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I started working on changing my timing belt. My civic has about 120,000 miles on it and i bought it used. I started with neg. battery, remove spark plugs and all the bolts for the valve cover, undone the power steering bolts and set it aside, loosened the alternator bolts and took that belt off, removed the valve cover, put a jack under the oil pan, loosened up the engine mount, put a chair wrench around the lower pulley (protected it with a piece of the power steering belt) tried for about 5 minutes to remove the crank shaft bolt by hand and couldn't. I was expecting that. The sun was going down so I was almost out of light. So I drained the coolant and called it quites for the day. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get this far.
I did break the rubber boot for the engine mount. I had to go to the dealer and buy another one! ouch.... 125.00 out the door. They say it is very common for the boot to break. Oh well.. you learn.
Tomorrow I'll finish the job. I'm getting out the air compressor with the 650 foot pounds of torque air wrench!
I wouldn't use a chain wrench but that is just me i would be afraid of damaging the crank pulley
If you don't have a Crank pulley holder then pull the starter and stick a big screw driver in the flywheel to keep the crank from turning it's an old trick that has been used in engine building for years
I wouldn't use a chain wrench but that is just me i would be afraid of damaging the crank pulley
If you don't have a Crank pulley holder then pull the starter and stick a big screw driver in the flywheel to keep the crank from turning it's an old trick that has been used in engine building for years
Ok!!! It's all done! Started it up and almost perfect. I hear a little bit of a low hum/rubbing noise. I think it's coming from my power steering pump. I'll adjust the new belt I put on that one and see if that takes care of it.
Anyone have any questions?
I protected the crankshaft pulley with a piece of one of my belts that I was going to replace anyhow. I cut it to size. Held it in place with a piece of tape so it would stay on until I got the chair wrench around it and tight.
"If it's so essential, ask yourself why you've been able to live without it before now."
Try doing something nice for a total stranger, then look back at your car. Notice that the good feeling you get from helping lasts all day, but you constantly have to put stuff on your car to feel better.
why did you through the whole post have this angle against the dealer that they are there to lie to you and that theyre just young punk kids, your the one with the punky attitude towards them it seems and your the one that messed the car up not them..... next time shell out some money and dont worry
Hi gang. My daughter's 01' civic ex, 95,000 miles. It was time for new timing belt. Went to local Honda dealer,,,,$525.00 for new timing belt, water pump, and drive belts. Not a bad price. The dealer showed me the prices of all the parts seperate from the labor. I thought i could do better on line finding Honda parts. I did. Timing belt, Valve cover gasket, water pump with gasket, timing belt tensioner, camshaft oil seal, 1 gallon of Honda coolant plus 2nd day shipping for $202.00. I figured I was saving $300.00 and getting more parts for less $$$$...I didn't mind doing the work. Also I was planning to do valve clearance adjustment..... Started last Saturday morning, got everything completed by that same late afternoon. No major surprises,,, Not much room in that engine compartment to work in. Put the key in the ignition and stared her up.....not good. Rough rough idle, check engine light came on and max rpm was 3,000 revs,,,,,,,what the hell did i do????....I knew i was right with the timing marks,,,I felt like maybe the ECU crapped out after not having electrical power on for so long??? I didn't know for sure but i was pissed and not in the mood to tear it back down...so i said screw it,,,call the tow service Monday, get it to the dealer and they will dignose it. I figured I did all the grunt work and now some kid technician was going to do a scann/diagnostic on it and push some reset button,,,then charge me $100.00 to $150.00, No big deal I was still ahead..Sunday morning i was 10 seconds from going to local NAPA store and picking up cam position sensor and crank position sensor and replacing them. But i talked myself out of it,,,,, So Monday morning call the dealer to come pick er up. They call me back 2 hours later with a TDC code and some other mumbo jumbo,,, I said get it fixed,,,,trouble was caused by a bent tab on the camshaft position sensor. I must have bent it when i snapped the connector back into place after installing the timing belt covers. $276 for dignostics and labor, $76.00 for sensor, $70.00 for tow service and the rest is taxes and enviromental fee stuff.....I should have back tracked my install and checked that stuff myself. I could have had that sensor removed and checked out with a visual inspection in about 30 minutes. It runs great and i got rid of the little bit of lifter tapping when i did a valve adjustment.... Sooooo be patient and follow your gutt instincts when you tackle these projects. If anyone has any questions on this project i would be glad to answer them,,,
Hey don't feel so bad I broke a motor mount. The top nut wouldn't loosen and I put to much pressure on it and the internal part came undone and it tore the boot. Lesson learned. I did
1)timing belt
2)power steering belt
3)water pump (of course radiator flush)
4)A/C belt
5)timing belt tensioner
6)valve adjustment
7)Valve cover gasket
9)spark plugs
10)transaxle fluid (5 speed)
11)oil change and filter
12)motor mount
13)struts-front and rear
14)also new set of tires (discount tire) alignment also.
