I did my timing belt this weekend and now I have a strange noise that sounds like it's coming from the intake cam area (Mivek cam). I'll attach a video but it almost sounds like something is off balance, and when you look at the intake cam, it's not spinning perfectly centered like the exhaust cam. Almost like it has a tiny bit of wobble?
Can anyone with some experience with timing belts chime in here??? I want to make sure I didn't screw something up or miss a step with the Mivek thing??
Here's the video, you can hear it after it rev's down. Sort of a "wub wub" noise...

http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/f...rent=Sound.mp4

 

Q?'s

1. DID you take cam gears off for timing belt job?
2. How tight does the belt feel on the top?
3. What kind of t-belt did you use?

Answers

A. Cam gear is not flush on cam!
B. Belts way to tight...take off an redo
C. If it's a kevlar belt then sometimes them will make noise, but if it's OEM belt then it is way to tight.
D. I'm going with the gear being not flush on cam and belt being way to tight.

GL

 

I did not touch the timing gear at all when doing the timing belt. I used all Mitsubishi genuine parts (including the belts). As for how tight, it feels pretty good, about 1/4" (maybe a hair more) of deflection if I push down on it.
Not sure how the cam gear would be off center if I didn't touch it but I could try and loosen it and then re-tighten it again, see if that helps? Looks like it needs some special wrench to remove the Mivek thing.. Do I need to be careful or watch for anything with removing that? Is there some sort of calibration for it?
Thanks for the reply!

 

If you didn't take the cam gears off...then maybe a idler pulley or something is off a little. Don't take the mivec gear off especially if you never removed it. You want a little deflection..the cams are push pull system so deflection is ok to sense lol. Just look over belt routing an look for anything funny.

 

But is the Mivek gear supposed to spin perfectly balanced like the exhaust gear? It has a definite "wobble" when looking at it from the side as the car is running. You can't really see it in the video though.

 

Ok, I found this video over here on the forums. It sounds an aweful lot like the noise I'm having and it turns out his water pump bolts backed out. I didn't replace or touch my water pump so I'm not sure about that. I guess I need to rip into this again and figure this out ASAP..
Here's the link to the video:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/evo-eng...de-engine.html

 

I also heard this noise when wazzelby showed me the other day. The noise from the other video sounds different to me. More rattle and less grunting.

The noise from your car wazzelby sounds like AC pulley is slipping but I know you have the AC turned off. I still think you should remove the serpentine belt and see if the noise is still there. This will isolate it and tell you if its in the timing belt area or serpentine area. Just don't run the car too long since the water pump is not turning.

Still odd how the cam gear wobbles up and down like that. Not bad but noticeable.

 

I'm going to drop the serpentine belt tonight when I get home from work and see what happens. Re-check all the pulleys and re-inspect the inside of the lower timing belt cover. I have a feeling I'm gong to tear it completely down - timing belt and all.

 

Well, I pulled it apart last night, took off the serpentine belt and ran it. The sound came back only after the timing belt had warmed up. Also found the sound was actually coming from the main crank shaft pulley area. After looking at the crankshaft pulley it looks like the belt is rubbing the back plate on the pulley (the brass colored one). So my mechanic friend thinks the belt could be cut wrong or somehow defective. I'm going to call ExtremePSI today and see if they'll send me a new one.

 

Well, ExtremePSI wasn't very helpful with replacing the belt. Basically I had to buy another one and send this one is. They'll send it to Mitsu and only refund me if Mitsu deems it "defective". Not sure what happens if they don't see it as defective??
Anyway, I'm going to try another belt and hope it's just that. The sound is definitely coming from the crank pulley area - but only after the belt warms up (maybe 2 minutes of idle). Also, it's only there at low RPMs, like below 950. Otherwise the car drives and idles perfectly.
I'll be replacing the timing belt again on Friday and will report back my results. I'm going to be a pro at doing Evo timing belts by the end of the week!!

 

Make sure your grenade pin (tensioner plunger pin) is freely spinning when everything is all tight! Let the tensioner chill for about 5-10 min then go back an see if the pin still spins free. Did you ever loosen the pulley that the tensioner pushes on ? If you loosened that pulley an didn't get it just right...the belt will be way to tight or loose. Kinda sounds like you stretched the timing belt. To tight of a timing belt will smoke your oil pump and trash your cams..possibly break the cam ends off also.

So give her hell and you'll get it....kudos to you for learning how to work on your own ride bro..just take your time an don't break stuff! LOL GL !

 

Make sure you check the crank pulley itself. They have been known to back off the crank and shear right through the heads of the bolts. Make sure all the crank bolts are there, tight and the pulley itself doesnt have any play in it. This was more common with older 7-bolt 2g dsm engines, but I've heard of a few evos losing a crank pulley

 

Since BoostINurI mentioned the tensioner, I suppose it would be worth asking if you used a new tensioner?

 

I did use a new tensioner, pulleys and belts. The only thing I didn't replace was the water pump.
I'll be re-doing the whole thing on Friday (for a third time) and have a friend who is a mechanic helping. I followed the FSM for setting tension so I don't think that is the issue.
On a side note, timing belts aren't really anything new to me. I did many on my 2G and friends 2G's over the years. I'm pretty meticulous about any work I do so setting torque specs, tensions, etc is high on my priority list. I'm hoping maybe I got a strange belt or something. I've been told that some 9's just have weird noises anyway but I refuse to believe that.

 

Ok, got everything sorted out. After doing the timing belt 4 times this week (I'm a pro now), it looks like the belt was defective. I pulled off the accessory belt and the noise was still there. Narrowed it down to the crank shaft pulley area. When I looked at the inside of the belt, there were rub marks on a couple of spots on the belt. So the belt wasn't cut straight.
I also had to fix the balance shaft being out of phase after changing the belt (that sucked). But now it's running strong!! My idle is off a little (sounds like it's running rich) but other than that everything is good.