Toyota Repair: Piston slap, piston slap, piston skirt

Question
Hi Ted!

Hoping you can help with an unrelated Toyota issue.

Had a timing belt replaced on my 1999 Accord LX 4 cyl over a year ago. It's out of warranty now. Anyway, ever since having this done, the engine has developed piston slap when cold and my gas mileage has declined noticeably. I am the original owner so I know what noise it "wasn't" making before the new timing belt job. The mechanic at the time said it was piston slap and perhaps I should have questioned him further about it.  

Any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks a lot :)

Answer
Excessive piston wear will typically cause the noise you are describing, usually the bottom part of the piston (skirt) will cause the noise due to either wear or scoring due to loss of lubrication. Replacing the timing belt will not cause this unless they also changed the oil and forgot to put oil in then realized their mistake.
High mileage and infrequent oil changes are also a factor.