I'm not sure how much I saved but I enjoyed the work. Yes I could of saved $100.00 if I didn't break the motor mount and I bought about $50.00 in tools. All and all I'm happy!
Next I need to flush the brake lines and the hydraulic fluid in the clutch system. After that I should be all set.
I'm not sure how much I saved but I enjoyed the work. Yes I could of saved $100.00 if I didn't break the motor mount and I bought about $50.00 in tools. All and all I'm happy!
Trust me you saved plenty, most of the shit heads at the dealership don't know more than the average do it yourselfer. at least by doing it yourself you are insuring it is done right
I just replaced my timing belt on new year's day - coldest day of the week as it turned out...
It wasn't bad, just took a long time - 12 hours for me, counting going out for a chain wrench - I put it around the smaller pully like someone else said. I've done a lot of work on my own cars, but never owned a Honda before. I used the instructions in the Chilton, they're really pretty decent. That nut on the crank pulley is on TIGHT - I had to push as hard as I can with my feet braced, using a 2 ft. breaker bar. Borrowed that from autozone, keep that in mind if you don't own the bigger tools...
Wish I had adjusted the valves while I had the cover off
I just replaced my timing belt on new year's day - coldest day of the week as it turned out...
It wasn't bad, just took a long time - 12 hours for me, counting going out for a chain wrench - I put it around the smaller pully like someone else said. I've done a lot of work on my own cars, but never owned a Honda before. I used the instructions in the Chilton, they're really pretty decent. That nut on the crank pulley is on TIGHT - I had to push as hard as I can with my feet braced, using a 2 ft. breaker bar. Borrowed that from autozone, keep that in mind if you don't own the bigger tools...
Wish I had adjusted the valves while I had the cover off
Well congrats on replacing the belt. Yah, that nut is a pain. You can go back and do your valves. I did my valves a few days later. It was the 1st time for me and it took me two attempts to get it right. It seemed like I use the smallest gauge for each. .007 for the intake and .009 for exhaust. When I slid the gauge out it's suppose to be pretty snug and not like a slight drag. Just snug. It sounds so much quieter and runs smooth.
Only suggestion is that after you think you have the valves perfect go ahead and rotate the engine by the crank pully nut about 5 times and check all of the valves again. I don't know why but the #4 intake valves where so loose. Not sure why. It took me about 2 yours to take the cover off and adjust everything and put it back together.
Only suggestion is that after you think you have the valves perfect go ahead and rotate the engine by the crank pully nut about 5 times and check all of the valves again. I don't know why but the #4 intake valves where so loose. Not sure why. It took me about 2 yours to take the cover off and adjust everything and put it back together.
Absolutely. When adjusting valve clearance, I usually follow the following "anal-retentive" procedure (Originally posted in the valve clearance too tight thread):
reddawnman's suggested procedure:
1: Loosen adjuster nut, adjust with "desired" gauge so it drags. It should take a bit of force to get the feeler out, but not so much that you need to use your whole arm strength. Tighten adjuster nut while holding the screw steady
2: Get the next thinner gauge and put it in - should have play and should take less force to move.
3: Get the next thicker gauge - should *not* be able to insert it at all.
4: Torque the adjuster nuts to the desired specs, and *Re-Inspect* using your desired feeler, the next thicker and the next thinner gauge. Again, if you can insert the next bigger gauge, you need to start over as the torquing can mess up the adjustment (generally makes the clearance a touch looser). if the next thinner gauge is really really hard to insert, you might also be too tight.
I can't stress enough the importance of taking some time to reinspect the clearances after you torque the bolts to 13 lb/ft (14 lb/ft for EX). The torquing tends to mess with the adjustment, and you don't want to have to wait another day for the engine to cool down after you've put the valve cover back together... Do it right the first time :-)
az's suggestion of turning the engine a couple times and re-inspecting is probably a good one, but I don't see why if you've torqued the adjustment nuts down correctly and verified you are still in spec it would go out of spec just with an engine turn - if that were the case the adjustment would go out a lot every time the engine ran. More likely that the torquing down process is messing up the adjustment, hence checking the specs after you torque to be sure you are correct.
"If it's so essential, ask yourself why you've been able to live without it before now."
Try doing something nice for a total stranger, then look back at your car. Notice that the good feeling you get from helping lasts all day, but you constantly have to put stuff on your car to feel better.
![By speedfoos[/url]](http://www.civicforums.com/forums/signaturepics/sigpic23289_3.gif)
Re: $420.00 lesson learned 
