zzmxj5

Honda civic 2002 LX 4dr.

Hi, I am new to this forum. I think that I really goofed up. I am changing timing belt and I left a wrench on the valves and it slipped between cam and head. I had already marked belt and cam with white paint but not the crank sprocket. I was turning crank and it didn't feel right. Resistence. I don't know if the belt jumped the gears or if it was hard to turn because wrench was stuck. Now white marks on the belt don't match the white mark on the cam sprocket. When crank is at TDC the UP letters on the cam sprocket is down. Is this possible? I am thinking the UP on the cam sprocket is TDC twice for every time crank is TDC. That means belt has jumped gears and needs to be backed up. Is the above statement true? Does this mean that I have certainly bent the valves? Is there a chance I didn't bend anything? (pray,pray).
How do I straighten this out?
Thank you for any suggestions or insight.

skipbarber

iTrader: (1)

you shouldnt need to mark the placement of the belt on the gears. The timing on these motors is painfully simple. get the wrench out of there if you haven't already and inspect the cam and lobes for damage. I'm not sure I understand how that happened. Next, line up the crank with it's timing mark, then line up the two indentations on the cam sprocket so they are level with the cylinder head and make sure the "up" engraving is pointing the right direction. Reinstall your belt and set the tension. Turn it several times by hand and make sure it turns without binding. It's ok to feel resistance in intervals since the motor is building compression. Do you have any type of reference materials, or are you just going at it as is?

zzmxj5

Thanks for the reply. Yes I have reference materials, I guess I kind of panicked and didn't think things out. All I have to do is put crank TDC and Cam pully UP and aligned. After belt is off, can I turn cam without valves hitting cylinder if crank is TDC? Seems to me that valves would hit the cylinder if it were TDC.
Thanks for any advice.

skipbarber

iTrader: (1)

you shouldnt need to turn the cam gear far enough to open valves that far. if the cam is already close to it's mark, then you shouldn't even come close to having any piston to valve contact. besides, the stock pistons have reliefs. people have broken timing belts at highway speeds with these motors and been able to simply replace the belt. For you to do damage, youd have to be spinning the motor fast enough that the pistons and valves reach max travel at the same time at full speed.

zzmxj5

Thanks again for your reply. I checked the valve settings and they haven't changed. Looks like I survived a big goof. I did manage to damage the cam shaft, so I didn't get off without a penalty for my stupidity. Oh well, tossing in a new cam is a lot easier than a valve job.
Thanks again.