Inspecting timing belt in 88Honda accord lxi

[TEXANHATCH]

Hi guys, I bought this car and like many of us I have no idea when they changed the timing belt. Do you think that, if I remove the valve cover and upper timing belt cover, looking at the belt I can have an idea about if I need to replace it or not?Thanks, Adrian.

[86LXItooFAST4me]

yeah, just do a visual inspection and check the slack on the belt

[accordlxi2.0]

it'll probaly need to be tightend.
look for like crack's even the smallest one, check to see if the teeth meshes within the cam, plus another method is take your fingernail and poke it with the belt, if thier's no indentation left in then the belt is old, and overheated.

i have'nt checked mine yet, i keep forgetting to.
but it does'nt really bother me since our engine is non-interference.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

If you don't know when it's been changed, just change it. Timing belts usually don't actually show visible wear until they're waaaay overdue. I changed my t-belt a couple months ago and it had 85k miles on it, and it still looked like brand new practically (this was an aftermarket [Gates] belt too). Still, even though it looked fine, it was still definitely time to change it. So there's really no way to tell by looking at it to tell if it's 'getting close', cuz if you see damage you're already way past due. Do check though just to see if you're running on threads or not.

[Ludi Mali]

how long would you guys say it takes to change. Also what else needs to be removed to get to the lower housing.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

It's really not hard at all to change. The most time consuming part is taking all the drivebelts off. Once you get those off and the upper t-belt cover, take the crank pulley bolt out (that's always a job in itself, LOL) and crank pulley off, being especially careful not to lose the woodruff key. Then it's just a few 10mm around the bottom area and the cover pops right off. Loosen the tensioner and slide it sideways to loosen, then hold it there and retighten so it stays loose, slide old belt off and new belt on, making sure you wrap the belt around the cam pulley from the left to the right (so it's tight on the left). That's about it.... pretty easy

[88Accord-DX]

It's really not hard at all to change. The most time consuming part is taking all the drivebelts off. Once you get those off and the upper t-belt cover, take the crank pulley bolt out (that's always a job in itself, LOL) and crank pulley off, being especially careful not to lose the woodruff key. Then it's just a few 10mm around the bottom area and the cover pops right off. Loosen the tensioner and slide it sideways to loosen, then hold it there and retighten so it stays loose, slide old belt off and new belt on, making sure you wrap the belt around the cam pulley from the left to the right (so it's tight on the left). That's about it.... pretty easy

Also, don't forget to line up the timing marks on the crankshaft and camshaft first before taking off the belt. If you don't, you could get the timing off.
Thank crankshaft bolt is a m/f to get off, you better have a 3 foot cheater bar with what ever your plan on breaking it off with. There are different methods of breaking the bolt lose I've seen on here.

[Ludi Mali]

hahaha, i always keep a 4ft and a 2ft, 1/2 inch and 1 inch pipe in the garage for slipping on the end of a wrench for leverage.