stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Hi, 2001 Honda civic Lx . There was a strange noise coming from timing area and car refused to start. When I opened everything and checked, Tensioner came loose and belt was flapping around. I tried to straighten thread with number M12 (OEM was M 10) but it just stripped first half of hole. Frustrated I used JB Weld on it and let it cure for 36 hours. 10 miles of driving and it again came loose. Tensioner wont take a M12 stud in it but i plan to drill it.
How to make a thread at this hole. Its a pretty tight space with car body close by. any ideas ? I will post pictures soon.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I would look at a Helicoil kit. You said you tried to fix the threads with a M12 tap, did you make sure to use a bottom tap?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

uuummm, a tensioner does not just "come loose" by itself, im a bit :confused:

sounds like you are going to have to replace the block, seeing as thats where the threads are, i wouldnt trust jb weld or heli coil on a bolt as important as that

good luck

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

@mikey there is a story to that but thats history. somebody in past overtightened that bolts years ago. after i bought this car and did a timing belt job and tensioner replacement 2 years ago, those internal threads were half stripped but still "catching" the bolt. So i left it that way but now continuous vibrations and force stripped it completely.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Now i plan to increase thread size to M12
weld an M12 and M10 stud together.
put on a tensioner and tighten it with M10 nut

what you guys think ?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Sounds like a lot of work. My concern would be that the stud you make is straight so that the tensioner runs true. You could have a machine shop make the stud for you but that would be expensive.

Like I said, I would use a helicoil.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Second the helicoil, but that machine shop work wouldn't be that bad either. BUT for something that could self destruct your engine I would trust the helicoil before any weldment... Not cutting down your machine shop, but helicoils are time tested.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

One more vote for a helicoil. If done properly it will hold forever. Half my valve cover bolts are helicoiled and I have no issues what so ever. I've also helicoiled one of the water pump bolt holes that I managed to strip. That was 40,000 miles ago and still no problems.

Look into drilling a 3-4" access hole using a hole saw in the inner fender area to get a straight and true shot to the tensioner hole for the helicoil procedure.

You can always have the access hold welded back up later on, or just Jb weld it back up.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Thanks for all input !
I used m10 x 1.50 helicoil (original was m10 x 1.25)
and wrapped silk thread around bolt which made it really tight. It went in tight and holding it good so far. I am hopeful that it would hold for 20-30 thousand more miles. Car is at 175000 now.
Thanks again.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Good move on the helicoil, could have used a timesert as well.

Much better then welding stuff together as you previously mentioned in my opinion.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Good Job! Out of curiosity, how did you gain access to helicoil it?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I elevated engine, took off PS pump, alternator and left engine mount system. I also took off CKP sensor, crankshaft pulley.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Hello everyone. I am in the same boat. Stripped the tensioner bolt thread. I am trying to access the hole but I can't drop the engine because the alternator pulley hits the body. I can only lift the engine it seems.

How do you raise the engine? So far I removed the driver side, passenger side, and front mounts. Do I need to take off the rear mounts too?

I have about a foot to raise up so I can get a straight shot drill to helicoil the damaged thread.

Thanks for your help.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

The post before yours has the answers you seek?

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/p...24-post12.html

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I tried lifting the engine with just the left engine mount but doesn't raise enough. So I removed the front, and two side mounts. I just want to be sure the rear mount doesn't have to be removed. It seems to have some give but I wanted to be sure it will move up about a foot without me doing some damage. :_doh: Thanks!

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Ok, I don't think lifting the engine will work. Rented an engine hoist but too much work to lift for enough clearance to drill at the tensioner bolt hole.

I had an idea to drop the engine but the AC compressor Pulley was hitting the frame.

Can anyone tell me how to remove the AC Compressor Pulley? Would that be the best way to lower the engine about 5-6 inches down from where the compressor pulley was hitting it?

I'm about to fall in to despair. :hithead:

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Secret weapon:

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_20227.jpg

Right angle drill?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Thanks for the reply.

I looked at the right angle tool but the drill bit itself for the helicoil is about 5 inches. With the drill attached to the driver there isn't enough room to fit it. the ABS sensor creates alot of problems as well. From the hole to the subframe is only about 5 inches room.

What do I do?:russian:

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Oh............

