Andrew Taylor

My late 2006 Civic 2.2 diesel (new shape) has started making a strange noise. When I rev up it sounds like something is loose but not rattle, knocking or anything I can pinpoint. It has not effected performance or put any engine light on. It is coming from the belt area, are there any issues around that area, tensioner or bearing etc that may cause the problem.

Nosepicker

Did you have your timing belt redone recently?

If it's a light rattle (has a tendency to sound like something is loose) noise that comes and goes it may just be your belt pulley adjuster. I know that was the case with mine. Drove me insane for a month trying to determine where that noise was coming from. And you couldn't really tell it was the drive belt adjuster/tensioner because it didn't look loose or anything but it was the bearings inside that was causing the noise.

Andrew Taylor

No, no work has been done since I bought it 1 year ago.

It is not a rattle, hard to describe really, I was thinking it could be the pulley/tensioner. It sounds the same as you had, I just cannot put my finger on what it is. I will try remove the belt and run it and see if it goes and if so will be something driven from the belt. It is very hard to pull the belt and see the tensioner move and I thought it might be putting too much pressure on the bearings.

Thanks

Nosepicker

I thought the same thing about "too much pressure" but no matter how much or less tension I placed on the belts it didn't matter. The bearings in the adjuster pulley were loose. And in that instance you have to replace it which is super cheap. Like $10 or $15. I forget.

Andrew Taylor

In case anyone else has similar, I have renewed the pulley on the belt tensioner as when I took the belt off the bearing was noisy. All is ok now. Approx £40 per pulley so not major expense.