I'm about to replace the head on the d15 in my 95 dx 4 door. I'm not sure if i'm going to use another d15 head or do a d16 and get a new ECU. My question is about an issue i had last time I have the timing belt off. After putting the timing belt onto the crank sprocket and water pump and cam gear, I go to tighten it using the 3 cam gear teeth method. The problem I find is that once I tighten it with that method, the timing marks are no longer lined up. It stretches the belt a bit and throws the crank sprocket and cam gear marks out of sync. Is this a common problem? Does it matter? I'm not sure if i'm explaining this right. I don't have this problem with my vr4

 

After lining up the marks and slipping on the belt, make sure that all the slack in the belt is around the tensioner. Knock the tensioner toward the top of the motor [with the bolt loose] and it will take up the slack. Now use the 3 cam gear teeth method. Everything should still be lined up.

 

problem is if I tap the tensioner while the bolt is loose, it'll just come back. Even still, it's going to be off a tiny bit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by UndergroundVR-4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">problem is if I tap the tensioner while the bolt is loose, it'll just come back. Even still, it's going to be off a tiny bit.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not if all the slack is around the tensioner. When you turn the cam shaft three teeth, you are rotating it counter clockwise right? Doing this takes all the stress off the tensioner spring and takes up the necessary slack in the belt. If you turn the camshaft clockwise, you actually stretch the tensioner spring, which is NOT what you want to do.

 

Correct, I'm turning it counter-clockwise. No matter how little slack i try to leave between the cam gear and crank sprocket when I'm sliding the belt on, it still stretches a bit. As I begin to turn the crank sprocket counter clockwise with my ratchet, it turns ever so slightly before the cam gear starts to turn with it. This, in turn, throwing the marks out of sync. Should I over comensate by setting the crank sprocket clockwise one tooth off, so that when it stretches a bit, it'll line them up correctly? Do you know what I'm saying?

 

So you're saying that when the cam and crank are perfectly aligned, you still have slack in the long part of the belt, toward the exhaust side of the engine? Has your head ever been milled? There shouldn't be any slack.

I know what you're saying, the crank moves a tiny bit before the cam. Try my method of putting on the belt that I said above. Tension the belt using the three cam teeth. Tighten the tensioner bolt down. Now reset to TDC and check your cam and crank marks. Even though the crank begins to move a little bit before the cam, I always find that it's right on after tighening everything down.

 

Okay, thank you. Now, the reason that I ask this is because I need to put a new head on my D15. IF I'm only able to find a D16 head, and am forced to buy that and a new ECU, and the other parts needed, like the VTEC solenoid. Will the method of putting on the timing belt be any different? Meaning, will I still use the little arrow on the upper timing cover to line up the cam gear? Just like I did with my D15 head?

I also assume that I'll use the same method of lining up the arrow on the lower timing cover to aline the crank sprocket too.

 

The crank sprocket should be aligned by lining up the raised arrow on the oil pump housing [metal] and the tiny dash in the actual timing belt sprocket on the crank [this is very hard to see sometimes].

From my experience, all D-series timing belt jobs go exactly the same.

 

Yes, that's what I meant to say. You're absolutely right about the notch on the crank sprocket being difficult to see. The reason I'm swapping the head is because I used the wrong mark on the crank sprocket when I did my water pump the other week, causing me to bend a valve . How embarassing it is to admit that :-\


Modified by UndergroundVR-4 at 9:58 PM 1/13/2005