I guess if you are willing to do more work, take the ABS pump out of the way? But there will be a lot of brake bleeding to be done if you go that route.

I suppose it's either that, or get the engine to come up some more.
You'd have to drop the subframe to let the engine hang out the bottom, and IDK if it would really gain you much room that way.


Boy, I'm glad I have not had to actually deal with this problem myself.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Ok, tell me what you guys think of this. How about I remove the front cross member?

If the AC compressor wasn't hitting against the cross member, I only need to drop it about 6 inches to get at the hole. When I dropped the engine until it hit the AC compressor pulley on the crossmember, the hole was pretty close.

Is that feasible? Thanks guys.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Did some more work and I think the cross member is overkill. I think I just need to remove the AC Compressor, because the compressor pulley is hitting the crossmember, preventing it from dropping further. Any thoughts on this route?

Would freon leak if I did this? I just need to unmount it, I think...

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

As I said, I have never dealt with this task, so I can only guess from here.

If you want to go that route, then sure you unbolt the compressor (EDIT: And unbolt pipe from the small bracket behind the PS pump, and move hose out of the anchor on top of the engine), and move compressor as far as the hoses will let it move.

EDIT: Unplug the wires too, durr.

(Leave both pipes connected to the compressor!)

Don't bend the pipes if you can possibly avoid it.

You might need to remove the PS and ALT to make room for the engine to drop without catching or damaging the compressor.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

What about getting the same size drill bit in a shorter length or cutting a bit to the minimum length you need.

Final solution to stripped timing tensioner bolt
 

Despair no more. I have the answer that you seek...:grin:

The car- 2004 Honda Civic LX 4 door

I had my timing belt/water pump done at a Honda dealership 22 months ago. I have nothing good to say about the mechanic that worked on my car. He overtightened the tensioner bolt, stripping it out. :hithead:

About 3 weeks ago, the car went limp in the Publix parking lot, oil was spewing out all over the bottom of the engine.

I opened her up to find that the tensioner spring was all crushed up, loose near the crankshaft. The spring actually ate through the mounting hole on the tensioner itself-- Shocking how strong the OEM spring was. I'm guessing from the vibration caused by loose timing tensioner bolt that was stripped by the idiot Honda dealer mechanic. :hothead:

The timing belt was shredded & the engine was covered in oil (driver's side).

The crankshaft seal on the oil pump was cut (presumably by the loose spring). It came out in two circular pieces.

I put on a new cheap auto zone timing belt to check the compression. I feared that the valves were bent or worse. The compression came in 175-178psi. The engine was salvageable.

The big problem:

I was agonizing about how to go about repairing the stripped timing tensioner hole. I searched and searched for a easy solution. However, I found that there were 2 ways to go about it. 1) to lift or lower the engine to gain access to the hole by a drill, 2) drill a 3 to 4 inch through the left inner fender to gain access.

Lifting the engine meant I had to disconnect a lot of things. I was more worried about wires and hoses that may get ripped apart while attempting to do so. Lowering it seemed to be feasible, but the AC compressor had to be taken out. The lines had to be disconnected to gain access to mounting holes.

Drilling a hole through the inner fender was out of the question. It is a support area (rectangular box shape). I didn't want to compromise the structure.

I was looking at a Youtube video and a guy was drilling out the same hole on an engine that was out of the car--BY HAND. Because his small drill didn't accept the Time-sert drill bit. You may say, yeah, but the engine was out, and he had plenty of space. And he had plenty of leverage because he can put his weight behind the drill bit and tap wrench.

BUT, THIS CAN BE DONE WITH THE ENGINE STILL IN THE CAR!!!

You do not need to lower or lift the engine even an inch to gain access.

This is how I did it:

Tool you need:
1) Time-sert metric kit M10x1.25 part#1012 ($80 at Amazon)
2) small craftsman tap wrench (~$10?)

Remove everything to do a timing belt change, including the water pump (gets in the way of tap wrench)

Follow directions for Time-sert repair kit, but do everything by hand. Go slowly and carefully. It took me 5 min to drill out by hand. probably 20 min tops to complete the repair.

We don't need space for a drill. Repeat, we don't need the space for a drill! You have at least 2" of space left with the drill bit and tap wrench.

