In many cases, special tools are needed to correctly install a timing belt. Plus, other parts may need replacing. Timing gear indexing (precisely aligning the camshaft gears and crankshaft gear to the manufacturers specs) is critical. Even if one gear is one tooth “off,” engine valve timing will be out of sync, damaging your engine or causing it to run rough.

I think I’ll take his word for it for now. I’ve heard the noise for quite a while before, never really thought much about it until recently just like the power steering noise mystery that has baffled me for quite a while:

I don’t believe it’s the one where the bottom of car hits the road because of bobbing up and down and having low clearance from tires to bottom of car frame. I’ve heard that type of noise before as passenger in other people’s cars.

Grinding sound when drivingstraight

It pays to buy a timing belt kit rather than the individual items. Depending on the specific make and model, a typical timing belt kit ($100 to $500) includes a timing belt, timing belt tensioner, idler gears or pulleys, water pump, gaskets, O-rings and seals and other hardware.

I’m on the same page (as I usually am) with mountainbike, and I have a hard time imagining that Suzuki–or any other car maker–would use plastic lug nuts.

Yes, this noise (and probably the shuddering too) is likely to be associated with some suspension component…and/or some drivetrain component. I’m going to posit a wild guess that it’s coming from the control arm ends (joints) or the ball joints. But you gottta get this lifted up on a rack to know anything at all. You gotta have it looked at. ASAP. You could have a ball joint ready to fall apart, and I’ve seen the damage that can cause; you don’t wanna know. The wheel crumples up backwards into the wheel well and if you’re really lucky there’ll be no Freightliner coming the other way.

On a related topic, I went checking my wheel nuts since I had new tires put on recently. Noticed that on 3 out of 4 tires, one nut was not bolted tight (though not too loose) and those nuts are cracked (they’re plastic - stock from the Suzuki). Would that also cause any related problem. Not sure how long they’ve been cracked, I’ve never checked really until now. But one tire/wheel seems fine out of 4.

RE Lugnuts, I helped a neighbor change a tire, I was not sure what was going on so I looked in the manual. The one loose imitation lugnut was to unscrew and remove hubcap, to get to the real lugnuts.

Take your car to another mechanic and have them put it up on the rack and check the front suspension. Old cars mean worn components. I don’t want to see you get hurt because the mechanic did not want to take the time to put it on the lift. Check “mechanic files” for your area.

Yea, I don’t know much about cars, so the plastic would likely be the decorative nut on the wheel cover. Is it a problem if one of those is not tight? they cracked along the side, from one of the angled corners of the nut. I’m guess maybe overdriven with power torque wrenches?

Grindingnoisewhen drivingat low speeds

But as the noise wasn’t really loud and doesn’t happen all the time, he said it’s normal for an aging car and that he doesn’t recommend fixing it until it gets worse (really loud, or happens all the time consistently when driving over bumpy roads or making turns). Otherwise kind of waste of money to fix early on. Just curious, I asked how much it would be to fix and he said roughly $200 and the bushing parts were cheap like $20 (forget exact figure mentioned) but labor would be high to take time to pinpoint the noise & bad bushings, when there’s like 20-30 on my car.

Interesting. I haven’t personally run across that setup for retaining hubcaps before, but it makes sense that someone would do it that way. It’s actually a good idea.

Grindingnoisewhen drivingat high speeds

The price the pros charge to replace a timing belt ($350 to $1,500) varies depending on the engine, make, model and year. It also matters whether an independent repair shop or dealer’s service department makes the repair.

Scrapingsound when drivingslowly

Thanks for the comments. I’ll have it looked at when I get a chance then. Looks like my other post may have been deleted, I can’t seem to find it and it’s not under “My Discussions”.

Timing belts are a maintenance item; they can wear out and fail without warning. Check your owner’s manual. It pays to know which kind of engine you have and the recommended replacement intervals.

Engines come in two configurations: Interference and non-interference. When a timing belt fails the camshaft(s) stops turning and the valves stop moving, but the crankshaft still rotates for a few seconds. An interference engine has insufficient clearance between the valves and pistons. Because the crankshaft keeps rotating, pistons will slam into any valves stuck in the open position, causing catastrophic engine damage. A timing belt failure in a non-interference engine will leave you inconveniently stranded.

See these videos I recorded for the sound of the car when idle: seems a bit rather loud. Can hear part of it while in car idling and the hood closed. Is this normal or indicates potential problem to fix?

Timing belt replacement should be left to the pros. It can be complicated to replace the timing belt on most engines, especially those with dual camshafts or lots of drive accessories that need to be removed.

Consult a repair manual to see if you can easily remove the timing belt cover. A repair manual is different from an owner’s manual because it lists step-by-step repair procedures. Most auto parts stores carry vehicle repair manuals, and many lend them to their customers at no cost.

I did have tires replaced with new ones recently though if that makes a difference, car didn’t go through alignment check though, just rebalance new tires.

Many timing belt covers are difficult reach, making visual access to the belt impossible. If you can’t get to the cover without taking half the engine compartment apart, leave it to the pros to determine if your vehicle’s timing belt needs to be replaced.

