I have a 94 Accord LX and will be doing a timing belt, balancer belt, etc. change tomorrow. I have read through all the threads on this site about timing belt change and the accompanying links. They were very, very helpful. I also have a Helm's manual.

My question: In one of the threads it was recommended that I try to break the crank pulley bolt loose before starting to disassemble everything. (I do have the pulley holding tool mentioned in many of the threads I read) Besides a couple of breaker/cheater bars will I need a deep 19mm socket or a regular one, do i need an extension and will i need to attack it from the top or put the car up on stands and attack through the bottom/ driver's side wheel well? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks in advance!!!!

 

that's really depend how you going do the job.

if you are pull the motor up with a hoist to do it, you don't need any extension or deepsocket at all.

if you are doing it with the motor still in the car, you can put the car on jackstand and take off the driver front wheel to have more access, unless you gonna use a impact gun, you'll need some long **** extension, because the long long long breaker bar aint gonna fit in the wheel well.(unless you have a lift for car)

i don;t think you need a deepsocket, but someone chime in if i am wrong

 

I say deep 1/2 socket and breaker bar will work...
Just remember to put it on # 1 TDC.

 

Are you close to a service/garage ? I have heard of people having a garage break it loose with an air wrench, moderately tighten it and then you are safe to drive a short distance home to pull it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by patentguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Besides a couple of breaker/cheater bars will I need a deep 19mm socket or a regular one, do i need an extension and will i need to attack it from the top or put the car up on stands and attack through the bottom/ driver's side wheel well? </TD></TR></TABLE>
you can use a standard 19mm socket or a deepwell either is fine. you will definitely need an extension and a breaker bar. remove the driver's side wheel and you will see an access hole you can get right on the crank pulley bolt with. prop the crank holder against the LCA or something solid then use the breaker bar on the bolt and you'll get it loose.

 

Thanks for all of your help! How long of an extension will I need? Also what is the LCA? If I can't crack it loose I'm sure there are a couple of garages around here that wouldn't mind charging me a small fee to crack it loose for me.

 

LCA = lower control arm

you only "need" about 6" of extension but it will be MUCH easier to get leverage on the breaker bar if you have closer to 12-18" of extension.

you should be able to do it, once the crank pulley is not moving it's not that hard to do w/ a long breaker bar.

 

Thanks! I ended up using two 10" extensions w/ a 25" breaker bar. the breaker bar flexed like crazy but the bolt finally cracked loose. I thought I broke something by the way it sounded. Luckily it was just the crank pulley bolt coming loose.

Another question for you: Will I need to tighten the timing/ balancer belts a couple hundred miles later? I'm not sure if they stretch, etc. If so do you just pop off the upper timing belt cover, loosen the tensioner bolt and give the crank pulley a little twist counter clockwise? Besides the bearings whining, how else would I know that the belt is too tight?

Thanks in advance!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by patentguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I thought I broke something by the way it sounded. Luckily it was just the crank pulley bolt coming loose.</TD></TR></TABLE>
sounds like something cracked right off didn't it? SNAP!!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by patentguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Will I need to tighten the timing/ balancer belts a couple hundred miles later? </TD></TR></TABLE>
I don't think so, I've never heard of anyone having to re-tension the timing or balancer belt. You should be good to go.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by patentguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If so do you just pop off the upper timing belt cover, loosen the tensioner bolt and give the crank pulley a little twist counter clockwise? </TD></TR></TABLE>
nope. to re-tension both properly you would have to remove the lower cover to put a cover bolt into the timing belt "holder" slot to secure the timing belt after tensioning it so you could tighten the balancer bolt.

I've never heard of the belt getting too tight if you follow the proper procedures. Not sure if you would be able to hear anything due to a tight timing belt. Very interesting question. I wonder...

 

if you tighten it properly following the directions it will not be over tensioned. over tensioning happens when people go and physically push on the tensioner to create more tension on the belt, this way would be easy to over tighten the belt and is also very bad.

and if the belt is on too tight, it will whine like a supercharger or something,

 

I made the mistake of giving the tensioners a little "nudge" when I did mine 5 weeks ago and was rewarded with a "whirring" that came on at 1,700 rpms. I pulled the alt. and p.s. belts, loosened the tensioner bolt that is accesible thru the cover, pulled the plugs and turned the engine a few rotations by hand using the crank pulley bolt. This allowed the springs on the tensioners to do the job I should have let them do in the first place. Tighten tensioner bolt, belts and plugs back in place, purring like a 300,000 mile kitten.

 

Just so I know if I did it correctly, what is the proper way to tension the belt? I'm pretty sure I put the belt on in this order: crank,tensioner, water pump, cam. From the right side of the cam to the bottom of the crank the belt was pretty tight but from the left side of the cam to the bottom of the crank, the belt wasn't quite as tight. I never gave the tensioner a nudge, but I did loosen both the tensioner bolt+service bolt on t-belt tensioner plate while I turned crank pulley less than 1/2 turn. the belt seemed to be tighter after that.

I'm asking in part because before the timing belt change I had a rubber tapping sound around 2,500-3,500 RPM's coming from the timing cover area (almost sounds like an exhaust sound, but not quite). this only happens when I am under load, can't reproduce by just revving the engine. I thought it went away after the t-belt change but it is back after I drove about 5 miles or so. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

I don't have my helms in front of me, but it's <u>something</u> like this:

loosen adjuster nut, turn engine over 2-3x COUNTER clockwise, retighten adjuster

install timing cover bolt into timing tensioner "holder" spot, loosen adjuster, turn engine over 2-3 clockwise, tighen adjuster, remove timing cover bolt from tensioner

(corrections fully welcome here, but it's something like that)

 

When it was time to change my crank pulley I just bought another car...

I havent looked at the car in almost 2 years but I think I broke the bolt holding the crank pulley off while driving and the remainder of the bolt is inside the crankcase. All I know is...it wasnt fun when it broke...and it sounds like it will kill you if you start it up because the crank pulley is in there spinning wobbling hitting the wheelwell and motor.

 

I'll have to check to see if the crank pulley is wobbly. I hope it isn't because last time I checked these are pretty expensive to repair. Luckily my crank pulley bolt is still in one piece as far as I know. (at least it came out in one piece).