Honda Ridgeline Owners Club Forums banner

Timing belt tensioner sound??

10K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  ZRob09 
#1 ·
My truck is at 99,870 miles. With spring here, and the windows down, we are hearing new mechanical noises,- well a lot of we gear heads are anyway. My noise is a tambourine like high pitch rattle just as the engine approaches 2000 rpm during moderate acceleration. Then it goes away, until I bring the engine back to 1900-2000 rpm again. I first thought it may be the drive belt pulleys, so I removed the belt and spun all the bearings by hand to see if there was any roughness or sound. That had happened to my other vehicle about 2 years ago as it hit 100,000 miles, and it turned out to be the belt tensioner pulley bearing. The drive belt pulleys all seamed fine and smooth and quiet.

The vehicle is also now 10 years old, and despite the claims of a lot of Ridgeline or Pilot drivers going way past 100,000 on the timing belt, I wonder if the timing belt tensioner inside the TB housing could be going. The miles aren't long, but the time is, and I'd hate to trash that very nice 6 cylinder engine.

The other possibility is yet another heat shield issue. You know, the involved one at the Y and header pipes.

What's the consensus on this?

Thanks much for your help.

Best Always,
Bluemill
 
See less See more
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
My vote without hearing the sound is another shield. Because it sounds like a rattle.
I believe most of the tensioner bearings are more on the low growl kind of sound. And a loose shield sound is easier to eliminate then taking the front of the motor apart. A lot of dealers when doing timing belt replacement but don't change them because their not bad. Most aftermarket repair shops like to replace because they say (preventive measures). The dealer I used to work for only replace one in twenty because they were bad. I have myself have not heard of a failure of a timing belt because of a bad tensioner. I know somewhere out in the interweb there's a couple of them that have failed, and that's all people are going to see. And spread the word that if is a common problem with this engine.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
Re: Timing belt tensioner sound?? Part 2

I replaced the serpentine belt about a year ago. The tensioner has got terrific resistance- the spring that is, and the pulleys both spin smooth and quiet. The belt made a horrific metallic screech- it didn't sound like the V belts of old when they were loose or bad. Replaced the belt and all was well until just recently.

While running the engine with the hood up, with no load, i.e., just revving it in the driveway, no sounds. To me that crosses off the heat shield theory. I really revved the hell out of it- first repeatedly to 2,000 then up to the red line. No sounds. About 2 years ago I had put a huge stainless hose clamp around the base of the heat shield of the front catalytic converter. That worked like a charm, but hey, I never did anything to the rear one! BUT, would it only make noise under load??

The noise is a tambourine - cymbal like high pitch rattle, as it reaches 1950-2000 rpm, but only under load.

Help you mechanical genius's!


Best always,
Bluemill
 
#6 · (Edited)
Re: Timing belt tensioner sound?? Part 2

I replaced the serpentine belt about a year ago. The tensioner has got terrific resistance- the spring that is, and the pulleys both spin smooth and quiet. The belt made a horrific metallic screech- it didn't sound like the V belts of old when they were loose or bad. Replaced the belt and all was well until just recently.

While running the engine with the hood up, with no load, i.e., just revving it in the driveway, no sounds. To me that crosses off the heat shield theory. I really revved the hell out of it- first repeatedly to 2,000 then up to the red line. No sounds. About 2 years ago I had put a huge stainless hose clamp around the base of the heat shield of the front catalytic converter. That worked like a charm, but hey, I never did anything to the rear one! BUT, would it only make noise under load??

The noise is a tambourine - cymbal like high pitch rattle, as it reaches 1950-2000 rpm, but only under load.

Help you mechanical genius's!


Best always,
Bluemill
Why not remove the belt and see if the noise stops? That would eliminate one.
 
#10 ·
Have an 09 with 133k on it and getting that slight rattle in drive only it seems to go away in park or neutral and def coming from the timing belt/tensioner area. I had the front cat shield rattling and put the temp clamp on it that alleviated that issue till rest rots away but the rattle is there on the front of engine. Could this be timing belt tensioner or the auto serp belt tensioner if only does it in drive and slight gas 1100-2000 rpms?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top