1013 said:
I am second owner, first owner had belt replaced at dealer early at 44k in 2010. All ot says is timing belt, I dont have exact service record to know for certain all components were changed. By time I am due for the service and close on miles as I am at 136k now. That was my original thought based the many threads on here and listening to videos of timing tensioner failure. The only difference is everything I have read about that failure is in the beginning it goes away as engine warms as you said. For me it gets alot more noticeable after a long drive, and I can bairly notice it right after start in the morning.

It is hard to hear in the cab, but when idling with a window down it is noticeable. During driving with wind noise it is almost impossible to hear windows up or down.

The video I took was after a ~30 min drive 50/50 highway/city.

I have been getting more confident in diy on my odyssey since finding this forum. I was able to fix a spool valve leak 2k ago with guidance from here, however timing job seams a bit advantageous for me. I had already been planning and saving up for getting this service done, however I hoped I had a few more months. I may need to find a reliable mechanic sooner than I thought, or face paying dealer prices.

I guess long story short, can a failing tensioner get louder when warmed up?

If timing belt "Tensioner" is leaking/failing then it makes the timing belt a noticeable noise. Timing belt Tensioner life is 90K to 150K miles. Hydraulic of Timing belt TENSIONER build pressure when heat up(fluid inside will expand when temperature increases. If a single drop of power steering fluid is present on the drive belt then it makes noise too. Wash all the pulley with Dawn liquid soap and rinse then replace the drive belt. All this information is base on my experience. My 2010 Honda Odyssey LX now is at 300K+ miles. Pls buy genuine honda parts and obtain a 100% service maintenance. Hondapartsnow.com selling genuine honda parts and it is much cheaper than any Honda dealer all over North America.

Oddtodd1013 · Mar 14, 2021

After asking around I could never get a solid mechanic recomendation. I ended up taking my van into the dealership thinking that was my best option. I was expecting them to give me the giant list of random services, especially after letting them know I thought the harmonic balancer needed replaced as well.

After having a listen with the service advisor he said he thought it was the serpentine tensioner going bad as well. I told them to give me a call when they found out what all needed replaced in addition to the full timing kit.

I didnt hear back from them until this morning, I dropped it off Friday afternoon. I was ready for their list of parts but he was just calling to have me come pick it up.

Turns out that somehow the side of the timing belt was rubbing on the timing cover. That was the noise that I was luckily able to hear. They did the full timing job and said I am all good to go. He said he wasnt exactly sure what the tech did to the timing cover but he confirmed that the problem was fixed and shouldnt come back. The noise was completely gone when I started it up.

Surprisingly they didn't even try to sell me a harmonic balancer which they knew I was fully expecting to replace. I either got lucky and found a good dealership or got lucky with the right technician.

$1208.38 total. Labor was $518.47, the independant labor charge looks pretty standard at $450. I atleast know that the extra money spent was on oem parts rather than just ridiculous labor costs.

It feels great knowing that I am done with all of the major preventative maintenance until we are at about 240k. Thanks everyone for the insight.

jiantao · Mar 14, 2021

Oddtodd1013 said:
After asking around I could never get a solid mechanic recomendation. I ended up taking my van into the dealership thinking that was my best option. I was expecting them to give me the giant list of random services, especially after letting them know I thought the harmonic balancer needed replaced as well.

After having a listen with the service advisor he said he thought it was the serpentine tensioner going bad as well. I told them to give me a call when they found out what all needed replaced in addition to the full timing kit.

I didnt hear back from them until this morning, I dropped it off Friday afternoon. I was ready for their list of parts but he was just calling to have me come pick it up.

Turns out that somehow the side of the timing belt was rubbing on the timing cover. That was the noise that I was luckily able to hear. They did the full timing job and said I am all good to go. He said he wasnt exactly sure what the tech did to the timing cover but he confirmed that the problem was fixed and shouldnt come back. The noise was completely gone when I started it up.

Surprisingly they didn't even try to sell me a harmonic balancer which they knew I was fully expecting to replace. I either got lucky and found a good dealership or got lucky with the right technician.

$1208.38 total. Labor was $518.47, the independant labor charge looks pretty standard at $450. I atleast know that the extra money spent was on oem parts rather than just ridiculous labor costs.

It feels great knowing that I am done with all of the major preventative maintenance until we are at about 240k. Thanks everyone for the insight.

Glad this is resolved... curious, what were the exact parts on your invoice? Timing belt + water pump + tensioner? Did they replace pulleys as well?

My understanding is that the timing belt slaps against the timing cover when the tensioner has gone bad and there is too much slack on the belt.

Oddtodd1013 · Mar 14, 2021

Yes it was just belt, tensioner, water pump, and a new serpentine as well. I asked about doing the pulleys in there when I dropped it off and he said they inspect them and 99% of the time they leave them alone.

I asked why they come with when you buy the full kit online and he didnt have a solid answer other than kits are aftermarket. I just told him if there was any question to them at all to replace them. I looked up the cost after I got home and wished I had just told him to have them done either way since they were already there, but I didnt want to call and change anything.

I have a few 1k+ mile drives coming up and am lucky that it started and was fixed before I was in the middle of nowhere.

Oddtodd1013 · Mar 31, 2021

I was planning on doing an update to show that the timing tensioner that was originally on my odyssey was aftermarket. I suspected it a bit, the used car dealer I purchased from said they just replaced it. I put a little over 30k on it before the tensioner was beginning to fail. My point was to show another aftermarket premature failure. Unfortunately when I went to take the photo I noticed something incredibly unexpected. My brand new honda installed tensioner looks to me to be failing after just 1k.

I can see a ring of fluid around it and there was a drop on the lowest point. I touched a paper towel to the fluid to compare to my engine oil, the fluids are different. The fluid coming off of the tensioner is a very "new" clear yellow color.

Needless to say I will be calling honda dealer tomorrow to have them take a look. My intentions tonight were originally to make a post supporting oem parts and how my aftermarket failed so early. I understand that there is always a bad apple in the bunch that I seam to frequently pick for some reason. My point of this post now is to let everyone know to make sure you check all work done on your vehicles. Even if done by professionals with dealer parts.

Oddtodd1013 · Apr 5, 2021

I completely forgot to update on what the dealership told me. The SA told me that the tech thought it was really weird but definitely not the tensioner leaking... They cleaned all of the fluid off and told me everything was good.

I need to look around further, maybe I have a small PS leak that somehow is dripping right on the tensioner? I put a drop of PS fluid and engine oil on paper towel to compare before going to dealer, and I didnt believe it was either of them.

I guess I will just keep an eye on it and keep listening carefully. It is primarily my wife's vehicle, so I pulled up a video to show her what it will sound like if it does begin to fail. Time will tell I guess.

Strange sound from belt area (video)

jabraham2005

jiantao

StephenCao

Vibration turning on cold start

danlee1222

StephenCao

danlee1222

StephenCao

danlee1222

NoelMat

Oddtodd1013

jiantao

Oddtodd1013

Oddtodd1013

Oddtodd1013

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