Timing belt question.

[Spiderldr]

I have a couple q's.

First off, I was wondering how to get the lower timing cover off. I'm pretty sure that I have to take those pulley wheels off. And I was wondering if that is what I should do, and also how to do it.

I was also wondering about timing belt placement. I know that If I don't put it on exactly right it wornt work. high tension in one segment, slack in another. But since mine broke, I dont have a reference on how to place my new one. any suggestions?

[visionguru]

I have a couple q's.
First off, I was wondering how to get the lower timing cover off. I'm pretty sure that I have to take those pulley wheels off. And I was wondering if that is what I should do, and also how to do it.
I was also wondering about timing belt placement. I know that If I don't put it on exactly right it wornt work. high tension in one segment, slack in another. But since mine broke, I dont have a reference on how to place my new one. any suggestions?
All you Qs can be answered by Honda service manual (which you can download), or a Haynes manual.

The car has interference engine. If the timing belt is broken, there is a big chance that the engine has been damaged, but you might be very lucky.

[logic]

Not so! The A20A is a non-interfering engine in stock form... Replace the belt & go.

Before removing the crank pully, turn it to TDC (Little hole between the engine & bell housing about 40 degrees towards the front of the top of the bell housing, inside is a little pointer sticking out of the block, turn crank until the TDC mark lines up with pointer, there are several timing marks and one by its self, the one by its self is the TDC mark). Remove the pulley w/out moving the crank (check it after removing the pulley and again when putting on the belt to be sure it didn't move) and the covers (if you're lucky you can do it without removing the valvecover) and remove all the pieces of belt. On the cam pulley there are two notches on the outer ring that will line up with the top of the head and a mark that will point straight up on one of the spokes of the pulley. It's easiest to loosen the tensioner, pull it as far back (against the pull of the spring) and tighten it to keep it out of the way for now. Put the belt on keeping it as tight as you can on the side that does not go around the tensioner (I find it easiest to trun the cam gear just a little towards the side that does not go around the tensioner). When the belt is on, loosen the tensioner bolt enough that it moves freely and turn the cam two revolutions to TDC again, check that the cam marks still line up and if everything is good tighten the tensioner bolt again and put all the covers & pulleys and accessory belts back on and your'e done!!

[Spiderldr]

Back to that pully wheel q.

How do I get it off? I cant seem to turn it without turning the engine over.

[kaltenacht]

Back to that pully wheel q.
How do I get it off? I cant seem to turn it without turning the engine over.

Let me think....... When I took mine off there wasnt a keyway holding it on to the end of the crank, it bascially fell off. But I would imgaine that keyway has to be removed first, along with a bolt in the center of the crank pulley. Then after that there are several bolts around the outside of the bottom timing cover that need to come off.... hope that helps a little bit.

[StressSolutions]

Break it loose and then line up the marks, I think. That's how I did my old Ranger, anyway. Impact helps, but I doubt there is room! Good luck!

[Spiderldr]

:slap: *Noob question*

Whats a keyway?

edit.

I decided to put the wheel back on so that the engine wouldn't turn over in gear, and it worked. The engine didnt turn over. But niether did the bolt. the end of my extension twisted off. Does this keyway thing have to do with breaking the bolt? And I know what your thinking.... is he turning it the right way? the answer is yes. Lefty-loosey right?

[Oldblueaccord]

:slap: *Noob question*
Whats a keyway?
edit.
I decided to put the wheel back on so that the engine wouldn't turn over in gear, and it worked. The engine didnt turn over. But niether did the bolt. the end of my extension twisted off. Does this keyway thing have to do with breaking the bolt? And I know what your thinking.... is he turning it the right way? the answer is yes. Lefty-loosey right?

No the bolt is just very tight and hard to break loose. The key way just keeps the balancer from turning on the shaft.
You also can jamm up the motor by putting something in between the flywheel teeth like thru the timing inspection hole also.

Problem with the wheels down is you actually could break stuff in the transmission so block it up real good or put it up against another car. Good luck.


wp



And yes lefty loosy.

[logic]

Back to that pully wheel q.
How do I get it off? I cant seem to turn it without turning the engine over.

All the accords I've had before were reverse thread so they wouldn't loosen from engine torqe, but I found out the Acura Legends are not reverse thread so you just put a breaker bar on the socket on the bolt and touch the starter (I was very leery but it worked!!!) and I'm sure I read here that the 3gees are like the legends...

The key is just to lock the pulley with the crank, it's not tight so when you finally get the bolt out, the pulley just comes right off (I put one hand on each side and alternate pulling with each hand and it just wiggles right off...)

[lamontlamont]

first of all , ignore what you heard so far. i did the timing belton this car three time most recently last weekend i did it on the side of the road like mcgiver.

to answer your question, to take the bottom belt cover off you need to take off the water pump pulley to get to the screw on the cover in back of the water pump pulley.

to answer you second question, there is a notch on the crank shaft end. there is also a notch on the crank pulley, these two notches line up and a tiny metal piece goes through both of them, this tiny metal piece is what prevents the pulley from moving.

also, the crank pulley nut goes on righty tighty not what the other guy said, the crank rotates counter clockwise not clockwise..

last, to know how to line up the crank and cam shaft you must do this..... that notch on the pulley, when its pointed up the first piston is at tdc. you simply rotate the crank with the pulley on and this will put the 1 piston to tdc, then you go look at the timing mark to fine tune and make sure its dead on. remember, when the number 1 piston is at tdc that notch is pointed up. it is pointed up in relation ship to the engine not perpendicular to the ground. also, the cam shaft gear has two notches on it that are supposed to line up with the top of the engine block / cylinder head, there is also the word top written on the cam pulley. again, the up is related to the position of the engine not perpendicular to the ground.

here is a quick guide to change a timing belt and the tips that i have discovered to make it easier.

