I have just completed replacing the timing belt on my 99 Lantra 1.6; I used a Gates belt and replaced the tensioner and idler with genuine parts. Now however I get a whine coming from the belt area; its Ok at tickover but makes a zzzeeee noise as its revved. I've never had this before when I've replaced belts on other cars however I have read the following:
1) Gates belts can be noisy
2) Timing belt will whine if its too tight
3) Belt whine is normal on a new belt and it will settle in 2K miles or so when the belt has bedded in and stretched a little.

Here is a quote I found from a Honda site: 'You should always over tighten the timing and balance shaft belt unless your going to retighten the belt anyway in 500 miles. Most mechanics do not re-tighten the timing belts on the cars they service which causes premature belt ware due to the belt being lose. Overtightening gets the belt stretch over within the first 2k miles or so and there is a noticeable whine from the timing belt when over tightened. This will go away in about 2K-3k miles, nothing to worry about as long as he replaced the tensioners and of course used a good belt.'

I would say I tensioned it fairly tight but you can deflect it about 7mm with moderate pressure as per Haynes manual guideline. It will also twist 1/8 turn reasonably easily; it would probably go a 1/4 if I used more force but I don't want to damage the belt. I'm not sure I can get a torque wrench back on the tensioner bolt without taking off the engine mount again :( so don't want to slacken it off unnecessarily
So should I leave it and see if the noise goes away or would you recommend I slacken the belt now in case its too tight and might damage itself or something else? Advice please.

if the belt whines after replacement then it's a classic sign that the belt is too tight. my advice is to slacken it off slightly. what you have read on that honda site is a load of xxxxxxxxx

Thanks for the reply Montego. Here is a link for the complete 'Honda' thread:

http://www.superhonda.com/forum/f13/new-ti...se-help-257538/

see what you think.

as l said this is total rubbish, when a cam. belt is fitted and tensioned properly there should be no whine or any other strange noises and the belt should need no maintainance until it's due for the next belt change, l have fitted hundreds of cam. belts to all different makes and models and believe me if a new belt starts to whine after fittment something is not right (usually it's to tight)

Doing a google search on 'Timing belt whine' or 'Cambelt whine' does produce a lot of results. For a new belt, there is definitely a school of thought that says it will be noisy until bedded in, especially if the tensioners/idlers are steel rather than plastic. Other threads say 'Gates' belts are always noisy !
Another thing I noticed was that the new tensioner and idler were fairly stiff as the bearings were new (unlike the old ones which spun freely but a bit noisily) and I reckoned if the belt were not tight, there was a risk of it slipping round the new tensioner and idler rather than actually turning them causing the belt to rub and wear.
Anyway I will have another look at the weekend and re-assess the tension with the upper timing cover off and let you know what I decide. Unfortunately it is my son's car and is uninsured and not taxed at the moment so I can't drive it around to see if the noise does indeed go away in a few days as some google posts suggest.
But thanks for your opinion. I too have changed several belts and never experienced this whining; though this is the first time on a Hyundai and first time I have fitted new tensioner and idler.

Update:
I was able to get to the tensioner with just the upper timing cover removed so I decided to slacken off the tension to see if this fixed the whining. The whining did indeed go away and it sounded much better; thanks for your input 'Montego'.

One problem I had was that the tensioner kept slipping when I went to finally torque the bolt up to 35 ft-lb; and it made the tension far too loose. So having adjusted the tension for as tight as possible with no whine; it all slipped when trying to tighten down the tensioner bolt AARRRRGGH ! In the end I just had to do a trial and error type of thing; do the tensioner tight, and try and hold it with the allen key in the tensioner while torquing down the bolt and then checking play and whining. I have it set now so the belt will move about 10mm when pushed from the side. This is double what Haynes suggest but I need it that slack to get rid of the whine.

Measuring the tension is a bit hit and miss anyway and depends how the crank and cam settle relative to each other. e.g. the belt could be taught between the cam and crank but slack round the tensioner side so that you think its on nice and tight when it isn't. One other method I use for belt tension is to start the engine and watch the belt flutter as you rev up and then drop revs; if it just flutters a little (about 4mm max total movement from side to side), then tension is about right in my opinion. If you see no movement, it may be too tight; if its vibrating/fluttering wildly, then its too loose. But as I said the Lantra was hard to set with everything put back together as tightening the tensioner bolt made the tensioner move altering the tension. Overall its the most difficult belt change I've had to do so far; the water pump pulleys were especially awkward to reassemble as there is no room between the water pump and the inner wing (some suggest jacking the engine up to help) ! Total job time around 6 hours.
Hope this experience is of help to others.

glad to hear you got a result in the end. welcome to the world of motor mechanics