Mexinugget

Long Story Short...

I took in the CRV of a family friend because his engine wasn't firing and coolant began to pour from his water pump gasket. I have re-timed interference engines in the past, the only difference in this case was an extra cam wheel, how hard could it be?

First and foremost, I made sure I was top dead center both by making sure my lines were all dead on and by letting a metal dowel ride on top of piston number 1 - as a visual reference. From here I removed the old belt, water pump and tensioner and installed the new parts sans belt. Now my crankshaft is on TDC, I can see the piston looking through the spark plug hole. My cam gears turn a little counterclockwise but immediately offer stiff resistance. They are little off...

Could there already be valve damage? I can clearly see the cam lobes over cyl 1 are closed... SECONDLY, all that aside, how do you even tension a belt on a honda?? A new belt only barely slips on the system when the tensioner is totally loosened. And the little pencil spring on the tensioner does all but naught to assist this process of applying tension. So I am a little thrown off here.

Et all, could cranking a system with a stretched belt cause valve damage making it hard to align the camshafts? I didn't do anything crazy/stoopid like move the separate gears around with the belt off. All three points of alignment were never more than a few millimeters off from each other. So why the stiff resistance?

Thanks guys.

tony_2018

There should be some holes on top of the camholders for you to drop the EXACT size drill bit in there to hold the cams in place.

edit: to tension the belt, this should be done after everything lines up, rotate crank to TDC and the cams are lined up, loosen tension bolt, turn the crank about 3 teeth and than tighten the tensioner.

Mexinugget

Thanks for the reply.

I am familiar with the cam holes, I thought they were wonderful. However, both cams are just a hair off from being 100% lined up with the cam holes and they are very difficult to turn even that little bit. And by "hair off" I really am talking about 2-4mm tops.

I am considering pulling the head to play with the valve train and spot any bent valves...

tony_2018

Well if you had the correct size bit in each cam, they're not the same size, than there should be no play at all, it will not move period.

Mexinugget

I realized I was sort of being a wimp turning against the valve springs. I got the cams in position, locked down the holes and ran my belt. Everything checks out, about to go tension the system right now and reassemble.

Thanks for your help.