My daughter had her timing belt and balance shaft belt replaced on her 97 Honda accord. After leaving the repair shop she noticed the oil light was blinking. I checked and there is an oil leak that wasn't there before. Could replacing the belts have caused this? I called the repair shop and they told me replacing the belts couldn't have caused this.

Changing the belts would involve taking off the valve cover and oil pan drain plug to remove oil. Not properly reinstalling either could result in leaks. Also, it is recommended that both can and crank seals are replaced when the timing belt is serviced since they will be accessible. If those seals were not correctly replaced or damaged inadvertently somehow, those could also be culprits.

I meant to say 'cam' seals; not 'can'

Thanks for your help. Unfortunately I paid more money to get the leak fixed, as they insisted it wasn't anything they did. I feel like I was taken advantage of because I'm a woman.

You`re welcome. What did they do to `fix` the leak?

Re surging; 99 accord 4 cyl did this. While replacing valve cover gaskets for suspected leaks, found that spark plug stem seals were defective. Suspect that crankcase and intake system was getting excessive air. First set of new stem soft seals got destroyed during cover assembly. Got second set that were harder, which survived valve cover assembly. Surging is going away. Can't run engine much as apparently have bad cam seal leak. I aam not a pro.