And the engibe seems to be making a lot more noise at idle. It was near silent before. Is this normal for new belts and break in or did I screw something up. Im pretty sure everything is at TDC. Kinda annoying that they make those marks so that you can just barely see them at an odd angle.

 

Describe the noise. Does it come form the block or head?

Are you positive everything is timed correctly?

 

Its a loud ticking. Seems to be from the head. I Had the timing belt off and on 4 or 5 times to make sure the marks were lined up before it was all tightened. It drives fine. Just loud at idle and like a short burst of tickingnoise around 2500rpm.

 

seems like an odd problem to just "pop up", but you may need to check valve lash

 

I know. Its annoying. What if it was off a tooth? What would it do?

 

I would check valve lash also. Especially if the noise increases as the motor runs hotter. (less noise when cold) If your timing belt was off a tooth you would have less power for one. what model is it and what year. Some honda's will make a whining noise after you do the timing belt, this is usually becuase the tension is to tight. But a ticking sound is odd. I would adjust the valves. If that doesnt work than check your timing marks again. If you have to remove the upper timing belt cover to see the cam gear's TDC marks it is o.k. becuase taking off that cover might help you pin-point the noise.

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Its a 97 EX 4dr AT. Could a too tight timing belt cause noise? I adjusted it per the factory manual but when I tightened the bolt it tightened it a lil extra. Oh and I forgot. I found 2 bad motor mounts. The driver side lower which fell apart when I messed with it and the driver upper had a nice tear in it.

 

Yeah, a timing belt that is too tihgt can make noise. But more of a whining high pitched noise rather than a tapping noise like the noise you have. A good trick for tightening honda timing belts (most) is just to turn the crank counterclockwise so the cam gear turns about 3 teeth, then tighten the tensioner. This just makes it so the timing belt has tension but not too much. When you tighten the tensioner bolt is adds a little tension which is normal. I would still geuss the tapping noise you have is either valves or something going on in your timing cover since it just started after you replaced the belt.

Yeah motor mounts go out all of the time on hondas. I cant tell you how many times I have done timing belts on and noticed the lower front motor mount is bad while tearing everything apart.
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it wouldnt have any power if it was a tooth off

 

Thanks guys. The car runs good minus the new noise. I didnt like the look of the aftermarket timing belt compared to the honda one. I gonna go get a genuine honda one this week and redo it. I also cleaned out the gunk on the inside of the valve cover. I wonder if that was deadening some of the valvetrain noise. And yeah dont skimp on the timing belt. There was an obvious quality difference.