losiglow

iTrader: (1)

I did the timing belt job yesterday and thought I might share some tips and tricks that the service manual doesn't tell us. The first time I did it, at 124K miles, it took me 8 hours, which I believe they quote at the dealer. This time around it took a little over 5 hours, which I attribute to having done it before but also knowing some of the nuances that I learned the first time around that the manual doesn't contain.

Not all of these steps are necessarily in order from beginning to end.

1. The step where you use the battery clamp to hold the tensioner pulley is useless. I don't see any reason that this needs to be done. If you loosen the idler pulley or remove the hydraulic tensioner, the tension will be released from the belt enough to remove it. This is much easier than threading this stupid clamp through the threads since the threaded hole you have to put it through is completely hidden. You'll have to do it by feel only. And it takes frickin forever to thread it through since you have very little clearance to turn it. Also, it indicates to do this yet again when you install the new tensioner pulley. Again, useless as far as I can tell because the new tensioner pulley won't apply any tension to the belt until you pull the pin on the hydraulic tensioner. So yeah, as far as I can tell, this step is useless. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I didn't do it before or after and had no problem whatsoever.

2. Earlier during the removal of the belt, the guide bracket is removed to aid in getting the belt off. That's the bracket below with the two bolts holding it on, surrounding the belt. When you're putting the new belt back on, reinstall the bracket when threading the new belt on in order to keep the belt securely in place on the crank gear. In the manual, this step comes in after threading the belt. But if you do it before, the belt will stay securely attached to the crank gear which is very handy when threading it around the other pulleys and cam gears. Otherwise, it easily falls off and becomes super frustrating.

3. You need to pull the belt TIGHT when threading it on the front cam gear (C). You start with the crank gear, then route the belt over the loosened idler pulley (B), then onto the front cam gear. When you do this, pull the belt really tight before setting the teeth of the belt against the cam gear. If you pull it sort of tight, it's going to be off by a tooth, which aside from messing up your timing, is going to make the final routing of the belt to the tensioner pulley (F) pretty much impossible. So I guess you wouldn't mess up your timing because there's no way short of being the incredible hulk that you'll get the belt on the tensioner pulley if you're off by a tooth (or two). The manual doesn't really state this but it will save a lot of frustration. When you get the belt to the tensioner pulley it will still take effort to get it around the pulley. But even without much effort, the belt should just about go around the pulley. Then if you tug it a bit, you can get it positioned on the pulley just fine.




4. After you get the belt installed, you have to tighten the bolt on the idler pulley (B above). However, what the manual doesn't tell you is that if you simply get a ratchet down there and start tightening it, you're likely to end up pinching the inner part of the pulley against the bolt rather than the bolt smoothly guiding into the interior of the pulley like shown. This is because there's a fair bit of tension from the new belt, even without the hydraulic tensioner pin being pulled out yet. Therefore, what you need to do is use one hand to push the pulley inward as you tighten the bolt. Once the bolt flange enters the interior of the pulley, you're pretty much home free and can tighten it the rest of the way without holding it. But if you try to tighten without pushing it inward, you're very likely to just pinch the interior. If only the bolt was beveled so it would guide itself in......

On that note, the manual states to use a new idler pulley bolt instead of reusing the old one. I'm not sure why that is. I didn't have a new one and couldn't leave the car out of service for several days to wait for one to arrive. So I just reused the old one. If anyone can comment on why that appears to be the only bolt the manual states to not reuse, I'd like to hear it.

5. Once the belt is on and the idler pulley bolt is tightened, install the crank pulley and pull the pin on the the hydraulic tensioner. At that point, I recommend starting the engine before installing anything else to make sure all's well. I've never had the belt off by a tooth or two, but from what I've heard, the timing will only be off enough to result in the engine running like crap, but not necessarily off enough to result in the valves and piston wanting to occupy the same space at the same time (and thus, destroying the engine) . Yes, the alternator won't be turning which will result in the light coming on the dash. But you'll only have it started for a few seconds and the battery is plenty capable of running the ECU and ignition for a short while. Maybe just make sure to have everything else off (AC, fan, lights, stereo, etc.). Let the engine idle a bit, maybe give it a bit of throttle to get the RPM's up and make sure there aren't any weird noises or anything. I presume that if timing was off by a tooth that you'd notice that something was wrong pretty quick.

6. When you reinstall the side engine mount bracket, the bolts have to be placed in the mount before you fit it against the water pump. There isn't enough clearance to get those bolts in once the mount is in place. So if you start threading one or two of the bolts in then go to do the third, you'll find that you can't fit it in and will have to unbolt the whole thing and start over. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal but this thing is kind of a pain to get off and put back on because you have very little room to work with when reattaching this thing. A 1/4" ratchet barely fits. And even then, you only have enough clearance to turn in maybe a quarter turn at a time. So it's not something you want to have to unbolt and rebolt simply because you didn't put all the bolts in to being with.



7. Maybe this is obvious, but when you remove the water pump, make sure to have a basin under the car to collect the coolant. I didn't have one in place the first time around and it made a big mess. About a full gallon of coolant will spill out. And once you go to refill the system after reinstalling the pump, I recommend you remove the top radiator hose and refill that way. It's largely the engine that you're draining coolant from, not the radiator. Therefore, using the top radiator hose that routes straight into the engine, and isn't impeded by the thermostat, is the best way to replace the coolant. Pour it in a bit slow though since the air has to escape from the hose as the engine is refilled with coolant. You'll also want to top off the radiator, since a little bit of coolant will drain out. And it might pull all the coolant from the reservoir so check that as well. I used new Pentosin Pentafrost A3 coolant but the Zerex Asian would probably work fine as well. Or of course, the Honda stuff. But that's twice the price and the other stuff is HOAT which is what newer Honda's require. Also, I recommend refilling after the pump is installed - not at the very end once everything is put back together. That way you can make sure that the seal around the pump isn't leaking.

That's about it. Hopefully some of that info is helpful to first timers that attempt the job. Oh, and be prepared to get some beat up hands as well. Even if you wear gloves.

vertigo2

Busted knuckles are a badge of honour. Nice write-up!