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Grindingnoise whiledrivingbut not brakes applied

Worn tie rods or other suspension component whose articulating surface is worn or needs lubrication. I have grease fittings on my tractor components and they grind when they need attention. Cars have no such luck. Something may need to be replaced. Have it put on a lift and inspected. You may not be able to tell anything with the suspension under load.

I think that mountainbike is probably correct, but I would suggest having the CV joints (both inner & outer) checked, along with the suspension.

Have you ever wondered if it's time to replace a timing belt? For the answer, listen to your engine and follow your vehicle's maintenance schedule.

But curious, why would engine shuddering be related to suspension? By shuddering, I meant there’s sort of a vibration coming from engine like it’s shivering and about to turn off as if run out of gas (I’ve felt that before on a 20 yr old car that had known symptom of always doing that whenever I apply brakes at low speed ~5-10 mph or less, so I had to let go of brakes a bit to prevent it from actually dying that would require restarting the car & then I’d sometimes had problems restarting the car as well during warm weather but those days are long gone). It’s not shuddering as if the car’s frame/chassis was shaking.

Grindingnoise from front wheelwhen driving

Plastic? are you sure those aren’t the decorative nuts on the hubcap? Any damaged lugnut should justify replacement of them all, but I’ve never seen and cannot imagine a plastic lugnut.

Understand that shudders caused by bad CV joints will propogate backwards through the engine as well as out to the wheels and that shudders that may feel like they’re coming from the engine could be coming from the suspension.

For that noise, the mechanic was concerned about it, and we ended up finding the problem & fixing it while replacing timing belt.

There is no simple answer. First, check your owner’s manual for the recommended maintenance schedule. Some manufacturers recommend replacing the timing belt every 30,000 miles, while others suggest 120,000 miles. Several other factors should be part of the equation when considering replacing a timing belt, including:

Timing belts themselves are relatively inexpensive but can easily cause thousands of dollars of damage if they break while the engine is running.

Is this noise likely to be associated to some suspension component, axle, or the shock absorbers, etc.? I recently had the shocks replaced about a year ago, I hope the shocks didn’t just die after a year. Other than that, car runs fine.

I wish you had combined this with your other post describing a shuddering when you turn full-stop. This changes my other answer to your other post.

If you can get to the belt, it should be taut, with about a 1/4-in. to 1/2-in. deflection when pressed with your thumb along its longest run between gears. It should be smooth and flat (no rounded edges), not glossy or shiny, have no chunks missing, be free of large cracks or peeling and show no signs of fraying. Small surface cracks are okay, but spider cracking on the surface signals extreme wear.

I called my mechanic about this problem, he said to bring it in for a test drive with him to listen to the noise and go from there. So we’ll see…

Intermittentgrindingnoisewhen driving

I don’t think I’ve heard it for a while but hearing them again. While driving car over some terrain (road, parking lot, parking lot ramp) that’s not flat but curved up/down, as the car goes over it, I may hear a grinding type noise.

Do most mechanics even bother to check nuts by hand after tightening up with those power torque wrenches to confirm tightness or check for things like crack/strip or they just go “ok done” once the power wrenching indicates can turn no further.

And right now that shuddering is only while turning into parking spot (wide turns). I’ve not noticed anything doing right turns on street or left/U turn at intersection, or turning into parking spot at 90 degrees or less. It might be that on those wide turns the ground wasn’t flat but slanted up or down, I’m not sure. I did once drive the old car mentioned before that made noise while making left turns. I brought that in and turned out the left axle (or maybe CV joint, I forget) was worn out and I had that replaced.

Engines using timing chains can also be interference or non-interference engines. Timing belts are usually molded from rubber or neoprene, have strong fibers or steel running the length of the belt (similar to a tire) and produce less noise than metal timing chains. This makes them strong and durable. But they don’t last forever.

VDC’s comment about the inner CV joints being suspect is particularly relevant here. The inner CV joints are designed to allow the total axle length to change as it moves through both the suspension dynamics and the steering arcs. It contains a three-pronged “wishbone” (my word) that slides back and forth within a three-slotted “housing” as the axle turns and the suspension or steering inputs change its length. And when you torn to the stop while parking, the “wishbones” can go to places in the slots where they rarely go. An inner CV joint could easily be the culprit.

Grindingnoisewhenaccelerating

I took the car to mechanic today for test drive. Based on telling him the noise comes when going over bumps or uneven road in parking lots, and being in the car with me for the test drive, he said it’s likely some of the bushings in the car are getting worn.

Also, the comment, “one tire/wheel seems fine out of 4” is hardly something that should comfort you. All 4 wheels need to be secured with steel lug nuts that are torqued to the correct specification.

If Suzuki actually did resort to plastic lug nuts (rather than just decorative pseudo-lug nuts on wheel covers), then they really did deserve to go out of business in The US.

Whether you or your mechanic replaces the timing belt, it’s always a good idea to replace these other components at the same time.

A timing belt is similar to an engine drive belt, except timing belts have teeth. In many engines, timing belts have replaced metal timing chains (similar to a bicycle chain) connecting the camshaft and crankshaft gears. The camshaft and crankshaft must work in perfect harmony, called valve timing, during the four-stroke combustion cycle (intake, compression, power, exhaust).