Nofear6370

I had my timing belt, alternator belt, power steering belt, and water pump changed last weekend from a local mechanic that I trust. 2 days after bringing the car home, I noticed a slight whine when the car was idle, at first I thought it was the belts maybe cause they were new. So I ignored it but then took the car back to the mechanic today and had them listen to it. He says the power steering pump is going bad. He is a good guy and I trust him but its a bit weird that it happened so close to the timing belt work. He said that it could have been on the fritz and that they could have disrupted it while doing the timing belt work. What do you guys think? Just want to make sure I am not getting ripped off. Also read some stuff about if you over tighten the belts that it could damage the power steering pump. FYI - it is an '01 CL-S with 68k on it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... I have an appt for Saturday (estimate is 250 for the part and about 80 bucks for an hour of labor).

504P_CLS

Both scenarios you described are entirely possible.

1) An overtightened belt on the PS or water pump can kill the bearing pretty quickly. The whine you hear is pretty characteristic of this happening.

2) However, at that age, it is also possible the pump was on the edge and a new belt at different (but within spec) tension put it over the top.

celynka

Too large Tension on the pump is a possibility but another thing is the oil. If you use anything different than honda fluid it will whine like crazy. I ve done that, and poured regular power steering and ended up flushing entire system to get it quiet!

Nofear6370

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up getting the work done and the car was quiet and running great for a while. Then recently I started hearing clicking when the car is running in Park and the clicking is louder when the car was in drive with my foot on the brake pedal. I took it in today and they said the tensioner pulley and arm need to be replaced, about 200 bucks for parts and labor. Weird that the power steering pump and now this within a month or two of having the timing belt work done. I miss spending my money on upgrades vs this repair nonsense (its overrated) :-)

krazykrnboi

things like this happen all the time. it just timing i guess... you get one thing fixed, but something else goes wrong a couple days after... who knows... i dont think a mechanic would purposely do something to make money that way... plus if your a regular customer and you trst him and he knows u, i doubt he would think of doing something like that lol.. its just timing...