I think the idea that we need to gain access with a drill is making this more complicated. Get that out of your head. The block is aluminum and the hole is already there (you're not drilling a fresh hole) you're just making the hole slightly larger.

I was very surprised at how easily the drill bit cut a new hole into the block.

I reassembled everything using all new OEM HONDA parts. Runs like butter now.

I hope this post will help many in despair and agonizing about how to repair the stripped timing belt tensioner hole. :wavey:

Re: Final solution to stripped timing tensioner bolt
 

this has never happened to me, but im just curious

if you make the hole larger, wouldnt you require a larger bolt?

and how would you fit a larger bolt through the tensioner?

Re: Final solution to stripped timing tensioner bolt
 

HeliCoil/Time-Sert thread insert. Same bolt as original.

Re: Final solution to stripped timing tensioner bolt
 

The insert from Time-sert kit fits in the larger hole. The outer threads of the insert matches the new larger hole. The inner thread of the insert matches the factory bolt pattern. You are using the same factory bolt.

I forgot to mention the bolt took full 33LB fT of torque.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Just noticed that a lot of activity happened under my thread while I was not following. I did this by hand and it was very easy. Stuff is still holding tight even after a year and 12K miles.
thanks for all the help

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Did you install the new updated tensioner bolt?

2001 – 2003 model years may require a longer fastening bolt!
Please be advised that early model year Civics may require an
updated tensioner bolt. Honda upgraded the timing belt tensioner
assembly in late 2002.

https://www.techconnectcanada.com/do...20Bulletin.pdf

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Is the longer bolt required if you do the timesert fix from post #24? I went to the Honda dealer and he told me there was no updated longer bolt for my car (2003 civic LX).

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

+10,000,000 on TIME-SERTs. The only thread repair that exceeds the torque of the original hole (esp in aluminium), is a full sleeve so it can never pull out, and is super-super easy to install. Used them exclusively on powersports Hondas and other Big Four and domestic bikes, ATVs, and watercraft. Spend the extra cash, and do it once -- you don't want to put a Silly-Coil on a fastener hole as important and as vibration-prone as for a timing belt tensioner. ;)

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I just completed the Timesert install on my 2005 Civic EX. Thanks for the advice from all posters! I made a guide block out of delrin, that was about an inch deep, that I held up to the mounting surface of the block when starting to drill the hole out to 13/32" size. This guided the drill straight into the hole, so I didn't end up with a crooked hole. I also drilled this block with a guide hole for the tap for the very same reason. It was challenging to hold it and turn the drill by hand with the tap handle, but it didn't take all that long to get to a depth where the guide block wasn't needed any longer. At that point, it was just time consuming to hand drill the hole to the proper depth. I was worried about drilling the hole to the depth called out by the Timesert directions (insert depth + 1/4" extra), but it turned out perfect. I installed the insert with the supplied tool, and torqued the tensioner bolt up to the 33lb/ft spec called out in the manual. I now have one used Timesert kit, that is missing one insert, that I plan to sell on Ebay.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I am having this issue right now... My tensioner failed causing the belt to skip and bend every intake valve.. Got the head back put it on along with everything else just to find out that the previous owner had stripped out the threads in the hole :hithead: the threads still grab a little bit, so i just put jb weld on the threads to see if this works. with the time-sert kit, do i need to pull the motor in order to put it in? there isnt a ton of room between the frame and the block

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

In the middle of tackling this problem myself. Looks like the previous mechanic used a heli-coil which has now failed. The hole is a mess and will not take a new heli-coil insert. Going to have to use a to make a bigger whole than the previous one.

Wish me luck. Will post back here to let you know how it works out.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

:facepalm:


oh man....good luck, i would just replace the block,

that bolt scares the crap out of me everytime, i normally under torque it to about 25 in fear of stripping it

how did you find this out?

what repair are in the middle of?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Same here. Use longer bolt. There is enough space. One of the bolts from the bracket above fits perfect

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

FYI,

I purchased a big-sert kit 5012c and a shorter (14mm I think) insert from time-sert to repair my failed heli-coil install from previous mechanic.

