JesseR

Just finished replacing the timing belt and water pump on the girlfriends 01 Civic EX. Just want to give a heads up for anyone attempting this.

NOTE - I DO NOT HAVE TORQUE VALUES FOR REPLACING BOLTS

***Before you start, make sure you can remove the crank pulley bolt. If you can't remove it, you shouldn't start on anything else. IT IS NOT REVERSE THREADED. My crank pully bolt was on there tight - I tried a breaker bar, 1/2" drive impact gun, and a 3/4" impact gun - the only thing that worked was a 3/4" impact gun.***

1. Remove the power steering pump (do not disconnect the power steering fluid lines) and move it off to the side.

2. Now you will have to remove the alternator (**disconnect battery terminals**) (take it completely out).

3. Now remove the spark plug wire cover, the 4 nuts holding in the spark plug wires, the 2 bolts holding down the spark plug wire harness, and the 5 bolts holding down the vavle cover.

4. There are 3 - 10mm bolts that hold on the upper timing belt cover (top left, top right, and just below the wire harness near the engine mount.) You also have to lift the driver side of the valve cover to remove the upper timing belt cover.

5. Now remove the power steering pump bracket, from the engine (3 - 14mm bolts).

6. Now support the engine from underneath with a jack (or from above with an engine hoist), and remove the driver side engine mount (3 - 17mm nuts - deep socket needed - impact gun is a +).

7. Now remove the engine mounting/alternator bracket from the engine (5 total 14mm bolts - 2 on the side, and 3 on the front).

8. Now you can remove the crank pulley (19mm bolt).

9. Remove the lower timing belt cover (3 - 10mm bolts).

10. Remove the sensor near the crank shaft timing gear (1 - 10mm bolt).

11. To remove the timing belt I found it easiest to release the spring from the timing belt tensioner, and loosen the tensioner (1 - 14mm bolt).

12. Once the belt is off, you can remove the water pump (4 - 10mm bolts).
***radiator fluid will come out when you are removing the water pump***

13. Put new water pump on (with gasket).

14. Make sure the cam shaft and crank shaft are at Top Dead Center (TDC).
here's how:

Cam shaft TDC:
On the cam sprocket, align the word "UP" at the 12 o'clock position. There are also 2 hash marks on the gear that align with the mating surface of the head and block (hard to align when the engine is still in the engine bay).

Crank shaft TDC:
When you remove the crank shaft pulley. there is a sprocket on the timing gear. On the sprocket is a dash that will align with the word "UP" (at about the 1 o'clock position).

15. To put the timing belt back on, I left the spring off of the tensioner, I placed the belt on the cam gear and clamped it in place, and finished wrapping the timing belt around everthing. Remove the clamp on the cam gear, tighten the tensioner, then using pliers, hook the spring back to the tensioner.

16. To check the placement of the timing belt, put the bolt back on the crank shaft and turn the engine with a socket 2 complete revolutions - all of the TDC marks should line up.

17. Re-install everthing else the reverse of removal.

Hope this helps someone out there.