ECM Diagnosis Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Supercharger

[CrackerTeg]

It may be that the bearing in the tensioner pulley is starting to fail as a result of the slap. Those are hard to diagnose but from what you described and recent changes, I'm thinking it's that. I've actually had one seize on me in my DA. It's not fun when it happens in the middle of US1 in the keys.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Do you think I should take off the belt and see how the tensioner pulley moves? I guess if it moves freely, it's still fine, but if it moves roughly, it's about to fail, right?

[CrackerTeg]

Sure. Give that a go. Matter of fact, check all your pullies. See if any of them are a little rough. Another thing you could try is to get a can of WD40 and try to hit the backside of the pullies when they start making noise and see if that bit of lube kills the noise. It's a quick easy diagnosis and may reveal the problem.

[slipkord]

+1

Just do a sanity check under the hood. If you don't find anything out of place I would take it to Honda and see what they can find. It's worth paying a little for a tech to check it out, IMHO.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Okay, tomorrow after school I am going to be taking the belt off and checking all the pulleys. Also, here's an update on the occurrences of the sound. Since my last post stating that the noise came back, it has stayed around all day today. The last time I drove it with the sound still there was at 4:00. However, tonight when I drove home (like 15 minutes ago), the sound disappeared. Here's the weird thing though. As I was driving down my neighborhood, I could hear the whining slowly coming back, but not as loud as it used to be.

Just so you guys know, here is the pic I took of my tensioner indicator back when I just installed the new belt:



The belt has stretched out a little more, and is now pretty much right in the middle of that long skinny rectangle.

At this point I am pretty much crossing out the possibility that it's an intake leak, mainly because of one thing. If it was a leak, then I should be hearing it whenever I rev at all, regardless of any other circumstances. Since I tried revving the car in park, and there was no sound, I can only assume that it's something else and not the intake.

Oh and one more thing. If I did end up taking it to Honda, what would they do when they saw that my car is modded out the ass? Can they legally do anything, or do they just have to live with it?

[CrackerTeg]

I wouldn't necessarily say your car is modded out the ass but they may try not honoring any powertrain warranties if the pullies caused the noise. Try what I'm telling you with the wd40. Last time I heard what you were describing it was the power steering pump (not this car). Systematically spray each pulley when you get the noise to see if its some form of a lubrication issue. I'll guarantee you one of your pullies is causing the squeal. More than likely the tensioner is your culprit. Start there with your spray.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

You're right. Tim's car is modded out the ass, lol. I'll definitely do the WD-40 tomorrow as well, thanks for the tip.

[CrackerTeg]

That's what I'm here for.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Just as a side note... does it matter if anti-seize was never put on the alternator pulley? Isn't the stuff just for if you want to take the pulley back off? I don't see myself taking anything off my car for a long time lol. The shop put ant-seize on the crank and P/S pulley, but forgot to do the alternator. :\

[CrackerTeg]

Not sure. I haven't replaced my pullies so I couldn't tell you. I don't see how anti-seize or lack of it would be your issue though.

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Alright, so I think the WD-40 trick did the job. The noise was completely gone during my test run. I also took the serpentine belt off, and rotated the auto-tensioner, power steering, and alternator pulleys. They all spun freely with no hesitation. I couldn't reach any of the other pulleys. The auto-tensioner could be spun, and would keep spinning for about 3 seconds. I don't think there is a problem at all with it. It still doesn't explain why that whining noise was like that though. I sprayed WD-40 on the three pulleys I previously mentioned.

I'll keep everyone updated on what goes on.

[sherker55]

SHIT!  I read this whole damn thread cause I thought it was talking about Jeremy!

[Jeff Likes Bagels]

Damnit, the sound came back tonight... I'm clueless now.

[Mike]

Spray it again and see if it goes away. WD40 is not a perm. solution something is wrong with one of the items you sprayed.

[CrackerTeg]

Yeah. Don't spray them all at once. The wd40 was to try and find the culprit. Say you had sprayed the tensioner while the engine was turning and making noise, then it stopped after the spray, that would be the source of the noise.