[FIXED] 2003 Hyundai Elantra Timing Belt and Water Pump Installation Aftermath

[Stephen Carney]

Hi All,

I recently completed my first water pump and timing belt installation on a 2003 Hyundai Elantra GLS. I’ll give a brief description to get everyone up to speed, but for the full backstory for this car, check out the following topics:
P0335 DTC Causing No Start – https://www.scannerdanner.com/forum/post-your-repair-questions-here/1027-p0335-dtc-causing-no-start.html?start=30#14147
Hyundai Elantra Timing Belt – Alternator Reinstallation Issue – https://www.scannerdanner.com/forum/post-your-repair-questions-here/1667-hyundai-elantra-timing-belt-alternator-reinstallation-issue.html#13614

So briefly, I chased a P0335 no start condition on a car back in April and May. I replaced both the Cam and Crankshaft position sensors to no avail. I discovered that I was experiencing a fuel delivery issue, and was able to diagnose that the fuel pump was bad. The water pump on this car was also leaking, so I simultaneously replaced the timing belt, water pump, and the three drive belts: alternator, power steering, and AC. I wasn’t able to work on the car for about six months, fast forward to last weekend. I replaced the fuel pump assembly and voila, the car started for the first time in about six months.

I have two concerns. First, the car makes a weird noise when it starts. It only last the first few seconds on startup. I have a YouTube video of it here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMZjbacvb4
As you can see in the video, I left the upper timing cover off for now just to look at the belt. Not sure if that would block the noise if it was coming from the timing belt, I doubt it.

Second, when I first turned the car on, I got a huge cloud of white smoke coming from the tailpipe. In trying to diagnose the fuel delivery issue, I tried to run the car off carb cleaner. I never got it to run though, so I ended up spray a good bit of carb cleaner in the intake manifold. After a few minutes, it mostly cleared up. I have another YouTube video showing a small trace amount of smoke coming from the tailpipe. Not sure if this might just be water vapor as I can see some water dripping off the muffler. Here is the video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVaMYP-Ssbw
Also noteworthy, I hooked up my scan tool while the car was running, and I observed the B1S2 oxygen sensor data was consistently low, which I thought was odd. I remember previously it stayed somewhere around .750V. Before all of this, the car did have a P0420. The car was only on for about five minutes, not sure if it needs to be on longer to get more reliable data. Thanks.

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

As to your first issue..
It sounds like a over tensioned belt.
But diagnosing sound through a video is not ideal.

As to your second issue..
One by-product of modern engines is water vapor.
It is not uncommon to see a little white smoke come out the tail pipe.

Does it look this bad?

[Stephen Carney]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the input. I worked on the car last night and figured out what the issue was. I started taking each belt off, one at a time. Finally the only thing left on it was the timing belt and it was still making the noise. I loosened the tension on the timing belt and the noise is gone. I am still have a bit of trouble getting the tension and adjustment quite right though. The timing belt is adjusted by manually pushing the tensioner counterclockwise into the timing belt with a hex key. When I had the belt on the first time, the timing belt had a tendency to walk towards the right of the car(away from the engine). After reading online that the noise was coming from an over tensioned timing belt, I pushed the tensioner forward with my hand instead of the hex key. Although the noise went away, now the timing belt is actually walking the opposite direction, to the left(towards the engine).

Does anyone have any advice on how to properly set the tension, also so that the belt doesn’t walk. I read that the hole for the hex key should be at the “six o’clock” position for the proper tension. Both the tensioner and idler pulleys are brand new OEM parts from Hyundai. Even so I can still feel a little bit of slop in the tensioner pulley. It seems like the difference between using my hand verse the allen key pushes that slop one way or another causing the belt to walk one direction or the other. Does it take just a bit of trial and error to get it right? Thanks for the help.

Steve

[Mike]

When you say the belt “walks” in one direction or another when you’re adjusting the tension, do you mean that the cam rotates a bit from its timing marks?

I have no Hyundai experience, but any belt job I’ve done required that the cam be prevented from turning by locking it it place, usually with a factory tool. The tool is usually nothing more than an alignment pin. With a bit of luck and a gentle touch, a round-shank phillips screwdriver or high-strength bolt of the right diameter and length will do the job.

[Stephen Carney]

After speaking to a few people about the belt walk, I have gotten feedback that it is okay as long as all of the belt is on the camshaft sprocket. In other words, none of the belt is hanging out over the camshaft sprocket at all. It just isn’t perfectly centered.

As far as the white smoke it seems to have cleared up. Also the downstream O2 is now back to reading around .750V

Thanks to everyone for their help.

[Author]

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