Rep Power: 0

2001 Honda Civic LX, Auto. No Mods.
Regular Maintenance, just bought it in July.

I am hearing a grinding noise from what APPEARS to be the serpentine belt tensioner pulley; however I am hugely concerned it could be from the timing belt pulley as well. The noise is consistent so it would most likely be a bad bearing, I hear it mostly as low speeds; however I'm not sure if the engine noise simply drowns it out at higher speeds or it goes away.

In addition a belt (I suspect Serpentine) squeals regularly at low speeds and stop lights. Shifting into Neutral helps, and it's worse when the AC/Heat is on.

I have no CEL, no BAT light, nothing at all.

Recently I noticed that my dash lights were a little dim on the speedometer - not sure if it is related but it reminded me of when my alternator went (which is connected to the serpentine in most cars).

Any thoughts? I suspect the tensioner pulley for the serpentine belt has a bad bearing, which is making the serpentine belt squeal -- but I don't have any $$ to replace parts right now, however I have to get back & forth to work until I can fix it. The Engine seems to be running fine.

OH another weird side issue which MAY be related -- car overheats in long car rides (I'm talking about hours of non-stop driving, for hundreds of miles) and the coolant just seems to go away. It's not a HG, I checked; and there's no visible leaks in the cooling system.

Thoughts? What to check. I'm not familiar with Hondas, but I DID get a manual (which has given me little help in this area).

 
Rep Power: 517

There is no separate tensioner pulley on a 7th gen 1.7 engine.
You have the alternator and AC compressor on one belt, and PS on the other belt. No tensioner pulley. The alternator pivots to do that job.

The squeal is probably the belt too loose (alternator and AC belt). A bad pulley bearing can lead to the same symptom too.

Use a stethoscope to locate the noise.

Or...
Remove the belts, start the engine, see if the grinding noise is gone. If it is gone, then spin (by hand) the alternator pulley and spin the compressor pulley, listen for which one doesn't spin smooth and quiet. Then fix it. (I bet the AC pulley bearing is shot.)
PS pump doesn't normally cause bearing noise, but you can check it the same way.

If the grinding noise is still present with the Alt/AC and PS belts off, then all that is left is the timing components. Bad news. You have more investigating to do.


It's a head gasket, just because you are sure it isn't.
They do this, only most push the coolant into the reservoir until it spills out. Got evidence of that?


How many miles are on the car? 150k? 200k? See if the radiator and condensor are loaded up with bugs and road debris. Clean them. Probably won't help with the problem, but should be done every now and then.

HTH

 
Rep Power: 0

I had a mechanic look at it, about the overheating/coolant loss. I will have it checked out again. I can't do much engine wise, I've mostly replaced parts.

I'll check those pulleys, I don't have a stethoscope.

 
Rep Power: 517

Average checks won't find the typical problem with these.
I have explained many times what I do to find these head gasket problems (the typical failure), search this site for it.


Long steel rod held to your ear. I have a really long screwdriver I use a lot.

But then I still verify my findings by pulling the belts off anyway.

HTH

 
Rep Power: 208

as ezone said, remove the two acc belts, start the engine,

if the noise is still there then i would suspect a faulty timing belt tensioner and/or water pump....in either of those cases its not something you want to put off, you need that fixed right away!

if the noise stops, then the alt or a/c compressor is shot....or if you are VERY LUCKY it might just be a loose belt,

you can check/feel the belt tension without any tools....is it loose?

 
Rep Power: 0

The noise is coming from the pulley next to the power steeling reservoir. The belt tension is okay. No CEL, No Stalling, a little rougher now than before on low RPMs, but it needs an oil change and my car complains loudly when it needs an oil change. The noise is a constant loud metal on metal grinding noise, like brakes on a rotor. I started getting a faint burning smell but no smoke after a long ride (smells more like burnt hair than rubber, but could be rubber). I was stuck working a 90 hour week and couldn't bring the car to a mechanic yet, but its getting worse quickly. I discovered I had low PS fluid, and refilled it, then tried to bleed it (I'll try again in the AM when I can see more), I also soaked the pulley with some PB blaster, and it grinds less, but it has the metal on metal sound now. Still not good. I plan on bringing the car to a mechanic ASAP so he can look at it; since I can't figure it out for the life of me. Sometimes it sucks being a single mother!

