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So, 2 days into my work - new timing belt, water pump, pulleys, tensioners, resealing of oil pump and oil pan are just about finally complete.
I'm probably overthinking this or paranoid or both... but the rear cam pulley marks don't seem to line up in the mirror... they appear to line up when looking directly top down... but now I'm second guessing myself.
Any comments if these marks are correct The crank pulley triangle is pointing up for clarification.
Front Cam Marks Rear Cam Marks Crank Pulley with triangle upward and woodruff key up.
I know the front cam sprocket has two notches on it: at "1" and at "5". Hopefully the front one was lined up with #1 when you did the initial set before removing the old belt, and still is.
Rear cam sprocket only has the one mark. And crank has the arrow you align with the arrow on the block (as you seem to have it).
For adjusting Cams that get off position (not saying your is, it does't look too bad from when I replaced the timing belt on my 3.5 Accord, sometimes the belt teeth pull the sprocket slightly to seat) I would point you to this video by "Eric the Car Guy". He has great Honda/Acura content and he is a certified Acura master tech. He's working on his cheap car in this video, so not being super careful as he is in other customer repair videos. Reference time stamp 33:19 to show no big deal if the cam sprocket jumps when putting the belt back on (as long as you had everything clocked properly before removing the old TB) just rotate it back to proper position and put the belt on. Good to go! Also Eric O. from S.M.A. suggests manually rotating the crank once the TB is back on to make sure there is no binding. This way you would feel if a valve was hitting and could make adjustments where starting the engine would just power through and possibly bend a valve if something did happen to be off. I think this is a very important step and I would definitely recommend you do this even if you do not have any concern as a safety check.
Yes, the front cam was at #1 and appears to be dead on the line when viewed straight ahead and with the mirror. The rear cam is difficult to view straight ahead and looks somewhat aligned with the mirror. I suppose I'm just questioning myself.
The crank was pointed arrow to arrow and i'm confident with that one lol.
I've turned the crank (using the crank bolt, not the cam bolts) and it will turn and get difficult and then easily turn again. I assume it's the compression in the engine with the spark plugs still installed.
I wouldn't know the feeling if the engine was binding up against the valves... would there be a metallic sound or would it simply not be able to be turned further? Obviously the engine if it was running would just plow ahead I'd assume.
I haven't started the vehicle yet.. been a bit too shy to do so lol.
Yes, manually cranking... feeling the compression stroke and then having it get easy is what you want. If something like a valve was crashing you would definitely feel a difference in force required to turn the crank, it would feel locked up.
As you mentioned, you could remove the spark plugs making turning easier and then it would be easier to tell if the rotation hits a hard stop. But sounds like you are OK if you are cranking and make a full 1-6 cycle with the resistance feeling the same through the strokes.
I get the same way, super paranoid if something doesn't line up perfectly. 😁
03-30-2020, 08:01 AM
