Cambelt Noise After Headgasket Change? Video!

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Had my head skimned and head gasket done this week as it was on its way out.

 

Since then I've had an annoying rattle vibration type noise at certain revs. Coming from cambelt area.

 

See video below! I've taken the top metal cover off and still the same.

 

Any ideas? Cambelt too tight perhaps?

http://s993.photobucket.com/user/alexkilby/media/Mobile%20Uploads/VIDEO0040.mp4.html

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Bearing maybe? Cam tensioner?

Edited April 25, 2014 by Slo

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

All were fine before head was done?

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

You mean you re-used the tensioner? There you go then either that or the water pump.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Not sure to be honest, I didn't do it myself - was done by a garage that does older cars. I'll check, do you have to change the tensioner everytime the cambelt is taken off then? (excuse if it's a silly question but I'm not up to speed on cambelts etc despite searching)

 

Does the noise in the vid suggest it's the tensioner do you think?

Edited April 25, 2014 by ATK

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

I thought it was a belt rubbing on metal noise at first but then re-read that you'd put that you'd removed the top cover so it can only be a bearing, tensioner or water pump.

 

Re-using a tensioner, i've done it before when i was being a tight arse but consider whatever is squealing failing and the damage it will cause, its a no brainer for me change it water pump too. Does the tensioner look clean?

 

Could possibly be too tight too, I did this once and the waterpump sprocket came off and burned a hole in the cam cover, very luckily it stopped in place and the belt rid it, i've got a pic of it. I was checking to see why it was overheating, then it was obvious that the internal pump fin wasn't turning when i glanced down the cam cover and saw this...

 

[DamirGTI 344]

Dunno why but i simply can't load your video on my pc. ?!

 

Anyways , check the timing belt cover metal backplate .. theres one 13mil. bolt which fastens it on the side of the head just near the cam pulley (around 8 o'clock from the pulley) and another 10mil. bolt up on top of the head - loosen both slightly (try just the top one first , if that doesn't make any difference then try both) , start the engine and see if it stops making noises .. try to reposition/wiggle the backplate a bit as well with the engine running (watch your fingers !) and see what happens .

 

I found this backplate making noises if not positioned/tightened the right way in relation to the cam pulley .

 

 

D

[speno 239 2 Cars]

Take it back and say I'm not happy with it

also ask them what they replaced in a statement ( should be on the invoice as well )

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Yes I plan to but thought I would see if anyone had any ideas first. Tensioner wasn't done.

 

I'm going to have a look at the backplate Damir mentions as it sounds plausible - it sounds like it's from that area.

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Thanks Damir, do you have a photo of where these bolts are?

 

 

Dunno why but i simply can't load your video on my pc. ?!

 

Anyways , check the timing belt cover metal backplate .. theres one 13mil. bolt which fastens it on the side of the head just near the cam pulley (around 8 o'clock from the pulley) and another 10mil. bolt up on top of the head - loosen both slightly (try just the top one first , if that doesn't make any difference then try both) , start the engine and see if it stops making noises .. try to reposition/wiggle the backplate a bit as well with the engine running (watch your fingers !) and see what happens .

 

I found this backplate making noises if not positioned/tightened the right way in relation to the cam pulley .

 

 

D

[DamirGTI 344]

Yes , took few shoots from an spare head ..

 

Top bolt :

 

Bottom :

 

 

The backplate gas slightly chamfered edge round the hole for the camshaft which protrudes towards the pulley , so if not repositioned properly or if the backplate is tightened to tense up top this chamfered edge tends to rub against the pulley :

 

.. this one also has some chuffed areas (can't be quite seen from the pic .. but there is some rubbing evidence deeper inside) round the edge of the backplate close to the pulley .

 

The backplate has a little bit of movement left-right and up-down .. when you loosen said two bolts , so try to loosen and reposition it slightly .

 

D

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Thats awesome thank you very much. mine is missing the bottom bolt! Any idea of the lenth of the bolt? Is it 13mil thread size or 13mil head size?

[DamirGTI 344]

It's a 13mil. head size .. bolt dimension is : 8X125-20

 

If it's missing , that'll be the cause of the noise then .

 

D

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Is this the right bolt mate?

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=150861143405&alt=web

[DamirGTI 344]

Yup .. same as this one :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Metric-Hex-Bolt-M8-x-1-25-x-20-Qty-10-/360421560330?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53eacc900a

 

 

But theres no need to mess about with ebay ordering just one simple bolt - pop down to you're local DIY store and ask for 13mil. hexagonal head M8 bolt with coarse thread (1.25 pitch) with full 20mil. thread length .. and an washer for said bolt , and that's it .

Or try local mechanic , they always have an stash of various new and used bolts ..

 

D

 

Dunno if this confused you , 125 = 1.25 thread pitch .. so M8x1.25x20 , M8 being bolt diameter , 1.25 bolt thread pitch (it's standard coarse thread) and 20 being total thread length (full thread)

Edited April 27, 2014 by DamirGTI

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Great stuff thanks Damir, perfect

[welshpug 1,666]

derp, was looking at Slo's picture, definitely fooked pump there

Edited April 28, 2014 by welshpug

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Hah, read your original message then thought 'sh*t' then saw the edit....!

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

Yeah was only 2 week old that pump too dunno if it was down to overtightening or a dodgy pump but i had to put the old one back on temporarily and it stayed on for another 2 years lol was very lucky with that cos it was the time that the crank pulley bolt came out too and i had to take the crank pulley off to get it home. Talk about close shave when i discovered how dangerous that situation was. But it lives on in my cti now with all new parts

[DamirGTI 344]

Was that failing WP with plastic or metal impeller ?

 

The ones with the plastic impeller are better to be avoided , they're cheaper but i do not like buying/using them .. The impeller on these tends to loosen off the shaft , either partially (thus spinning just round halve the engine rotation speed or so ..) or even completely which results with serious engine overheating issue ..

Haven't yet seen one failing completely , and at such short time , but have seen a few plastic ones on which the impeller was quite a bit loosen on the shaft which was barely shifting the coolant round the system , thus made the engines overheat kinda strangely ..

 

D

[jackherer 543]

It took me a while to work out that the plastic impeller on a friends Alfa was spinning on the shaft of the pump. I watched the return flow into the expansion tank and it flowed well and increased with revs until about 3000 RPM when it stopped totally.

[DamirGTI 344]

Yup , always needs head scratching with these ! they seem a bit tricky to diagnose , that said could be mostly because it's not as common nor obvious/visible issue as the other stuff which causes engine overheating .

 

D

[welshpug 1,666]

just had chance to listen to the vid, just sounds like an excessively tight timing belt.

 

I would pop the auxiliary belt off to isolate that from the sounds, though it doesn't sound like that at all.

 

If it didn't make the noise before, its unlikely that the M8 bolt is missing as there is no reason to remove it when doing the belt unless they also had the pulley and inner cover off and changed the oil seal.

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

My wp had metal impellers

[ATK 143 1 Cars]

Is it easy to loosen the belt slightly if it's excessively tight? But if the belt was excessively too tight wouldn't the noise be there all the time rather than at different rpm?

 

 

just had chance to listen to the vid, just sounds like an excessively tight timing belt.

 

I would pop the auxiliary belt off to isolate that from the sounds, though it doesn't sound like that at all.

 

If it didn't make the noise before, its unlikely that the M8 bolt is missing as there is no reason to remove it when doing the belt unless they also had the pulley and inner cover off and changed the oil seal.