I have posted on the General forum because this issue could probably relate to a number of different types of Hyundais.

I have a 2001 Accent 1.6 DOHC. I recently changed out the timing belt @ 81K miles. The car ran great for about two weeks before it developed valve noise. The noise occured suddenlywhen I started the car to leave for work. My assumption was that the tensioner had probably slipped and had caused too much slack on the belt causing the cam to be slightly off.

Since this problem came up I took off the timing cover and have verified that everything is normal. My original belt was somewhat loose but I had tightened the new one according to the paperwork. I *VERY CAREFULLY* checked the TDC timing marks and the cam timing mark. Everything was still lined up correctly. For troubleshooting purposes I backed off the tension on the belt to see if the original tension was closer to what was needed. That didn't help.

All I can say is that I have valve noise now with all the marks perfectly aligned. Is there something that I'm missing, especially as it relates to tension?

In further troubleshooting I did a compression test to see if I had damaged a valve or valves. The compression test was excellent on all cylinders (220 pounds). As I pull the engine through manually there doesn't seem to be any conflict other than normal spring tension on the valves.

I'm convinced (for the moment) that I'm off slightly on the timing but I can't understand how. I've checked the crankshaft position by both the sproket index mark on the engine block and according to the markings with the lower half of the cover when it's installed. I've checked the camshaft sproket index hole and it lines up exactly. I also took off the valve cover and verified the markings on the cams themselves and checked for anything abnormal.

I'm the second owner of the car and I can assure you that it's had good care. It's not like there's a lingering issue of mistreatment or abuse.

If you can help solve this mystery, I'll buy you a beer...or twelve.

Thanks,
Chris.

 

Well A compression test would show if there is a problem with the vavles. But I'm changing my timing belt and can't get the spring that goes under the bolt onto the left side of the tensioner back on. I can't bend the spring enough to fit it onto the metal rods. How did you get it back on? I tried all different types of pliers. Maybe if i had superman fingers.

 

Well, this one threw me for a loop but the problem may besolved. It appears that on a rare occasion the hydraulic lifters will not fully fill with oil after sittingover aperiod of time. I'm told that air will get trapped in them temporarily and cause a tapping sound. Normally whenever this happens it should go away after a short period. In this case mine didn't. And to make matters MUCH WORSE it occured just a few weeks after changing the timing belt. That led me on the proverbial "wild goose chase" thinking it was something related to the adjustment of the belt. Since I had the valve cover removed I cleaned the entire valve/cam area of sludge buildup.That took about 30 minutes. I bought a quart of Gunk engine flush and poured it over the valves to put the finishing touches on my clean up. I let it soak while I reinstalled the valve cover and timing covers. I ran the engine 5 minutes as instructed. The noise was reduced. Afterward I drained out the engine flush and did a normal oil change and filter. It was too cold to open the garage and run the car again after the oil change so I'll check ittomorrow.

 

I was actually going to suggest that it wasn't even related to your T belt job.

Is the engine gunked up?

 

Not especially.There was only normal/minor sludge build up.What threw me off is that I've NEVER had lifter (HLA) noise on any vehicle at 81K miles. If it were 181K that would bedifferent. Problems at 81K are unacceptable.Especially since this vehicle gets outstanding care.

And before someone suggests that I should useMOBIL 1 synthetic, what does the manufacturer say to use? No other car I'veever driven required that. I've driven two vehicles recently to high mileage marks. One to 167K and the other to 153K before they were passed on to different owners. If my girlfriends lowly Chevette made it to 167K (and beyond) without sythentic oil, why won't the Hyundai?

I understand that Mazda engines suffer greatly from HLA problems and now I put Hyundai right behind them. I see it as a design problem in this case.I shouldn't be removing the timing belt and cams to access a collapsed HLA at this mileage.

 

What is the best way to do a compression test?

I am specifically interested in how I should disable the ignigition. I think I'm supposed to do that, right?

Thanks for the help!

 

Pull off the ignition wires.

 

don't know why the heck I didn't think of that. naturally, you won't get a spark with out 'em. I was concerned that there was another step I was missing. After doing a compression test (with the ignition coil unplugged) my engine sounded bad, eventually stalled and I haven't been able to get it going. I was wondering if gas/oil buildup in the cylinders could be causing problems (since the crankshaft was moving, but nothing was burning. Don't know if there is a way to disable the injectors from injecting fuel. Come to think of it, I suppose I could have pulled the fuse on the fuel pump. da*n hindsight always being 20/20