Honda Pilot (03) Timing Belt & Water Pump
07-04-2016, 05:22 AM
#152
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Re: Honda Pilot (03) Timing Belt & Water Pump
First, thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I just finished the timing belt and thought I would share my experience.
2004 pilot with 130k miles. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, idler pulley, adjusting pulley, autotensioner, upper and lower radiator hoses, and the thermostat. I used an Asin kit from Amazon (https://amzn.com/B008EEYTQA)
- The crankshaft bolt came off with a 1/2" ratchet holding the pulley against the tie rod (watch out for the oil filter!) using a pulley holder from Amazon (https://amzn.com/B0000TMLWQ). I really didn't get how the tool worked until I realized that you have to put a breaker bar or a ratchet into the little hole to give the tool leverage and length required to brace against the frame/suspension. The packaging says it "removes crankshaft bolts with a ratchet or breaker bar." I thought they were stupid since you have to use one of those to turn the bolt...then I realized I was stupid! It did take both arms pulling, legs against the frame, 18" breaker bar, and 18" cheater pipe. I did not use a lift, so I really only had about 24" total to work with as I didn't have the ground clearance to extend the bar and the pipe. Cussing helps get the bolt off, so use it profusely here.
- As mentioned before, you do have to remove the rubber (frame side) engine mount. It was not in any of the manuals.
- Also as mentioned, the oil dipstick was a pain. I used a piece of scotch tape to hold the nut to a 10mm deep socket and a mirror to see. I could wiggle it in place and then spin the socket by hand until it caught. I also suggest putting it on before the crankshaft pulley to give yourself a little more room down low if you want to try to come up from under.
- The biggest lesson here, and I had to do the whole procedure TWICE, was to not tighten the adjusting pulley until you release/pull the pin on the autotensioner (AT). I did everything per the forums and the honda manual. However, the kit came with all new pulleys, so I got to the adjusting pulley (the one the AT pushes against) and there was nothing in the Honda manual, Haynes manual, and I didn't see it in the forums. I knew the last thing to do was pull the pin on the AT, so I knew I had to put the adjusting pulley on first. I put it on and torqued it down according to the kit's specs (MISTAKE). I pulled the pin on the AT and reassembled the engine. When I started it up, my heart sank. The engine make a FLUP, FLUP, FLUP noise at idle. It sounded better when I accelerated, but still bad. I had to start over.
I thought maybe I had skipped a tooth. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos about belts being too tight and skipped teeth, but they didn't seem to match. The noise sounded like the belt was flapping/chattering. I took the whole thing apart. The first thing I noticed was the right/front side of the belt (idler pulley side) was pretty loose and the left/rear side was tight. Then I noticed I could spin the water pump by hand! I had marked the belt the first time around, but when I tried to move the belt one tooth, it was way too hard without screwing up TDC on all the pulleys. I know Hondas are not the kind of car that requires force, so I had to be wrong about the skipped tooth, but now I doubted the paint marks. I finally ignored the paint, said F-it, made sure everything was a TDC, and just put the belt on nice and tight starting at the crankshaft and working counter-clockwise as the manual says.
I took the AT off and used my jack to recompress it. Align the pin hole before you compress it so you can get the pin in. Then slowly and carefully jack the AT against the underside of the frame. Give the AT time to compress after each pump of the jack. The AT will compress slowly and you can get the pin in. I ran a test run of this on the old AT and did not have it aligned well between the frame and the jack, so after I jacked it up it popped out sideways and the car dropped back down. It will not lift the car off the deck, but it will raise it up on the suspension. Be careful!
When I put the AT back on, I was still thinking about that damn slack on the right side and tight on the left. I decided to back the adjusting pulley bolt off just enough to allow it to move up and down as designed. When I pulled the pin on the AT, the whole belt was tight and I knew it was right! I tightened down the adjusting pulley and put the whole thing back together. Purrs like a kitten! That was a good feeling.
Last note - the camshaft pulleys don't just "wander" or "walk" when they decide to change position. Those bastards jump. I was putting the belt on and the rear/left pulley sprang about 30 degrees forward. It scared the hell out of me and took me a second to figure out what happened. At TDC, you are resting between the two spring positions. If you creep to far forward or back, they will jump to release the spring tension. Don't sweat it and you can rotate it back with a wrench on the pulley bolt. Word of caution on that, I got a good knuckle whack when I was rotating the pulley back and took it a little too far - the pulley jumped and the ratchet cracked my knuckles like a nun on steriods. Watch your hands/head and treat the pulleys with respect and you will be okay.
