jaevee

Aloha,

Sorry for not doing the intro thing and everything.
I have a 92 accord lx wagon. It needs a cam seal and ONLY a cam seal. I damaged it. Long story. I've been searching for these answers since yesterday, but im confused.
As I understand there are two ways to change it.
Take out the dizzy and cam and put a new seal.
Take off pully and belt and get it from that end. I dont need a new t-belt. know.. While youre in there etc..etc.. But the t-belts pretty new, and hopefully ( I dont have the car now) clean and dry. I havent been driving it.
I understand setting the motor to TDC etc. What I'm not sure of is how possible is it for me to pull that pulley off, change the seal and get the pulley back on without wrestling with a non stretchy belt for hours. And, even scarier is pulling the pulley, having the tensioner yank down on the belt and having to redo the entire t-belt assembly.
What I would LOVE to do is - Mark the pulley and belt all over so I can line it up again nice, stick something in there to keep tension on the belt, pull the pulley, change the seal, smack the pulley back on, cruise..

POssible? Do I need to jam something in there to keep tension on? I can turn a wrench, and I've done tons of alternator and similar jobs, but never a t-belt. I dont know how those tensioners work.
Thanks for any and all help and advice!

Hidenplanvew

let us know how that works out for ya... I dont think it will work out for you....

jaevee

Thanks. That's a great help.

Hidenplanvew

You want what I think... Do it by the book but if you feel that you can do it, try it... I dont think it will work tho.

GhostAccord

I'm not sure that I understand the issue here! As long as the cam and crank are both at TDC there is really no need to hold any sort of tension on the belt. The belt can flop around and move all it wants too. The orientation of the belt itself doesn't matter.

Do you have a Helms shop manual for your car?

doctorbee

If you can maintain tension and align the belt to the same teeth as before the engine won't know a difference

46andtool

I would say it's time te learn the TB replacement procedure. I can't see replacing the cam seal (timing pulley end) without removing TB and being successful. The tensioner is different than the alternator tensioner adjustment - just like the TB is sufferer than the alt belt.
If you're willing and able to replace the cam seal, you should be at least able to do a TB job.
My advice on that is: 1) get a book 2) get the crank pulley tool for loosening the crank bolt.
And good luck.

Hidenplanvew

jaevee, If I were you I would do all the seals on the TB side and also do a TB again as they are cheap.. If you put a new waterpump on not to long ago you can prob skip that.

OLDMNSX

javee,
You are going to have to remove the timing belt in order to remove the cam gear and the dust cover behind the cam gear to get to the cam seal.

Remove the harmonic balancer, belt cover, balance shaft belt, timing belt tensioner, belt etc. Get the harmonic balancer tool installed and then break the torque on the cam gear bolt before you remove the timing belt.

Mark the timing points on the balance shafts before removal of the belt. The marks on the engine behind the balance shaft gears are very hard to see with the belt installed. A Sharpie works good on a clean surface make your own marks where you can see them.

When you are down to the removal of the cam seal use an awl to carefully punch a hole in the metal part of the seal as close to the outside of the seal as you can. Either use a small slide hammer like what would be used to pull out a dent in a fender or just a small sheet metal screw and screw it carefully into the hole in the seal. Then slide the hammer or pull on the screw and the seal will come out. Be very careful of the cam seal surface don't scratch it.

If you use a OEM Honda seal it will be greased between the double lips if you get an aftermarket seal it will be dry. Coat the area between the double lips with grease before installing. The outside of the seal and the area on the cylinder head should be clean and DRY. Tap the seal in till it gently bottoms in the head. Be sure not to fold the seal when you install it over the cam.