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The reason you are moving the sensor is because in most cases when you are in there changing the timing belt you also change the water pump. When you break loose the seal of the water pump a flood of coolant is going to come pouring out(right onto your sensor, if you left it in place). It's only one bolt easy in and out, just move it out of the way.

 
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Great DIY man, props! This helps so much!
One very small tip tho that I found seems to work really well is when adjusting the tensioner wing nuts for the PS pump and alternator belts. I used a ratchet with a big socket on it, I think it was like 22-25mm ish or something. But yea and I just fit it over the wing nut and tightened it like I would normally tighten any other bolt, it worked real well and made my life a lot easier when it came to those things, cuz they're not easy to get tight! lol
That being said though, great job!

 
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Easy? No... this isn't an easy job. Sure, it's just unbolting stuff and bolting it back on.

But.

Take an '02 Civic. With anti-lock brakes. In an area where lots of road salt is dumped in the winter.

Just. About. Every. Bolt. Is mis-sized. Thanks. To. Rust.

That, and the fact that there's next to no room to work on these little cars! I don't get any of you guys who say "there's plenty of room!" A '69 Camaro has plenty of room. A Chevy Silverado has plenty of room. My old Chrysler LeBaron had plenty of room. Heck, even my old Chevette did as well. But these things? I must assume that by "plenty", you guys mean, plenty room enough for a 5 year old to work (but not with grown up tools, cause in many cases, they don't fit either).

For example, trying to remove the two bolts holding the motor mount in the timing belt area. Can't get a ratchet and socket in there. And they're good sized bolts to boot! But, a ratchet and socket just don't go in that little canyon. Heck, it's hardly wide enough to fit a hand, let alone a tool. I did get the buggers... using a 3/8 breaker bar and socket, then switched to my long handled 14" ratchet (best purchase I ever made - long handled swivel head 1/4" ratchet - sooooo useful on these little cars!) And the ABS unit... its presence was a pure joy, making the job just that much more challenging.

Took about 4hrs to get all the rusted bolts located and removed, most of which gave me reason to sailer-talk. One of the motor mount bolts (one of the long pointy ones) actually turned out of the mount itself, rather than let go of the nut! Fortunately, it's threaded down in there so I'll just torque it back in place tomorrow and call it good.

Today was disassembly day. Got it all torn down, tensioner and water pump off. Last night, I stopped by a garage and had one of the guys break that crank bolt loose since it kicked my butt last weekend (and stripped a nice Grey 1/2" ratchet in the process). I also found that the key was not replace from the previous job - the damn pullet was freewheeling on the crank! Guess buddy had torqued it so well the last time that it never moved in the ensuing 170,000 km. In to the city to pick up a new key - $3 and change for that little thing!

Shoulda picked up an oil seal too since there was some grimey stuff around the crank. Not much and it felt fairly dry, but did have a very slight greasy feel to it (and it was caked on all around the crank and seal area). Figure I'll head to Ogdensburg tomorrow to pick up a new one (lots cheaper than getting it locally, even with bridge toll and exchange) 'cause I do NOT want to have to tear this thing down again!

It's not that it's terribly hard to do, but almost every step is a massive PITA. This (and Creaker2's) HOWTOs were a HUGE confidence boost - printed out the juicy bits and had it handy as I was tearing into it. Made the job go much easier but I have to say, I wasn't looking forward to this particular job (having had the PS pump and alt. out before, I knew how little space there is to work in) and now that I'm into it, I'm glad this is the last one I'll have to do on this car! Car will now be on the "drive it till the wheels fall off" plan, which I figure will get me another 5 years. Essential maintenance only.

Okay... enough with the sarcasm. I really am grateful for these HOWTOs - they saved my ***. The job will be done and I will have saved hundreds of dollars and I know it will have been done right - that alone is worth all the PITA that is involved in this job.

My thoughts: Get that damned bolt off before doing anything else. Pop the fender splash guard and do it as described with the special tool or ask a local mechanic near closing time to buzz it loose and lightly torque it back in place. That's what I did last night and I gave the fellow $10 (against his protests to the contrary - took him all of 1 minute to do and that included grabbing his gun and socket and walking out into the parking lot) as I REALLY appreciated not having to fight with it again. As well, leave draining the coolant until you're ready to pull the water pump - including getting the pump bolts off. No sense draining it out until you're actually ready to pull the pump - what if something was really stuck and you had to reassemble it all?