I can't even begin to say how impressed I was with time-sert. Part got here in less than a day. Quality of the kit was outstanding. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for in this case. It was an absolute pleasure to use. Only down side is I did have to "re-machine" the studs of the time-sert drill bit, tap, and countersink to fit into my hand tapping chuck. Other than that, the install went perfectly.

If anyone else gets into this situation, I have a once used big-sert 5012c which is the perfect tool for the job which I don't think I will be needing ever again. I'll sell it to you for much cheaper than you will find it anywhere else. Hit me up with a PM.

Cheers!

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Can I use this big-sert kit 5012c if it stripped the first time without the heli-coil repair or do I need to use the time-sert kit 1012 mentioned in post #24?
I'd be interested in buying your used big-sert 5012c if I can use it.
Sent you PM.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

In response to this, I don't know if it is really that the last mechanic over torqued the bolt. In my case, the engine had never been apart, and the bolt stripped way before I ever reached 33 lb/ft of torque. I'm thinking that this problem is a defect in the machining of the block, or how the bolt was installed at the factory. My repair with the #1012 Timesert kit has around 16k miles on it now. When I installed the insert, I was confident that it would hold. I wouldn't install a helicoil in this location, with how critical this fastener is.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I believe this is why Honda changed up to a longer bolt.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

are you sure your torque wrench is accurate?


i would consider 33 max torque on something like this,

i normally stop at about 25 in fear of stripping it, it aint coming loose at 25

Re: Final solution to stripped timing tensioner bolt
 

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Hello there am new here just got a 2001 honda civic lx it needs a timing belt replacement I know this post is old but when removed the tensioner bolt and went to put in new one the threads stripped so I went to tool store and got me a heli coil it I still the new hole tapbthe new threads and for some reason the bolt feels like it's gonna strip feels like am forcing it in.Did I get the wrong size kit or what.the bolt it's 14mm and I bought this kit base on the previous post ,any help please.NOTE NOT BLAINMING ANYBODY HERE.

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

There will be a length, diameter and thread count option. You made sure the thread count is the same, right?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I just received my Time-Sert #5012 kit last week, and am going to attempt repairing my stripped tensioner threads within the next few days. It's the latest problem I've had in replacing the cylinder head (which I started last year, before the weather turned). I also had a squirrel or rat chew through one of the fuel injector wires, right at the connector, so I have a new connector to solder on. And I think I found where the oil was leaking from--the crank seal was kind of weepy.

This thing had better run when I try to start it up! :D

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

could be your oil pump o ring leaking.....its a very common issue

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Success! The Big-Sert #5012 worked perfectly, and the bolt takes the full 33 ft/lbs torque for the tensioner. Got it all put back together and the Civic is running again. Drilling the block with the provided drill bit in a tap handle is very tedious work, and that took the longest. (I thought there might have been a Helicoil in there, but there wasn't, so the drilling was more tedious than if I had purchased the regular Time-Sert kit for it.) But the rest went easy. Installing the insert is a little disconcerting though--once it gets bottomed out in its counterbore, the install tool is difficult to turn. Feels like you're bottoming out, but you're not--it is just the insert locking into place. I also used red (permanent) threadlocker on the insert--no way it's backing out! I was also able to remove the tensioner bolt after having it torqued down, and that insert held perfectly.

One thing to watch for--make certain that the counterbore is cut all the way down to the tool's limits. The insert has a shoulder that needs to fit flush inside that counterbore once the insert is installed. This is part of what "locks" it into place, to prevent you from screwing the insert too deep into the hole. Otherwise, the tensioner will not sit flush if the counterbore is not deep enough.

As luck would have it, one of the valve cover bolt holes in the rebuilt head was stripped. But for that, I just used a Helicoil, and in that low stress application (7 ft/lbs), it works fine, and only takes a minute or two to install.

So like others have said--no need to pull the engine to fix the stripped tensioner hole. The Big-Sert kit is expensive, but the tools are all very high quality (this is the "real stuff" here, like machinists would use), and it's cheaper than replacing an engine, and less work than pulling an engine out to repair it.

:tup: :tup: for the Big-Sert kit!

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

I am having the same exact problem in my Ford Explorer. The tap has to be perfectly straight.The kit you have is the one I need but my money is limited. How much were you thinking about selling it for?

Re: stripped timing belt tensioner hole
 

Come on....that post was nearly six years ago.