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atkin68
04-11-2011, 08:56 AM
Hi Friends. I've got an '81 Accord Hatchback that I bought as a commuter (and for sentimental reasons) a couple of years ago. I learned to drive on an '82 Civic that was pretty much new at the time, and a '79 Corolla, so I always had a soft-spot for tiny, reliable, zippy little Japanese cars. The first car I owned was an '82 Accord 4-Door, and that really cemented my love for these cars. So when I found a craigslist ad for the car I have now at $500 and saw how clean and solid it looked in the pics, I jumped at it. Was priced so low cause it wasn't running, but the fix was just an ignition control module which I bought at a junk-yard took with me to the seller's site. I installed it in 10 minutes and it fired right up and it's been great ever since.

Sadly, the timing belt broke last week. I didn't know what the problem was till after replacing plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil. Then by chance I had my daughter turn it over while the cap was off and noticed the rotor was not turning.

So anyway, here I am. I was told by a local Honda guy that because the car was idling in neutral when the belt broke, things may not be that bad. He said just change out the belt and see where you're at, simple. Except I don't have an impact wrench and I can't secure the pulley in order to turn the bolt. As I'm sure everyone here knows, the pulley is on the driver's side so the trick with the starter won't work, and the holes in the pulley are angled, so the tricks with the plumbing parts (flange attached to the pulley) don't seem to want to work either.

I am almost ready to rent the compressor and impact wrench unless anyone knows the magic solution to this problem, would love to hear suggestions.

Thanks a million.

Dave

79cord
04-11-2011, 09:33 PM
Welcome!
Always a challenge to undo those crank bolts (& driveshaft ends, & wheel nuts from tyreplaces, &...).
I think I found appropriate bit of metal or tool to go through the holes in the pulley & jam between against bottom of sump flange &/or lower chassis rail, as pulley tried to turn...
But if your car has the bigger Air-conditioning or pwr-steer pulley it wouldn't have those holes.
Anything that will stop the crank turning will work, so I think I have used something against the starter ring-gear on the flywheel (starter motor removed), as well on my air-conditioned cars.

Fingers crossed your valves are OK has they definitely can be hit by pistons when such things go wrong. Always worth hoping for the best!

Dr_Snooz
04-12-2011, 07:59 AM
I'm assuming you have an auto, because with a manual, you just leave it in gear with one wheel on the ground and the parking brake engaged. Not too sure about autos on the 1g's, but if you drop an impact socket extension down the timing hole on a 3g, it works wonderfully well. You're basically trying to jam the timing tab up against the socket extension to prevent it from turning.

Welcome to the board!

atkin68
04-19-2011, 08:37 AM
I just ended up borrowing an impact wrench, first from my Dad (which was too wimpy), and then from a friend, which spun the bolt right out.

Now I'm concerned about knowing how to be sure the camshaft and the crankshaft are both in the right positions before I put the new belt on. Any input on that?

Thanks,
Dave

79cord
04-19-2011, 10:00 PM
Along with the mark indicating Top-Dead-Center on the flywheel there are also marks on the camshaft pulley to indicate where it should be @ TDC, & you could normally also check distributor to see that #1 cylinder was about to spark while valves were closed to confirm you had the "right" TopDeadCenter.
W/shop manual explains the cam-pulley markings.

atkin68
04-20-2011, 06:13 AM
Thanks. I could see where the marks were for the cam, but I was worried I would screw up the crankshaft position. I ended up taking out the #1 plug, sticking my finger in it's place with a latex glove on, and turning the shaft until the cylinder went from blowing to sucking on the tip of the glove, then backed it up a touch. I have to admit I wasn't sure this was right, but I put the new belt on and turned her over and she started right up.

I fiddled with the timing a bit by rotating the distributor and listening, but I don't have a light and I'm not sure I got it right. I am experiencing a pretty significant loss of torque at 4K+ rpm, and going up hill. I don't know if that's from damage related to the timing belt breaking, or if it's bad timing. Would love to have some input from those with ideas.

Thanks everybody.

Ichiban
04-20-2011, 11:48 AM
It sounds like you may have advanced 1 tooth on the camshaft. Is it hard to start and idles funny? If not, well, hard telling not knowing but you're best bet is timing.

Oh, and when I do a timing belt on these I always leave the distributor where it is, so I can check ignition timing afterwards to confirm I got the cam in the right spot. If the ign timing suddenly goes way out after a belt change, chances are it's on in the wrong spot.

atkin68
04-20-2011, 12:01 PM
No, so far it starts right up and idles like it ever did.

1GCustomAccord
04-23-2011, 08:07 AM
A car out of timing can start and run, but you will lose power.

Ok, first the first..:
In the transmission bellhousing upper side, close to the engine you will see a window (sometimes covered with a rubber cap) so you can see the flywheel. In the flywheel you will see the markings indicating "OT" or "T" for the TDC and in the engine block you can find a marker to align with the marks (Also you can see the ignition timing marks).

Checking the timing in 7 steps:

1-Disconnect the negative lead from the battery.

2-Remove the alternator moving it aside(or compressor in some models without disconnecting the hoses!).

3-Lift a front wheel, (securing the car on a jack, safety first) insert 5th gear (In automatic cars i first remove ALL the spark plugs to relieve compression and then use a 17MM socket with a extension, inserted trough the hole in the internal front left fender, to turn the crankshaft, but sometimes i end up unscrewing the bolt, so be gentle!), and SLOWLY turn the wheel in the direction of travel, ask a helper to see the marks in the flywheel and align the "OT" mark with the marker.
Once aligned, you can remove the camshaft cap and see if the mark in the pulley is aligned with the ARROW in the engine head.
Is the aligment is perfect or very close (less than a pulley tooth) then you are ok, if not you have to fix the timing.

4-Assembly in opposite order, wheel to the ground, reconnect the battery.

5-Wash your hands.

6-Adjust the digital (or analogical, depends on year) dash clock.

7-Drink a cold beer.

Good luck!