jdm b16 eg

I'm trying to replace my camshaft seals (timing belt side) and was wondering if anyone can give me a write up on it. can i just pull the valve cover, and take off the cam gears to replace the seals?? i am hoping i don't have to pull the cams. thanks.

2kdb8

are you planning on doing the timing belt and water pump as well? might as well since you are removing it to get to the cam seals. i just did this my self 3 weeks ago. replaced t-belt, accessory belts (all 3) water pump, cam seals, crank seal, valve cover gasket and groumets, spark plugs and even did a valve lash adjustment.

as for doing it, its pretty straight forward. these steps are as if you are doing the t-belt as well.

1. jack car up and support with jack stands.
2. remove driver side front tire. remove splash guard on side as well to have better access to crank pulley.
3. set #1 piston to top dead center.(REMEMBER ALWAYS TURN CRANK COUNTER CLOCK WISE) line up white line/notch on crank pulley with arrow on lower t-belt cover.
4. support engine by the oil pan with a jack and block of wood to not damage oil pan.
5. unbolt cruise control unit and move out of way as well as power steering pump. DO NOT disconnect fluid lines.
6. remove top driver side engine mount while having engine supported by jack underneath.
7.remove other accessory belts (a/c and alternator)
8. remove valve cover (make sure both cam gears have arrows pointing up on top and both cam gears notch in the middle are lined up with each other)
9. you can now break the bolts on the cam gears but do not remove just break tension. (make sure everything is still aligned)
10. break crank pulley bolt while holding crank in place either a chain wrench or a pulley tool. impact gun will be beneficial if you have one. make sure everything is still aligned.
11. remove crank pulley. KEEP KEY WAY IN SAFE PLACE!
12. remove upper and lower t-belt covers.
13. loosen t-belt tensioner bolt and move tensioner away from belt with pry bar and retighten bolt.
14. remove t-belt.
15. drain radiator and remove and replace water pump if doing so at this time.
16. remove cam gear bolts making sure you don't turn the cams doing so.
17. pop cam gears off (KEEP KEY WAYS IN SAFE PLACE) then remove cam seals. I used a seal remover but can be done CAREFULLY with a flat head screw driver. (you don't want to scratch the cam surface or new seal will leak)
18. install new cam seals. I put wheel bearing grease inside the seals to help seal from not folding on self then a socket the size of the seal to help distribute equal force all around while tapping it in with a rubber mallet. (make sure is sits flush and does not fold on self)
19. replace cam gears with keyways. (you can torque cam gear bolts down when belt is back on)
20. when putting t-belt back on remember in this order 1.crank, 2.tensioner, 3.water pump, 4. exhaust cam, 5. intake cam. (make sure you hold the cam gears in place while re-tensioning. cams will move and timing will be off by a tooth or two) i used a screw driver thru the cam sprockets. they do sell a special tool for this.
21. rotate crank counter clock wise a couple times and make sure everything still lines up. there is a arrow on oil pump that should also align with crank sprocket.
22. reassemble everything in backward order.

*make sure you torque the crank to 130lbs when all done.

good luck and feel free to ask any questions you have.

mark@silbernage

The procedure to properly tension the belt might be inserted after step 21:

21a. Stop your rotation (step 21) at TDC
21b. Loosen tensioner pulley bolt 1/2 turn
21c. Rotate the crank counter clockwise 3 teeth on the camshaft pulley
21d. Tighten the adjusting bolt on the tensioner (40lb/ft on my '96 GSR)

Nice write-up, by the way!

Good luck - Mark

jdm b16 eg

Thanks, nice write up. I think i should have mentioned that my gsr is fully built turbo. so i dont have all the accessories ie: cruise control, power steering, ac, etc... especially since its in a 96 hatch haha. i took it for a spin a coupe days ago and when i got back home and turned off my car (i have a turbo timer so car stays on) i could see the car was dripping oil. so i sprayed the whole motor with brake cleaner. turned car back on and its coming from the cam gears so idk if its the cam seals or the valve cover gasket. wouldn't hurt to replace both.

im going to try and fix it today. Thanks again for the write up.

mark@silbernage

So, with the turbo you may be getting some increased pressure in internally, from blowby. It would be a good idea to use some Hondabond (or Permatex) on the valve cover gasket where the cam caps arch over the cam... right in the corners where they bend.

Mark

2kdb8

oh yeah, thanks for the input.

2kdb8

this too! lol and make sure you clean and remove any old sealant that may be there before applying new sealant. also my advice if buying a new valve cover gasket, go with oem honda. i replaced everything with oem except the valve cover (fel-pro) and it sorta did not want to line up but i made it line up and used a little extra permatex in areas that looked iffy.

Scooooter7

Great step by step without any bs...THANKS!

2kdb8

no prob

jdm b16 eg

I just finished and I don't see anymore oil leaking. BTW I put Hondabond around the cam seal, valve cover gasket and spark plug seals. Thanks again for the good write up.

2kdb8

steadysupreme

sorry to revive this old thread. But i found that this should be an appropriate thread to post my question.

So i took the TB off when cam arrows UP point at 12 o'clock and crank lined up with the lower TB cover line. I totally forgot to check if the cam seals are leaking and indeed they are.

The question is, now with the timing belt off, how should i take off the cam gears? And as of now, i don't know why my cam gears slots and crank gear don't line up anymore.

Please help me out as the cam seals are arriving on Weds and i need to butter up the car asap. Thanks for any help in advance.

greatnightmare

Well the right way to do it is to unbolt the cam caps and plates if vtec, unbolt cam gears, and slide old ones off and new ones on, and make sure they are seated as far back as possible. Ive read about people doing it by just taking the cam gears off, digging the old ones out and knocking them in with a large enough deep socket, but I have not done this before. Im sure you can find a thread where that's the case if you google it. You might as well change out the cam plug too since your going that far anyways. I got one from blox, and its billet steel with 3 o rings in the middle. I have not had a problem with it since.

greatnightmare

Oh and if you do decide to undo the cam caps, make sure you completely loosen the valve lash on all the valves. I learned the hard way a couple years ago and forgot to relieve the tension and ended up snapping 3 bolts. I removed the first 2 no problem using a bolt extractor but the last one I snapped the extractor off inside the bolt, and could not drill it out because the extractor steel was so strong. I ultimately had to buy another head.

mtdineen

Did you get the cam pulleys off? My CRV cam shafts have a hex lobe between cyl 1 & 2 so i was able to put a wrench on there (I uesd an adjustable since I didnt have one large enough -28mm?) to hold it in place while I loosened the cam pulley bolts.