UPDATE: Picked up the oil seal and valve cover gasket. Nowhere in Ogdensburg or neighbouring towns had the seal so had to spend 4x the money to get seal kits (they didn't have individual seals and gaskets) in Ottawa. Oil seal was a bit of a challenge to drive in straight - inner lip kept wanting to fold out but after a few tries, I finally got it in. Cleaned the valve cover and replaced all the seals and grommets with the new bits from the kit.

Job took me probably 10hrs in total. LOL - Noob. Probably had 1.5hrs just in screwing with replacing the seals (oil and valve cover). Should be good to go now till this thing heads for the crusher! Thanks again for an excellent HOWTO!

 
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Hey, I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I can't seem to find an answer.

Once you flush the coolant system with distilled water, drain it, and fill it with 50/50, wouldn't you have to add some concentrate to account for the leftover distilled in the cooling system? How would you go about doing that? Run it for a few days then test it and add as necessary?

Thanks,

 
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Question. Do you have to remove the front bumper in order to change the timing belt??

 
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I don't think you have to, per se, but it makes the job SOOO much easier. My first step in anything timing belt related is take off the front bumper and driver side headlight.. You have so much more access when you do so.

Front bumper removal only takes 5 minutes or so.. It's... 8-10 bumper clips and 4 screws holding it on? something like that. It's really easy. From there, it's only 4 bolts and 3 or 4 electrical connectors, depending on what kind of headlights you have

 
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You definitely don't have to remove the front bumper to do a timing belt. I don't really see why it would make it easier, Josh! Enlighten me. My main problems were the damn ABS unit and inner driver side fender, can't take those off (Grr).

 
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Props to everyone who contributed to this guide, I'm gonna tackle this job this weekend.

 
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Great post!
Just got done with my daughters 2001 and i had done a 1990 model a few years ago but i didn't change the auto tensioner due to lack of knowledge. In the 2001 i changed it out just how you described but when i did the final tightening of the tensioner bolt the spring receiving hole on the tensioner was at a downward position causing the spring to be stretched out more(i may have worded this to sound like a lot but it wasn't a lot of effort to put the spring on). There is nothing in any of the installation literature whether it was honda repair manual or the instructions that came with the tensioner on how critical the positioning of the spring receiving hole on the tensioner in proportion to the bolt you hook the other end of the spring to. I redid this step a couple of times coming up with the same result, so this is how i left it. Everything is back together and runs fine. So, is my spring to tight and will wear out quicker or is everything okay.

 
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Ok, saw a video on utube where a guy did this trick, as well as a honda freak friend of mine said to do it to help. The idea is to use the starter to break the crank pulley bolt free. while not having the sparks plugs in, so motor doesnt try to run, u basically brace your breakerbar (with proper socket size attached) against the ground so it cant move and attempt to turn over the motor, but just slightly tapping the ignition on to break the bolt. I kinda doubted the idea b/c it sounded somewhat dangerous, and then saw someone else trying it on utube. I have a haynes manual and they actually give advice to use a remote starter to assist in aligning TDC. Anyone tried this or have any reason not to try it. Any input would be huge help since im doing this in a few days myself, and i trust my "honda freak" friend, but have a slight doubt about that operation.

 
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If you would think REAL carefully about this, you should realize that if you try that on this particular engine you can only TIGHTEN the bolt.

If the engine is on the drivers side (left), the crank rotates CCW as seen from the pulley end.

So don't even try it.

 
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sorry, read earlier that it tightens as u drive so thought it was going to be similar to reverse threads, going to do my first this weekend and wanted to do as much research as possible. think brain gave up a few days ago absorbing info. thx for the reply, this website is sweet, tons of info! gonna have to give my buddy a call =)

 
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Thanks again ezone, +1 to rep if i did it right. finally got a hold of "honda freak" and he informed me that he had a 6th gen and another was a swap. good info to know ahead of time, but glad i waited for a reply, didnt make a lot of sense to me how that was gonna work with it being CCW unless reverse threads or something and didnt read that anywhere. Just got Crank pulley tool today in mail and cant wait to do it this weekend. really appreciate ur reply man. thx

 
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I can't see what difference that makes, they turn the crank CCW also.



The bolt is standard RH thread on Hondas.

The technique can actually work quite well on some cars/engines, you just have to think very carefully before attempting it, make sure it is even possible before tearing up something expensive.
Leverage is everything, and make certain the tool is fully inserted into (and square with) the pulley before you give it hell.

The handle of a floor jack makes an excellent cheater pipe.

If you have to use an extension, support it with a jackstand (or similar) so it stays level with the bolt. KnowwhatImean?

HTH

 
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[QUOTE=ezone;4625343]I can't see what difference that makes, they turn the crank CCW also.



The bolt is standard RH thread on Hondas.