1)remove pos battery cable

2)loosen alt/power steering pump/ac compressor and remove their belts.

3)remove three water pump pulley bolts (put a long socket in the holesof the pulley so it doesnt move and use a 10mm long wrench

4)remove crank pulley, easiest way is to use a bicycle bottom bracket lock ring tool, lodge the top of the tool in the hole on the side of the pulley, then wedge the handle of the tool in the frame of the car, rotate the pulley by hand so the bb tool doesnt move, put a 17mm socket and a long handled ratchet or breaker bar, then sit on the flooor in front of the car facing the car , grab the bumper then put your foot on the wrench and turn the breaker bar with your foot, this is the eaiest way, i did mine on the side of the road with a regular ratchet. make sure u soak it with wd 40 first and let it soak in a while (pulley bolt comes off counter clockwise like a regular screw.

5)remove pulley, make sure you dont loose that tiny metal "key" that is wedged between the notches on the crank/pulley its the size of a tic tac be careful.

6)remove all timing belt cover bolts/remove timing cover

7)remove tensioner bolt andremove tensioner. make sure you remove tensioner spring too.

8)take off old belt (might be eaiser to just cut off old belt

9)you might want to buy a new tensioner / water pump while you are there because i had to do mine on the side of the road cause my old tensioner seized and shredded my old belt. this is also the time to do the water pump as you have done most of the work to remove the pump already.

10) remove the timing gear on the end of the crank shaft. there are two thin metal washer like things on either side of the crank gear, when u reinstall these metal washer things make sure they both angle away from the gear, these are there to keep the belt from riding off of the gear, if you put them on backwards they will cut into the belt, you dont want that

11) put on new belt, try to keep the cam and crank gear from moving when you do my tip is this, install the belt around the crank gear around the oil pump gear and cam gear first, while you put them on keep the left side of the belt tensioned you only have to worry about keepingthe belt tensioned between the cam and crank gear, the restdoesnt matter. i forgot to tell you put the tensioner on loose but not the spring before you put on the belt. once you have the belt on the cam and crank gearand the two gears are both pointed up and the belt is tensioned on the left side, use a long extension or something to tension the tensioner from the top of the car while you tighten the tensioner bolt. install the tensioner spring.

12) install crank pulley and bolt hand tight only, then reposition crank pulley so its perfectly tdc then check the cam notches to make sure they are lined up with the top of the engine block, if they are off, loosen tensioner and move belt on the cam gear and try again. if it is ok put the car back together in reverse order.

13)last tip is put the belt on the cam gear last it is easier to try to put the last part of the belt onto the cam gear and make sure you untension the tensioner as much as possible because if you dont it will be really hard to get the belt on. i recommend you back the tensioner off as much as possible then tighten it in
place to keep it out of the way.the hardest part is taking off the pulley bolt and getting the timing belt on but if you do it my way you wont have problems. always check the line up marks after you tension the belt. good luck.

ps please excuse allmy spellingmistakes espesially the you/your mistake i wrote a lot and dont feel like correcting stuff .

[Honda-Master]

OLDBLUE u did a good job except # 7 , u do not need to remove the tension and the spring ,,just loosen up the center bolt 12 or 14 mm cannot recall, pull down on tensioner to release tension on t-belt, tighten center bolt again to keep tensioner temporarely in place ,, and slip the belt off,, only remove tensioner if it needs to be replaced ( noisy ) ,,, to adjust t-belt tension, once u put belt on, loosen the center bolt on tnsioner, put the keyway and crank pulley on just so u can grab it and turn the engine counterclock ,,tighten center bolt on tensioner and u need to do nothing more to make sure t-belt is adjusted properly

[88Accord-DX]

The crankshaft bolt is "lefty loosy".. Here is a link to pics & everything you need to know about removing the belt & installing.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0c/f7/06/0900823d800cf706.jsp

[lamontlamont]

i said remove for the people who are going to replace the tensioner, as i said my car was stranded on the highway because my tensioner seized on me. i just recommend that you replace it because you cant predict when it will go. you can get a kit of the belt and tensioner together for cheap.Some people also recomend changing the water pump and for the 25 dollar prices for each part i would recommend it also. if they go its a lot of work to change them later.

[88Accord-DX]

I agree replacing the tensioner while your in there, with the water pump if it is old.
The side motor mount needs to come out also, & supporting the engine with a jack under the oil pan makes life easier too. If the new belt has rotation marks, install it correctly. Might as well adjust your valves while you have the valve cover off. Make sure your up to operating temperature.

[Oldblueaccord]

I agree replacing the tensioner while your in there, with the water pump if it is old.
The side motor mount needs to come out also, & supporting the engine with a jack under the oil pan makes life easier too. If the new belt has rotation marks, install it correctly. Might as well adjust your valves while you have the valve cover off. Make sure your up to operating temperature.

Valves are set cold on our cars. Hot on toyotas and prolly every other car made with an aluminium head.


wp