Loud whining noise coming from engine - HELP ASAP! Need my DD.

Tectonickz · Aug 14, 2015

Hey guys so about a week ago I was driving my CG3 home and downshifted into 2nd to pull into my driveway and all of a sudden the car started making a loud whining noise coming from near the alternator, belts, and timing belt.

Messed with it for awhile, when revved up it seemed to smooth out but still whined very loudly. Did not drive it as fear of engine damage.

Dad looked at it and immediately thought it was the timing belt. I don't want to assume its anything but I do have a video to show you guys.

The other day I decided to drive it up to the shop (.1 mile away) and it drove okay just whined as I drove and then as I pulled in to the shop the whining literally completely disappeared (of course just my luck :mf_pcwhack:

). So now there is no noise so I decided to bring the car back b/c shop wanted $80 to look at it with no noise or present issue.

My thinking is just to replace timing belt for general maintenance anyways as I believe its the issue and want to avoid engine damage. But I also don't want to replace it if it could be something else making the noise, don't fix what isn't broken. Wanted the community's input and ideas on helping me fix this as I need my daily.

Currently the car is running normal, no whine, no CEL, but not being driven.

VIDEO
http://vid840.photobucket.com/albums/zz322/Tectonickz/IMG_0069_zpsyo1s46dq.mp4

xci.ed6 · Aug 14, 2015

Lower frequency from what I can tell than the alt, p/s, a/c, or w/p.

I'd suspect the timing belt tensioner. I would carefully look at everything though!

Tectonickz · Aug 14, 2015

Probably won't dive into the timing belt myself thats a bit too much for me.

Suggestions on next step? Shop inspection?

EDIT: also like I said the noise is gone now so I'm not really sure how to proceed. THE LAST THING I want to do is blow my engine because I drove it with a bad timing belt.....

james'99 · Aug 15, 2015

Because in this case you don't know what it really is, I think I'd proceed with a timing belt. My reasoning being that all the belts have to come off to get to the timing belt and it doesn't sound like you have done this in the past.. I'd just replace all 4 belts and the kits typically come with the tensioner.

http://www.amazon.com/Dayco-WP244K1A-Timing-Belt-Kit/dp/B005JCSUJC

You can see a pic of the kit here.

http://www.carid.com/dayco/timing-c...-WxpUtwqUr5mZaUgSx0OaUtOgGlc1d4I-XRoCUGnw_wcB

I will vouch for this kit being that it has been on my car for 37,000 miles now. No issues. That said, I have become more in tune with buying OEM parts so when I do it again, It will be Honda parts. I would get those here....

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/

If it were to come back after the timing belt change, I think you could safely rule out it being engine components. Did the A/C change the sound by chance?

rooky · Aug 15, 2015

Hey xci.ed6, not to be disrespectful but are you an auto mechanic?

xci.ed6 · Aug 15, 2015

Yup.

Certified ASE Master Tech, and by VW, Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.

Tectonickz · Aug 17, 2015

james'99 said:
Because in this case you don't know what it really is, I think I'd proceed with a timing belt. My reasoning being that all the belts have to come off to get to the timing belt and it doesn't sound like you have done this in the past.. I'd just replace all 4 belts and the kits typically come with the tensioner.

If it were to come back after the timing belt change, I think you could safely rule out it being engine components. Did the A/C change the sound by chance?

Thanks for those links James. When you replaced yours did you do it yourself? Don't have the time right now to work on the car so wondering if I should just go to a shop even thought $90 is a lot nicer than $500+ but Im worried about messing something else up going in to do the timing belt, pretty difficult job.

I'm calling shops today to get some estimates, I think Im just going to replace the timing belt & see where it goes, the car has almost 120k and as far as my knowledge goes the TB has never been replaced. Just replaced the other two belts and did a full tune up so hoping the TB is the issue.

xci.ed6 · Aug 17, 2015

The timing belt isn't too bad...to me

I've been knockin those out since I was 16, of course the first one took a couple days. Now they're down to a couple hours, or less

Tectonickz · Aug 17, 2015

xci.ed6 said:
The timing belt isn't too bad...to me

I've been knockin those out since I was 16, of course the first one took a couple days. Now they're down to a couple hours, or less

I'm just worried about going that internal into the engine and not getting the timing right.

Just called two shops....got estimates of $850 for entire timing belt kit and labor and $950 for entire timing belt kit AND drive belts and labor. Thoughts?

Was thinking of selling the car soon and was gonna put it up after getting this fixed. With these prices idk if it is even worth me to repair before selling, that seems like a lot of money to drop on a timing belt :banghead: