Belts whining?

I changed the timing and accessory belts on my 2009 Accent 2 weeks ago. The timing belt and pulleys are an OEM part kit, the accessory belts are Gates belts. Now it sounds like my car has a supercharger. Fairly loud whine when the engine is warm, most prevalent when the rpms are dropping, I can hear it with the windows closed.

I noticed the noise a few days after the belt change (I must have had my radio cranked up until then). So I went back and made sure my belts weren't too tight, loosened them up to the point they would slip, then tightened little by little until they wouldn't. Whining sound did not change with these belts loose so I am pretty sure its not any of the accessories that started whining. (like a bearing or something) I really should pull them off the crank pulley to be sure though.

I have inspected the timing belt with the upper cover off, I don't see any wear on the edges like if it were rubbing against something it shouldn't be.

Timing belt has a spring loaded tensioner. I replaced the tensioner and idler pulley when I had the belt off. The original (60k miles) tensioner spun nice and smooth, and only had a hint of grease seeping from it, but since I got the new pulley, I figured I should put it on there.

At this point I am thinking either these belts are noisy as berkeley, or I might have a defective tensioner. The noise sounds like its coming from around that area. I am thinking of swapping the old one back in to see. Thats the last resort I think..pretty much doing the whole timing belt job over again.

Any insight? Am I worrying too much about this and this is normal and will go away over time? I know its probably not a helpful post on my part without a video, I can probably get one tonight and upload somehow tomorrow.

If you want to see how things are laid out there are a lot of pictures of the engine in this timing belt diy guide http://www.hyundai-forums.com/184-mc-2006-accent/129940-timing-drive-belt-diy-pdf-w-pictures-2.html

I would guess either tensioner is bad or the wrong belts.

Very common problem on Hyundai/Kia... They are very sensitive to overtightening the timing belt. They will whine like a white-trash bitch with fibromyalgia if you get them too tight.

We had a Sonata at the shop that we kept backing off the tension until it shut up. It seemed looser than we would have liked, but was within spec and we didn't get a lawsuit over it.

new belts were all teh same size as the old ones.

thanks for the tip on the timing belt tension. I incorrectly assumed that spring loaded = tension set correctly, guess I need to back it off a little.

this is the HMA Service procedure for checking tension: "Push on the non-tension side of the belt and make sure that the belt meets half of the radius of the tensioner bolt head"

11 lbs of force. Seems pretty light.

Ah, that explains a bit about the Miata. Goofy tensioning proceedures, a bit whiny when done incorrectly (and seemingly more normally).

Never thought about it, but it does make sense, some engines being more sensitive to belt tension than others.

It funny industrail timing belts have small slice at the bottom of the grooves to help eliminate the whiny noise it's not a 100% I've wonderd why auto's don't

failboat wrote: thanks for the tip on the timing belt tension. I incorrectly assumed that spring loaded = tension set correctly, guess I need to back it off a little.

Sure. Actually when I saw the title I thought - "I'll bet its a Kia or Hyundai timing belt replacement."