I do not think the engine mounts have anything to do with the noise. Suggest removing the drive belt then spin each pulley by hand. Also check the crank pulley for looseness. The crank pulley has an outer metal portion and an inner metal portion with rubber in between. Sometimes the rubber wears out or gets weak. Could also be weak drive belt tensioner.

 

Thank you for your reply! After looking at all of the pulleys, it seems the only one that has any play is the tensioner pulley. All others seem to be solid, though the Crank pulley is pretty rusted. Could the tensioner pulley be making that sound?

 

Its possible. The drivebelt tensioner is easy to change.

 

Go back to where you had the alternator installed. It is not uncommon to get the wrong alternator with an incorrect pulley offset and it will develop a noise as the belt wears prematurely. I've seen this before on these vans.

One trick you can do to isolate the noise is take a spray bottle of plain water, put the nozzle on stream, and spray the belt at one of the pulleys where the noise is coming from. If the noise goes away and then slowly comes back it's a belt/pulley issue. If the noise doesn't go away then it's a pulley/bearing issue.

 

Thank you John! I sprayed with water, and the sound went away for a short time and then came back. The sound goes away after about 2 min and the engine warms up. I ordered a new belt just because I was due for one anyway, but when I look at the alternator pulley, it looks like the alternator wasn’t installed exactly straight. I am including a video of this. Are other people seeing the same thing as me?

 

Yes. Something is wrong with the alternator installation. Go back to where you had it replaced.

 

Hopefully your new alternator is a Denso brand and your new belt is a Honda belt.

 

Yes and yes!

 

I also see they left the alternator harness retaining clip near the power steering pump off it's bracket. It's at 0:40 in the video.

 

Yikes. I will mention this to the mechanic. I left it there this morning and still waiting to get the car back. Looks like I won't be using them anymore.

 

Well, nearly everyone leaves it off. It's easy to forget. Could have been from the last timing belt job too.

 

The times where I had my alternator top bracket fracture (and subsequently bend) yielded a situation that looked almost exactly like the first 5 seconds of that video.

All instances were due to improper torque of that bracket. First break was due to a mech fixing front-end collision damage. I can see how he could not fit a proper torque wrench and just guessed, because I did the same afterwards.

Second break was on me. I just did not have the correct tools at the time, I used my best guess for tightening that pair of bolts without a torque wrench, and I was wrong. I'm going off really old memory banks here, but I think I even did this again, and the top bracket broke yet again (fractured and bent).

I ended up purchasing a set of metric torque adapters, and the last repair with a new bracket and new bolts top and bottom has held up for over 15 years.

If your alternator top bracket is loose (one or both bolts), and even looks the slightest bit deformed, get a new one.

If the bolts look damaged, any of them in the very least (bottom alternator big, long mounting bolt included), get new ones. Removing these after they have broken is painfully difficult. I've done that twice.

OF

 

I just got a call back from the Mechanic, and YEP - a bolt snapped because it wasn't torqued correctly, and caused the alternator to shift, and therefore causing the belt to squeal. They are working on drilling the broken bolt out of the alternator (I have no reference for what this really means), but it looks like this was the issue. I am going to double check the brackets and torque of the bolts once I have the car back in my possession.

Thank goodness for all of you on this board! I feel so much better in speaking with the mechanic with all of your advice in hand! I am always so worried I will be taken advantage of as a single mother. I appreciate all of you!

 

I'm sure they'll make sure it's all 100% when you pick it up. Nobody likes comebacks and they definitely won't want you coming back a third time.