I own a 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe AWD with a 2.7L V6. The car has approximately 91,300 miles. (The warranty is no longer valid since I am not the original owner.) I just had the timing belt and timing belt tensioner replaced. When I picked the car up, there was a new metallic-sounding clocking noise present that was not there before. It is proportional to engine speed (i.e. - it is more rapid at high RPMs) and does NOT go away once the engine has warmed up to normal operating temperature. I drove the car for several days and a few hundred miles, and it seems to operate normally (oil pressure and engine temperature are OK, and gas mileage is the same as normal). It just has this annoying metallic-sounding clocking noise.

I took the car back to find out what this noise was, and the service shop (which is part of a Hyundai dealer) claimed that the noise was due to a faulty sepertine belt tensioner. This sounded suspicious, but since they do have to pull off the serpentine belt to replace the timing belt, I agreed. (They only charged me for the sepertine belt tensioner itself, not the labor.)

When I picked up the car, the noise was still there! I told them that they hadn't fixed the problem, so they looked at it again and now they say that the lifters are bad and it will cost about $600 to replace them. (Oh, and they say the noise is different now and they will not refund the money for the serpentine belt tensioner.)

Clearly, this dealer did something wrong to cause this noise, and now they are jerking me around to a.) cover their butts, and b.) see how much money they can get out of me.

Any idea on what this metallic-sounding clocking noise could be? And is it possible (and even probable) that it was caused by faulty work in replacing the timing belt and timing belt tensioner?

since the noise has only started since they changed the timing belt it's almost certain that something is amiss with the fitting of the belt. it could be the tensioner one of the pulleys or a loose belt among other things. since your dealer will not take any responsibility you should take another route. in the u.k. there are organizations like trading standards that will put pressure on trades that have not done the work properly l'm sure you must have something about the same in the states. it's time to start banging your fist on the table to get some action. don't ignor this noise as in the worst case the belt may come off and cause major damage

The number of post timing-belt related problems and following dealer complaints have me a bit worried. I know of at least two other incidents on a separate Santa Fe forum and the several here. All involve engines running poorly, not at all, or sounding differently/poorly after the work has been performed.

I'm at 97,500 miles and have another 22,000 until the next timing belt is due. You've got me sweating bullets this won't happen to me. :unsure:

Everyone, the mystery has been solved. When the shop replaced my timing belt, they lifted the engine by placing a jack under the oil pan WITHOUT putting a 2 x 4 or something similar between the jack and the oil pan to distribute the load. The force of the jack on the oil pan dented it so much that it pushed the bottom of the oil pan up against the oil pick-up (suction) inside the oil pan. Thus, the pick-up could not pull in enough oil to distribute properly to the engine. (Think of trying to drink something out of a glass with a straw, but having the straw jammed all the way into the bottom of the glass rather than leaving a gap.) This lack of oil flow caused insufficient oil to the lifters (the last part of the engine to receive oil), which caused the noise. Once the dent was removed and the proper clearance restored between the bottom of the oil pan and the oil pick-up, the noise went away.

l hope they have fitted a new oil pan free of charge!

Wow....Don't get me wrong, I would be happy the problem was fixed, but I would be raising heck with someone over these two points:

1. How could a dealership with "trained" professionals that charge, what, about 70 dollars an hour labor jack up a motor on the oil pan w/o some type of buffer between the jack and the pan??? Most newbies with no training would see the flaw here.

2. What kind of damage was done due to the insufficient supply of oil??? How many years/miles did I lose or how much unnecessary wear was placed on my internal components? At the very least I would would Hyundai HQ and give a WTF about this dealership and their service department. These guys should be re-evaluated or have their people retrained.