My car is making noises when warm from the timing belt area. What is causing the noise?

Question

Well, to make a long story short, my timing belt for my mazda car slipped last spring. I had the timing belt and tensioner replaced at the dealership. Then the car started to make a noise after i drove it on small roads for 10 to 15 minutes. I took it back, they said it was the idler bearings. The car made noises again after driven for 10 to 15 minutes. Then winter came, the car no longer made any noises. Now spring time is here, and the weather is warm again, the car now makes noises again in the timing belt area after it is driven for 10 to 15 minutes on small roads. When the car is driven on freeways, it doesnt seem to make as much noise if not any, this usually only happens while it is driven on small roads, where there is stop and go and during warm seasons such as spring, summer, and fall, but not winter. Does anybody have the solution to this problem? My car is 2000 Mazda Protege Es with 1.8L engine and 4 cylinder. Can it possibly be the two cams or whatever you call it?

Answer 1

Replace those idler pulleys. That should have been done when you first took your car in for service. Mazda has a special timing belt kit that includes all of those parts (timing belt, tensioner, spring, and idler pulley(s)) just to prevent something like this from happening. The timing belt slipped for a reason right? If you replace all the worn parts in one shot - especially if there is a kit that includes all the necessary parts, putting them on will eliminate the need to revisit the repair - provided it was installed properly. But before that, get the opinion of another Mazda dealer first. Many dealerships don't like to pay to train their mechanics properly and think it's ok because as long as they have 1 or 2 master techs, that's enough to keep the quality of the repairs at a satisfactory level - when in fact they usually hand the job to an eager inexperienced (at least in mazda) beaver who should know better than to half-*** a timing belt job.

Answer 2

belt is too tight, or a bearing-definitely go to another shop. Throwing parts at it isn't good. Your description does however scream bad bearing in a pulley.

Ask to see the old parts when they change something, there are many that bill for new and just make an adjustment. Sick but true.

Old guy

Answer 3

Make sure thay used a factory timing belt-I used an aftermarker belt in one of these cars once and it made the same noise-I guesing that they used an aftermarket belt because they were either out of stock or just went cheap

Answer 4

i own a repair shop,and basically its doing it at low speeds,so id say they was right about it ,it probably is the bearings in it causing this to happen ,and at higher speeds you wont notice it as much ,try taking it to another shop and get another opinion on it,and see if they come up with the same thing,sometimes two opinions are better than one in a case like this,good luck with it hope this helps.

Answer 5

a lose belt