Haha, can't wait till i speak to him again. Im starting to wonder if he did the work himself or had someone else do it. He is a big 420 fan so im wondering if thats playing a factor . Really appreciate all ur help and advice. This is definetly the best website ive found for info, glad to know we got real honda freaks here

 
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you must be alot stronger than i am if you can crack the crank bolt loose using a short bar like that....hell, i used a SIX FOOT cheater bar, and i STILL had a hard time! but eventually got it

 
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Excellent DIY. Thanks for putting the work into this.

I just competed an alternator swap on my Civic last night using these instructions. One small tip - you don't need to try to fully remove the long bolt that holds the top of the alternator. Just slide it out enough to remove the alternator. The space here is really tight so you might spend a while trying to get the bolt out unnecessarily.

 
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First wanted to say excellent DIY! much props to red and ezone
Took two days, took my time and checked everything probably 4 times before i went on, still managed to break the bolt on alternator so i learned a good lesson there. crank pulley tool rox, i actually put crank pulley on with key and bolt (only hand tight) with crank pulley tool to position TDC. definitely want to put mounting bolt/alternator bracket on before putting top timing cover on. was definitely not a hard job, but just took time taking everything off.
I am also having the problem of something sounding like its possibly rubbing/vibrating in the timing belt area, hoping its just the new belt breaking in, however plan on taking it apart again just to double check this upcoming weekend when i have time.
Very glad to know this thread is about 3 years running, and has the best info compared to everything else i read, almost wanted to trash my haynes manual b/c of the lack of info it had. if u read this entire thread and pay attention, its very easy to do. thx again!

 
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A timing belt doesn't "break in". You have a problem.

Most common mistake (and I do this a lot) is getting the alt bracket caught against the plastic upper cover (the rear cover that stays on the engine, not the cover you remove to do the timing belt) during installation and then go ahead and tighten it down. This causes the plastic to kind of get pushed into the wrong place and might touch the timing belt, causing unusual noise.

It usually takes me a couple tries to get it lined up correctly, no matter which way I try. If I have to push on the bracket to get the bolts to start threading, something is wrong. The bolts should thread easily without pushing the bracket around at all.




Could be something else, but that is what I have a problem with consistently.

HTH

 
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k, will give feedback after i redo it. wish i had a camera or good phone to take a pic, thx for the advice and quick reply!

Redid and still have slight rubbing sound, didn't see any visible damage on the belt, gonna try out a few more things so ill edit this one again with what i find.

Another possible tip, i found putting the mounting bracket for P/S reservoir on before the power steering belt much easier than having belt in the way trying to find a way to put that bolt with no room to breathe. For me it was easier, but dont have a big selection of tools and slightly retarded. =)

 
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE THIS DIY!!!!
It was great having personal input and knowing some of the snags I would run into along the way. You saved me a bunch of money to!!!!

 
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This is great forum I learned a lot here. Today I changed my timing belt on civic 05.
I noticed that while the cam pulley was on TDC the crank pulley was off about two notches. So after putting the cam on TDC, removed the old timing belt and I move the crankshaft to bring it to the TDC. I mean the I mark on the small crank pulley lined up with the mark on the metal at about 2O'clock. At this time the Key of the crank pulley is about 12 O'clock.
After that I put the new timing belt on. I am not finished with everything back together to see. Please let me know, If I am correct or wrong.
Thanks

 
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This link has nice pics for you: http://www.justanswer.com/honda/28vv...-position.html

 
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Sounds good to me. This happens a lot to people who thread the belt by themselves, versus with help. The crank pulley usually gets moved a little. You got the right idea. It happened to me the other day. Set it back to TDC so both are @ TDC. Released tension from the tensioner with an Allen key. Then applied tension again after the belt was put on. I used the old tensioner. Started it up and it caught. Hope it helps.

 
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Actually my crank mark was off about 2 notches when I turned it to TDC on cam. The old TB was still on. The EZONE Pictures made me confident that I did it correct. Thanks a lot for your great help.

 
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Damn... My civic is long totaled, and the thread goes on :-)

Hope everyone still finds it useful!

 
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yes, thanks

 
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So far today I've broke the tip off my breaker bar and completely warped one of my extensions, that crankshaft pulley bolt is a BITCH! One more try tonight before it gets some torch heat added, or possibly the old 1" drive impact.

 
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yeah it sucks

I used a 6 foot metal pipe to get it loose. Put it over the breaker bar for leverage, and started bouncing lol. Then it would not come loose. Tried it one more time with just the breaker bar and it popped off =P

 
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I'd use the gun first. I'm lazy like that, even if it is heavy.

Erm, lefty-loosey on that bolt.