I took over this car at the mileage of 78000 as the 3rd owner, and it is now 100000 miles.
My problems are noise from the engine.
1) From the driver's position, I can feel that it is coming from the passenger side front compartment, where are timing belt and fan belt.
2) In winter, it'is extremely severer, as if something unbalanced is pulsating. But after 5-10 min's warming up, it sounds less than that.
3) When I brought my car to a Toyota dealer, they diagnosed that the timing belt seemed to be the original one from the factory, even though a replacement is needed every 60000 miles.
4) I heard that replacing old engine mount, which is usually made of rubber, may help to reduce the noise problem, in general sense.
Can anyone help in with the timing belt and the engine mount issues?
I'd appreciate your advice.
Thank you very much!!
I've been possessing this car as the 3rd owner
Describe the noise? Rattling, buzzing, grinding, etc
Guest lsw00kor
Hello, thanks for your reply.
1) The main type of noise.... it is pulsating noise, and when I open the front hood, I think that noise is coming exactly from the belts. Beyond this, it's very hard to explain. I'm not a native speaker in English.
In this sense, I was considering replacing the timing belt and fan belt.
2) The engine mount...I mentioned this because, in addition to the noise above 1), there is something like background noise. As we know, as car becomes old, the background noise from the engine worsens. I meant this kind of noise.
And some article that I read suggested this kind of overall worsening can be improved by replacing the engine mount.
Thank you very much for your reply.
I'm still looking for answers here and on the web.
For the pulsing noise - probably a worn belt or bad belt tensioner. Could also be debris caught in the pulleys, bent or warped pulleys, or a bad bearing. Look at the accessories that are attached by the belts - water pump, alternator, A/C compressor, etc. Make sure those are OK - as noise is really hard to pinpoint around an engine.
In any case - probably be a good idea to replace the timing belt.
As for the engine mount - replacement may help if the mount is worn. Sometimes it can make the moise worse - if you go with a solid or better motor mount, the sound will be transmitted more efficiently/directly into the cabin. Obvious signs of mount damage are tears or leaks, if the engine moves excessively while you open the throttle, and if there are thumping noises or hard hits - as the motor hits something.