Here is a video of the sound (Youtube), there isn't anything to see, it was really dark:

 
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I just had a friend look at it, she's a mechanic. She suspects the pulley to the vacuum pump needs to be replaced. The vacuum pump looks fine though, since I have AC and PS. I'll replace the pulley and let you all know how it goes!

 
Rep Power: 517

You don't have a vacuum pump.
Better get the correct name before you go looking for parts.

 
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I am looking for a pulley; she believes its the pulley, not a pump.

 
Rep Power: 517

You mean the power steering pump pulley?
Maybe the AC compressor pulley?

There is no vacuum pump, therefore there can be no pulley for said pump.

 
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I think she was thinking there was a compressor for both PS and AC.

Update though, a belt snapped and now the noise is gone, car isn't charging, but it's too dark to see which one it was -- I'd assume with the car not charging and the BAT like going off, that it was likely the belt to the alternator.

 
Rep Power: 517

That would have been the belt for the Alternator AND the A/C Compressor. Same belt runs both items.


Go spin both of those pulleys and see which one isn't smooth. I'm still betting it will be the AC pulley bearing shot craps.

Don't bother driving it, you will only kill the battery and get stranded.

 
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I know it seems like I'm being difficult, but I haven't been able to find a diagram of the bloody pulley system ANYWHERE to help you out and I don't seem to have the tools (or time) I needed to take the bloody thing apart. I do very much appreciate your help and insight.

 
Rep Power: 517

HTH

 
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Oh I've replaced enough alternators and serpentine belts to know better than that! I'll be keeping her parked. I was praying she'd make it home, turning off my headlights when I was driving in well lit areas and keeping my markers on, turning off all accessories, etc.

I bet it is the AC compressor pulley.

Based on this image (which was the MOST HELPFUL, I could find on google images ) :



There's two belts that link to the camshaft pulley. Which one is the idler, which one is the ac compressor, and which one is the ps? (Now you see why I'm confused, and such a pain in your ***).

Thank you!

 
Rep Power: 517

See above.

 
Rep Power: 0

YOU'RE A SAVIOR, THANK YOU! I would hug you right now if I could.

 
Rep Power: 517

Yw..

 
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I couldn't spin the AC compressor pulley at all. It seized. I'm going to ByPass the AC for now, so I can limp the car up to my brother-in-law who's a mechanic.

I have no idea what belt size to use. Is there a 1.7L Civic model that came without AC by default, with the same pulley setup? I could just ask for a belt for that model, install and be on my way.

Someone mentioned in another forum (google search) that the 01 Honda Civic DX came without AC, stock -- but I want to be 100% sure before I go and buy parts.

 
Rep Power: 517

Alt belt for a DX (no AC) is 31110-PLA-E02, about $20 MSRP (honest dealer retail) and probably would need to be special ordered.

Google searched the part number: http://webcatalog.bando.co.jp/produc...10PLAE02/%20/1

So 6PK1035 is the belt size, according to the link? (EDITED: I think the link was wrong)


HTH

 
Rep Power: 0

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...62_0_1527_6774

I guess AutoZone had one available. I'll let you know if it fits.

 
Rep Power: 517

Maybe not. The belt info I got from the OE number cross ref above was a 1035mm, but a belt for AC and ALT is 6PK896 (JUST taken off an 01 Civic a short while ago). So I don't think that chart in my link above was correct.

The belt size for an ALT only application has to be shorter than 896mm.


Info from your Zone link:

Belt Material: EPDM
Belt Rib Count: 6
Effective Length (in): 34.06
Effective Length (mm): 865.124
Outside Circumference (in): 34.61
Outside Circumference (mm): 879.1


I hope it fits.

 
Rep Power: 208

when i bypassed a pulley on a mustang i had years ago they didnt make a bypass belt,

so all i did was take a tape measure, use a piece of tape to tape the end of it to one of the pulleys, then wrap the tape measure around all the pulleys the same route the belt would go,

this gives you the length measurement of the belt you need, lets say it was 1060mm

then count how many "ribs" are on the belt, lets say it was 6,

then i just walked into the parts store and said "i need a 1060mm 6 rib belt"

done