Grinding noise + engine stumbles on acceleration

[Civvy4Life]

Hey,

Recently bought an 89 crx si, last week it started making weird squeeling noise which I thought was the serpentine belt so I replaced it and the squeeling stopped, then today I was driving home and I heard this loud unholy grinding noise coming from my engine. The noise was increasingly louder as I hit higher RPM and the engine would stumble on acceleration. Oil levels are good, engine only has 189k on it and its always passed aircare (similar to SMOG tests), I have no idea what this noise is, It sounds like it may be a bearing of some sort or a piston. I don't wanna drive it to a mechanic due to the fact that the sound got continuously worse as I drove and I don't wanna tow it to a mechanic if it's something I can do myself. If anyone has any clues as to what it may be or where I should start looking I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[Honda9206]

Can you tell for a fact that it is coming from the engine. Does it do it when you are idling or just while driving?

 

[shelzmike]

My 93 Civic DX does the same thing, I think based on what you are talking about. Is your CRX a manual? When I first got mine and heard this noise, it freaked me out. I think I have deduced that it is a throw-out bearing and I have been told that it can go like this for a long time. Since I plan on swap within the year I am not too worried about it. I have AAA so I'm all set. Mine only does it in first and second gear - it sort of sounds like the regular engine noise, but amplified on top of the engine noise. If you are idling and press in the clutch, do you still hear the sound? With mine I do not, which is leading me to believe throw-out.

Mike

 

[RonJ]

OP: Either buy an inexpensive ($5) stethoscope or put your ear at the end of a cut piece of garden hose and probe different locations of the idling engine with the other end to pinpoint the source of the noise. Start with the drive belt area where the alternator, power steering, idler pulley, and A/C compressor are. The bearings of those pulleys get noisy when they fail. My wild guess would be that the alternator is the cause.

 

[Civvy4Life]

My engine noise is unlikely to be a throw out bearing if what you wrote are the symptoms for the throw out bearing. My grinding noise is incredibly loud in all gears and it does not stop when I press the clutch. The noise occurs both when idling and driving, I thought about it being the alternator but would a faulty alternator cause my car to stumble on acceleration like that? I'll borrow my buddy's stethoscope this weekend hopefully and listen to whats going on. Thanks for all the input in so far

 

[shelzmike]

Yeah, if yours is doing it that often, then you are probably right - not the same thing. It's always hard to describe sounds over these forums - it is always subjective.

Mike

 

[Civvy4Life]

So I took a look at the engine with the stethoscope and the alternator was fine and i decided to take a look at the timing belt cover and low and behold that was the source of the noise.I took the cover off and took a look at the belt and it was loose as hell and the water pump rocked easily up and down so the shaft bearings must've given out. That would explain the noise and the stumbling must've been caused by the timing belt skipping a tooth. Thanks for the quick responses and the help tho guys

Pat