2000Prelude

:thumbup: Well, you guys were right about the timing belt tensioner. My 2000 'Lude was making a gRRRR noise when decelerating. On advice from this board I had the Honda dealer check it out, and it was the tensioner as I had feared.
Thanks guys for helping me out on this.
Now my complaints:
1) Tech left a 15 inch double box end wrench in the engine compartment. I was being held in place between the hood and the fender. If it had slipped it would have ended up entangled in the belts probably causing some major damage.
2) The service advisor tried to convince me to get the rest of the timing belt package maintenance done. This is belts, hoses, water pump, seals and the timong belt and tensioner that needed to be replaced. The Honda Cares extended warranty covered the timing belt and tensioner, but he said I should get the other work done for "just an additional $530.00" I refused because my car has only 50K miles on it and those are maintenance items to be done at 100K.
Now, they expect me to give them an excellent and fully satisfied rating when I am quizzed from Honda about the service I received. Sure :madfawk: WoW, I just noticed we have a choice of 61 smilileys to use in our posts WoW!

preylude99

hey, is the tensioner a random problem or is it caused by always redlining or what? Cause I have a 99 lude with 40K miles on it and I havent heard the infamous GRRRRRRRRR that the tensioner makes when it gets loose or bad......

THATPRELUDEGUY

The tensioner IMHO should be a recall not a TSB since it's affected almost every 5th Gen owner I've seen. It's basically just a bad part and from what I understand and not due to anything else.

preylude99

so is it a LOUD and noticeable GRRRR or just a quiet one? cause i havent heard it yet......

2000Prelude

The GRRRRR noise the tensioner makes is not particularly loud. At first i thought it was just a random noise, from the A/c or something. When I stopped using the A/C it was still making the noise. my friends never noticed the noise, even when I got them to help me rev up the car while I listened carefully in the engine compartment. If your the type of guy that plays the stereo load or way loud, I don't think you'll ever notice it. I'm not into LOuD music, and often, I just like to hear the sounds of the car. That's probably how I heard the noise. It is just a noise the car was not making when it was new. It was making the noise for about a month before I decided to do anything about it. It did seem to be getting louder as time went on. Right before I took it in to the dealer, Whenever I was starting out on an incline, the noise was definatly noticable as I was letting out the clutch. That's probubly the best way to tell. Start out on an incline and just carefully listen to the engine as the clutch is slipped to get started.

kchilaka

I have a 97 Lude..and I get this annoying grrrrrrr sound as the engine rpm falls off...it is not too loud but definitely annoying...and from reading the posts here, it seems that the problem is the Timing belt tensioner..I have an extended warranty on my car that should cover just about everything (except hoses and belts). It does include the timing belt as long as I have replaced it at the indicated intervals. But the poilicy says that it wont cover repairs to fix performance degradation due to wear and tear...
Now my question to you guys is, does the timing belt tensioner noise qualify as a wear and tear problem or is it a genuine mechanical fault in the car.... I mean, I want this fixed in my car and the warranty company to pay for it...Also, when i went to the dealer last time, he told me that the noise was normal !!.. It doesnt sound normal to me...how in the world do I convince the dealer to fix the damn thing.. Do I tell him I know what the problem is?!!! Any advice from you guys would be appreciated.. besides somone mentioned a TSB for this problem but the provided link seems to be broken...

2000Prelude

How many miles are on your car?? Mine is a 2000 'Lude which had about 53K when I got the timing belt replaced. It's definitely what was making that gRRRRRR noise. On the 2000 'Lude they call for the timing belt replacement at 105 K miles. I don't know what the recommendation was for a '97 'Lude.

The best way I can tell you to be sure that they notice the noise is to have them try to let out the clutch when the car is starting out on a slight incline. This puts a little more strin on the driveline and the noise is ALOT more noticeable. You can hear it as you are slipping the clutch to go up the incline. Hope this helps!

kchilaka

I have 54k miles on the car. The recomendation for a 97 lude is to get the timing belt replaced at 60k. Now what I am wondering is if the problem was the timing belt or the timing belt tensioner. In your case, during the replacement of the timing belt, the mechanic would have adjusted the tensioner too. In anyway, did the factory warranty cover your belt replacement?

2000Prelude

I have the Honda Cares extended warranty out to 100K. It cost me a $50 deductable and I got a rental car for the day. It turned out OK for me, I didn't try the TSB route and my dealership didn't say anything about it. No, If I didn't have the extended warranty, it probably would have been about $500 out of my pocket. That's a little more than I would have liked to send!! Good luck dude, and let me know what happens with your car

2000Prelude

Oh, to answer your kquestion, they replaced both the tensioner and the belt for the $50 deductable.