2004 pilot with 130k miles. I replaced the timing belt, water pump, idler pulley, adjusting pulley, autotensioner, upper and lower radiator hoses, and the thermostat. I used an Asin kit from Amazon (https://amzn.com/B008EEYTQA)
- The crankshaft bolt came off with a 1/2" ratchet holding the pulley against the tie rod (watch out for the oil filter!) using a pulley holder from Amazon (https://amzn.com/B0000TMLWQ). I really didn't get how the tool worked until I realized that you have to put a breaker bar or a ratchet into the little hole to give the tool leverage and length required to brace against the frame/suspension. The packaging says it "removes crankshaft bolts with a ratchet or breaker bar." I thought they were stupid since you have to use one of those to turn the bolt...then I realized I was stupid! It did take both arms pulling, legs against the frame, 18" breaker bar, and 18" cheater pipe. I did not use a lift, so I really only had about 24" total to work with as I didn't have the ground clearance to extend the bar and the pipe. Cussing helps get the bolt off, so use it profusely here.
- As mentioned before, you do have to remove the rubber (frame side) engine mount. It was not in any of the manuals.
- Also as mentioned, the oil dipstick was a pain. I used a piece of scotch tape to hold the nut to a 10mm deep socket and a mirror to see. I could wiggle it in place and then spin the socket by hand until it caught. I also suggest putting it on before the crankshaft pulley to give yourself a little more room down low if you want to try to come up from under.
- The biggest lesson here, and I had to do the whole procedure TWICE, was to not tighten the adjusting pulley until you release/pull the pin on the autotensioner (AT). I did everything per the forums and the honda manual. However, the kit came with all new pulleys, so I got to the adjusting pulley (the one the AT pushes against) and there was nothing in the Honda manual, Haynes manual, and I didn't see it in the forums. I knew the last thing to do was pull the pin on the AT, so I knew I had to put the adjusting pulley on first. I put it on and torqued it down according to the kit's specs (MISTAKE). I pulled the pin on the AT and reassembled the engine. When I started it up, my heart sank. The engine make a FLUP, FLUP, FLUP noise at idle. It sounded better when I accelerated, but still bad. I had to start over.
I thought maybe I had skipped a tooth. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos about belts being too tight and skipped teeth, but they didn't seem to match. The noise sounded like the belt was flapping/chattering. I took the whole thing apart. The first thing I noticed was the right/front side of the belt (idler pulley side) was pretty loose and the left/rear side was tight. Then I noticed I could spin the water pump by hand! I had marked the belt the first time around, but when I tried to move the belt one tooth, it was way too hard without screwing up TDC on all the pulleys. I know Hondas are not the kind of car that requires force, so I had to be wrong about the skipped tooth, but now I doubted the paint marks. I finally ignored the paint, said F-it, made sure everything was a TDC, and just put the belt on nice and tight starting at the crankshaft and working counter-clockwise as the manual says.
I took the AT off and used my jack to recompress it. Align the pin hole before you compress it so you can get the pin in. Then slowly and carefully jack the AT against the underside of the frame. Give the AT time to compress after each pump of the jack. The AT will compress slowly and you can get the pin in. I ran a test run of this on the old AT and did not have it aligned well between the frame and the jack, so after I jacked it up it popped out sideways and the car dropped back down. It will not lift the car off the deck, but it will raise it up on the suspension. Be careful!
When I put the AT back on, I was still thinking about that damn slack on the right side and tight on the left. I decided to back the adjusting pulley bolt off just enough to allow it to move up and down as designed. When I pulled the pin on the AT, the whole belt was tight and I knew it was right! I tightened down the adjusting pulley and put the whole thing back together. Purrs like a kitten! That was a good feeling.
Last note - the camshaft pulleys don't just "wander" or "walk" when they decide to change position. Those bastards jump. I was putting the belt on and the rear/left pulley sprang about 30 degrees forward. It scared the hell out of me and took me a second to figure out what happened. At TDC, you are resting between the two spring positions. If you creep to far forward or back, they will jump to release the spring tension. Don't sweat it and you can rotate it back with a wrench on the pulley bolt. Word of caution on that, I got a good knuckle whack when I was rotating the pulley back and took it a little too far - the pulley jumped and the ratchet cracked my knuckles like a nun on steriods. Watch your hands/head and treat the pulleys with respect and you will be okay.
07-05-2016, 06:56 AM
#153
Re: Honda Pilot (03) Timing Belt & Water Pump
Glad to hear you got it going. I've done this change several times, and am familiar with your many pains. At the end of the day the lessons learned are worth the bruises & drama. :D
Congrats!
Congrats!
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