I just replaced my cam seals and oil pump seals because they had been leaking. This of course required that the timing belt be taken out and put back in. Everything went fine: no more oil leaks, timing is right on, everything is good. The only thing is, there's a noise coming from the timing belt.

 

The sound is like kind of a light scratching sound, not consistant put repeating maybe 2 times a second. I ruled out the drive belts and took off the driver side timing cover and it was obvious it was coming from in there. I figured it was just because the t-belt might have gotten a little dusty during the assembly. I assumed it was a bad idea to apply anything like belt dressing, and i hate that stuff anyway (always seems to first make things better, then the noise comes back even louder.)

 

Anyway,I decided to spray a little water on the belt thinking it might help, maybe wash the stuff off and stop the noise- and water dries so it wouldn't hurt. Did that, the noise stopped, I was happy. But today i heard the noise again. So my question is, is there anything i can use to stop this for good that won't hurt anything? Thanks.

Does the noise get faster as you rev the engine higher?

You probably have a plastic or rubber part rubbing on a cam gear. Oil leaks cause the rubber inserts to "grow" larger and rub alot. The water lubricated the rubbing parts for a while I suppose. Time to take it apart again and you will definately see what is rubbing.

 

If you don't maybe you forgot to force the tensioner left and then bolt it in and then reapply torque to expand it?

yeah, the noise gets faster when i rev higher. I'll get it apart tomorrow and have a look.

<<This of course required that the timing belt be taken out and put back in.>>

 

you didn't re-use the old timing belt did you?

Ok, today I opened it up and found what had been rubbing- one of the rubber seals on the timing cover had been sticking up and rubbing. No problem, all fixed. So I put it back together and started it up, seemed to fire up fine. I turned it off and heard a faint electronic sound coming from on to of the engine. hmm. found it was probably the IAC solenoid so I unplugged it to make sure. Sound stopped. Plugged it back in, sound started again, but after a minute it went off on it's own. Went and started the car again, and the check engine light came on. Before doing any work the car was doing great today (even after my little overheating last night that i posted seperately about.) The light came on only after i did this work, and the only sensor or anything electrical i got near was the IAC. So I figure it must be a code for the IAC. The idle seemed a tad higher when i drove it with the check engine light on. Should I be worried? Did the IAC solenoid get messed up or something when i unplugged it, or could it have gone bad that quick? I might have turned the ignition on with this sensor unplugged, would that throw the code? Would I be experiencing very poor idle if the IAC was bad? Ugh. These past few days haven't been that great for my car, I'm hoping that this isn't a big deal. Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

Clear the codes and see if it comes back. Unplugging things with Ign on is probably a bad idea. Don't get too hung up on the car you are on the right track and you solved the noise issue!

Thanks for the encouragement, that really helps . I wanted to add that the IAC was making that electronic sound when the ignition was off and the keys were in my pocket. I unplugged it with the ignition off but might have turned the ignition on with the solenoid unplugged, i can't remember. I'm going to hit up autozone in the morn and hopefully that will clear some confusion.

Ok, just an update: I ended up stumbling over a good deal on a coade reader at a local auto parts store so i bought it. Turns out the check engine light was indeed from the IAC. I cleared the code, check engine light didn't come back on, all is well. I went on a little road trip Wed-Fri and the car drove great, no problems whatsoever. I'm very happy . Thanks again for the input!