Last Friday I heard repeated tapping noises from the circled area. The weather condition was humid and heavily rained the night before, however soon after the engine temperature increased, the sound decreased and completely went away once the temperature needle pointed at the 50% mark.

I heard the same exact noise coming from the same area again today. The weather condition today was simliar to Friday's and yesterday it rained heavily as well.

Anybody else with this issue? What is the function of that belt anyway?

Thanks in advanced.



(The original picture was from the Oil catch thread)

 

I can't tell for sure from the pic, and I don't recall off the top of my head, but I think that's the air conditioner compressor.

 

Power-steering pump

How is the P/S fluid level ?

 

Yup, that's the PS pump. Down below is the alternator, and in front of, and slightly lower is the A/C comperssor.

over what that thumping can be. Checking fluid levels sure wouldn't hurt. Make sure you top off with HONDA ONLY PS fluid.

 

Thanks for the replies, but alll fluids are fine, I check them on a weekly-basis.

Any other inputs?

 

Could it be something internal to the pump?

Since it's the PS pump, does the steering feel any different when the sound is present?

 

While the car was parked, I steered both to the left and right and didn't feel any different. I even tried driving while the noise was present and everythign seemed fine but the noise.

I guess this is yet another isolated issue I have to deal with

 

Good luck dude... have you brought it to the dealer to check out?

 

Take it to the dealer. Why bother with troubleshooting something like this yourself?

 

Yeah, I set an appointment on the 13th.

And Joerockt, I just wanted to grab as much info as I could.

 

I thought that belt was a fan belt. It might explain why your temp guage went to 50%. I am not a mechanic, but last winter on my Mazda I had to change the fan belt. Without it at the proper tension you can loose power steering, battery power or cooling of the engine (fan).

 

Front wheel drive, 4 cyl. cars usually don't have fans that are belt driven, because their engines are mounted transversely. They are usually driven by electric motors, set off by electro-static switches.

You'll see belt-driven fans mostly on RWD and AWD cars.

 

Interesting. I learn things every day here. Is this new to the last 10 years or so? My old Protege '94 was a FWD 4 cyl. with fan belts.

 

is the noise present when you're park and turning the steering wheel or when you're driving and turning the steering wheel?

if park .. no idea
if driving and turning .. it's your axle.

 

Possibly I used the wrong term, but I always thought that the belt helped charge the alternator that in turn allowed the electro-static pulse to run the fan. Without the belt on my Mazda I lost PS, car overheated and the headlights dimmed.

 

The car overheated possibly more because of the water pump being belt-driven was no longer working. But I would be surprised it was belt driven. Besides, I don't remember noticing such a thing on my bro's P.

 

start simple then escalate. first try spraying a little WD-40 on the belt. the belt may just be dry/cracked/etc enough to cause a slight tapping on a certain position.

i had a similar issue on my s2000. when cold, the tap noise would not be present, but after the engine is warm, the tap noise would appear. a little WD-40 fixed this issue for me (temporarily). i'll probably need a new belt sometime in the near future.

 

But the mileage on my TSX is only 23k.

 

Wouldn't WD40 actually cause the belt to dry out?

 

Sorry to dig up an old thread. But I have similar tapping noises as well either from the P/S pump or from the injector area (I took off the i-vtec cover to check). It's louder than on other AUDM Accord Euros. They have the same sound but much softer. Mine goes taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap. You can't hear it when you give it some throttle though.

 

You can use a mechanic stethoscope to pin point the noise. It could be valve taps.

 

So for the valves, I just put the stethoscope on the valve cover?

Here's a vid of my engine idling. The engine was half warm, so it is idling a little bit higher than normal. But you can hear the tapping.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...AD16272C74EEF9

 

You would place the stethoscope on the front and rear side of the valve cover (not the top). You can use the intake and exhaust runners to reference the valve placements. When done, move the stethoscope over each fuel injector body and check for noise there. Lastly, place the stethoscope over the passenger side valve cover to verify timing chain noise.

The stethoscope is also very helpful in locating bearing noise problems such as alternator, PS pump, fan motors. etc. Just make sure not to place the rod over moving parts.

 

When I brought it to the dealer more than a year ago, they replaced most of the fluids and the belt. I would spare more info if I could, but the receits are all with a new owner that purchased my TSX.

Hope that helps..

 

Didnt know you sold? What did you end up getting?