the boogler

ive done searches here and only found how to install manual tensioners on H22. i havent found the solution to my problem tho.
i had to change my headgasket, ended up milling 8 thous' off my head. now when i put the engine back to gether and reinstalled my h23 manual tensioner, i dont know how to tighten the belt properly. what iw as doing was tightening the tensioner and belt to what i think will be enough tension, and then putting the belt on the pulleys.
what i did learn from my search, was to put the belt on the intake cam last so the slack in the belt will push on the tensioner and it will adjust and then i can tighten it.
but my question is how can i adjust the belt tensioner with the belt already on the pulleys? i tried using a coat hanger to pull up the tensioner with the belt on the pulleys, but it didnt do me anygood.
honda tech guys, how do i adjust my timing belt tension with the belt on the pulleys and using a h23 manual tensioner?
or if i missed a thread about this maybe some one can post the link? thanks alot.

autoluder

you could loosen the bolt on the tensioner pulley and rotate the crank ccw till the belt moves 3 teeth then tighten it and finish rotating it ccw and see if your center lines on the came gears line up. But you should not be adding tension by alternate means, when you loosen the bolt and rotate ccw three teeth, the belt gets all the tension is going to need.

But your better off to just disassemble everything incase you need to put the belt on in a better way. Milling your head changes things, may make it more complicated. but from what i have found is that the belt needs to go on with the 2 arrows on the cam gears pointing slightly inwards towards each other.

Then I turn both with a 14mm wrench at the same to away from each other to take the slack out and at the same time the middle lines on the gears line up to each other. Then tension the belt like the manual says.

And make sure when you rotate the crank the balancer sprocket is between the crank sprocket and the crank pulley and it is good to get the crank nut on just snug so everything is level and positioned right for rotating the assembly, otherwise when rotating the crank pulley it can move in and get close and will push on the tensioner pulleys if you dont watch it. This causes the belt to walk.

Acidcrakker

Its a pain in the ***.

the boogler

what do you mean by the belt moving 3 teeth..
so wat you want me to do is turn the cams inward a bit, enugh to take the slack out of the belt when its on and to line up the center marks, okay but then where does the slack in the belt go when you move both the cams outwards? also im assumeing i shold leave the adjuster nut loose w hile doing this? and my chiltons manual doesnt talk about the manual tensioner its only got the auto tensioner in it.

autoluder

Follow the h23 procedure in any manual.

all assuming you have the stock cam gears on with the arrows, otherwise you need to compare adjustables to stock, the belt doesnt slide on the top with the gears perfectly aligned,so point them inwards does, and this works the best. The slack goes away when you turn everything with the belt on 3 cam gear teeth, find one rib of the belt and count three teeth to the right, then when you turn everything ccw you will see that mark come to the gear.

But after you get the belt on with the gears inwards, then you can spread them back out so the lines between them line up. then turn the belt 3 teeth or so.

According to the manual the adjuster nut is snug or barely tight, then after you turn three teeth and loosen the nut, the manual tensioner takes what tension it needs. Then tighten. turning more than three teeth will give you more tension. But from my trials getting more and more tension throws off the alignment of the marks. The h23 manual tensioner has a larger pulley, so its taking out more slack to begin with. Maybe in your case turn it to 3.5 teeth. You shouldnt be having to do anything major to get this to work.

You can test the tension by turning the belt between the exhaust gear and the crank along the front of the engine, it should turn 90 degrees and no more. That is not loose, its perfect.

flyrod

The bearing on tensioner has a slot that allows it to slide when the bolt is loose. Make sure the slot has enough range to take the slack out of the belt. If the bolt is to one side of the slot and the belt is still loose, you'll have to make some modifications.

the boogler

why do i need to count three teeth? and so what your saying is that leave the adjuster nut loose or barely tight and then when i spin the the crank ccw the 3 teeth it will adjust the slack and then i tighten the nut and im good to go???

autoluder

are you reading the manual, i have chiltons too. 92-95 accord/prelude, just follow the prelude non vtec steps.

After the timing belt is installed at TDC i hope you know what that means. turn everything by the crank pulley ccw. Put a mark on the timing belt near the exhaust cam gear, 3 teeth towards the intake gear, and watch that mark move in towards the exhaust gear, this is not a hard concept to understand.

Keep the adjusting nut tight TILL AFTER THE BELT ROTATED 3 teeth, then loosen it, the tensioner should move up a bit on its own, then tighten the nut.

I feel like i just repeated this whole procedure in three posts now..

Just start working on this a few times so you understand...

the boogler

yeah i need to get under the hood and just do it.
thanks alot dude, il let u know how i make out.

f20b_guy

Okay i kinda got the complete opposite going on. I had to replace my head gasket also an got everthing back on except the timing belt. I can't figure out how to get slack in the belt to get it back on the cam gears. Bolt lose and all i can't figure out what im doing wrong. This is the first time i have come across something like this.
Any advice?

minilogoguy18

Loosen the adjusting bolt 1 turn, push down on the t-belt tensioner pulley, use one of the timing cover bolts to lock the tensioner in place where you see the slotted hole to the left of the pulley and it should stay loose for you to put the belt on.