power steering belt rubbing

[timmy0tool]

after a 45 minute constant 80mph drive i noticed at idle that there was a strange rubbing noise coming from my engine. it followed the rpm as i revved. i thought nothing of it for half the day since my alternator was already making a whinning noise (bearing maybe) for the past two weeks. but that's not my problem here.

the rubbing bothered me as the day progressed so i inspected and found my power steering belt missing a section. there was dust around the power steering pump pulley and the belt itself assuring me that this was my rubbing problem.

[timmy0tool]

but where was it rubbing on? upon closer inspection i found it was rubbing against the crankshaft pulley. about 1/4 of the belt was eaten off shown by the number of ridges now present.

what could have caused this to happen? the belt was replaced 20k miles ago along with the timing belt and alternator belt. why only now did this problem occur? is something loose? are the belts too tight that it caused something to get loose?

also it was hot (about 80 deg) that day. it seems my belt problem, including my alternator whinning problem, showed itself when the temperature is high after a long drive. but again why now? it was a lot hotter in the summer, but then again this is the first summer for this belt.

any insight? thanks in advance!

[immeraufdemhund]

often times it comes from it being off track which causes it to rub like that. I have had that problem when i get it on and dont relize that i messed up. Cause sometimes it will jump when you tightening it. The whinning could be that you have the belt too tight. there should be about 1/2" of free play on the belt. Try loosening it and putting a couple of long extensions on it and putting your ear up to it with the car running. If the noise in the extensions match the pitch of the noise then that is your problem.

I'm actually having a similar problem in that i think that my TB cover sticks out too far by the crank cause my alt. belt is rubbing against it. It shows signs of that happening with the previous owner.. So i figured they just missed some bolts and i could fix that. I dont think so. Now i'm thinking that it got too hot one time and warped the cover. so part of my belt is ate up also. But I dont have PS or AC anymore, so i can't go out and look for you.

[accord_inspire]

i have the same problem dude .. wtf .. thats weird shit .. please help too..

[Accord SiR]

Whats happening is that the belt is shifting left to right on the pulley and higher rpms do to to much slack. Change the belt and just make sure there is propper tension on that belt. You can always over tighten it and you won't have this problem of shifting but then again you wear down the belt faster.

[evol90accord]

If it's not the tension of the belts, check the condition of your crankshaft pully. There is a rubber strip that holds the two pieces together that can break. It happened to me too, right after I got my a/c fixed. The added stress of running the compressor finally broke it in two, and both belts got eaten like that...

I have pictures of my lower timing belt cover that got eaten alive when that happened. You can see an almost perfect circle where the larger side of the pully kind of laid against the timing belt cover when it fell off. That was a nice 400 repair because I was stuck nowhere near my house when it happened and had to pay a mechanic to do it *shudders* ...

[owequitit]

The other thing you may want to check is the tightening sequence on the PS pump. Due the the mechanical geometry of the tensioning mechanism and the tightening sequence of the bolts, it doesn't actually tighten straight up and down. I first discovered this when I got my AEM pulleys put on because there was less room for error. When I was originally tightening them (in the wrong sequence, it would rub on the alternator pulley and destroy both belts. Just something to look into, I don't know that there is enough of a difference to affect the crank pulley though.

[timmy0tool]

thanks for the replies fellas!

is there a possibility that the bolt holding the crankshaft pulley came loose? also what is the relationship with heat and ambient temperature in this problem? remember my problem only became apparent after a long drive in hot weather. i can't seem to find a correlation.

[ACCORDianate]

You almost have to use a jackhammer to get the bolt to the crank pulley loose.

Make sure its not also rubbing on a wobbly a/c pulley like mine is. I have to replace my accessory belts about 1x/yr because of it. It shreds the engine side of the belts but leaves the 'out' side unscathed.

[cb9tunerguy]

im gonna have to agree with evol90accord. from the pics it looks like the harmonic dampner in the crank shaft pully is breaking apart. its not that un common. as far as the alt belt rubbing on the t-belt cover, the rubber dust seal in the cover swells if it was soaked with oil from the pan leaking causing the cover to stick out farther than it should or the thrust washer may not be installed correctly or at all.

[owequitit]

It very likely could be the harmonic balancer. It may be rubbing all the time, but is considerably worse after a long drive because of the intense heat generated. You would be surprised how much heat one of those things can take! I can tell by the way it is wearing down that it is getting really hot. On a long highway trip with mine rubbing, they just kept popping off and getting a little skinnier each time. Since I was in the middle of the desert in July, I just kept putting them back on. They made it 3 hours and 200 miles back home, without any problems.

It is almost impossible for the crank pulley bolt to come loose, it is on there at 159 lb/ft. There is also a key in there that sits in a groove in the pulley, which unless missing or very worn wouldn't allow the pulley to wobble. Coincidentally, that same key drives the t-belt pulley and the balancer belt pulley, so you would know if it was gone.

[PakaloloHonda]

You almost have to use a jackhammer to get the bolt to the crank pulley loose.
Make sure its not also rubbing on a wobbly a/c pulley like mine is.

Yep .. That was it in my original motor .. problem solved.

A Hui Hou !!!
Tomi

[jhondayaaj]

it is the harmonic balancer(crank pulley) that is coming apart. i would start with that.

[timmy0tool]

dang you all are RIGHT! it is the harmonic dampener! i finally went under the car and saw the culprit. it was wobbling a lot more today. now i can see why the heat is a factor. being that it is a 13-year-old part, it was probably brittle and the heat caused it to break.

for a temporary fix i hammered it back in and used jb weld to hold it in place. it's drying overnight and i hope it'll be alright when i drive to work in the morning *crossing fingers* .

here is a pic that i took of what i saw. please excuse the sludge of oil and debris. i want my H22 NOW! thanks for all the replies!

[Accord SiR]

Well, thats a good excuse for an h22a