1998 Honda Civic Noise After Belt Job

sounds like a lazy mechanic timing belt tightness should be measured and adjusted during replacement a mechanic claiming that it needs to be tight to allow for stretching just means he doesnt want to go back and do it right you should never overtighten a timing belt to allow for stretching especially not on a newer car this will cause crackshaft and camshaft prematures bearing wear from pulling on them so hard the only belt i can think over that i would over tighten a little would be a v style belt as these belts do stretch a bit but in case your not aware of this they dont make v style timing belts v style belts are only for accessories such as power steering pump, ac, and alternator but even at that i dont think your 98 has any v belt at all actually i'm positive in any case take it back to him and ask him nicely mechanics tend to get really defensive when they get accussed of doing the job wrong to set the timing belt at the correct tension just say you looked it up on the internet and you found somewhere that it should not be overtightened anyway if its not the timing belt thats over tightened it could be a timing cover that was not positioned correctley during re-installation and is touching the timing belt or components thought this is usually associatted with a smell of burning plastic or rubber i hope this helps

yes, I have noticed the defensiveness. I have already taken it back to him to adjust the timing - twice. It was making a pinging noise - this is in addition to the whirling noise. It is still making the noise, so I am scheduled to take it back to him on Tuesday. He says he needs to get the car up on a lift to look. Plus, when you really punch it, it does start to smell like rubber and plastic. So maybe it is the cover and he will adjust that when he takes a look for the 3rd time since the installation of the belts. If this doesn't work out, I may just take it to another place and not go back to him.

Thanks again for all the info!