My father and I did the 95k mile timing belt & water pump maintenance this weekend, and there's a couple tips I'd like to share that Haynes and Chilton didn't specify well enough for my taste:

--Don't bother trying to use anything than the Honda tool for removing the crankshaft pulley bolt, it'll be a waste of time and a hazard to your engine. We used a jack-stand to support the breaker bar that was on the bolt, it made it a lot easier to stand back and tug on the cheater bar. However, this is the only point that every online post I read talked about, since it's such a pain.

--The true pain, bigger than the crankshaft pulley bolt, was the <U>lower</U> timing belt cover. Thanks to Honda's assembly-line engineering, the lower timing belt cover is only easily removed with the engine out. Since that's not really practical, we had to lower the engine on the side in question.

Here's where the problem comes in... thanks to the air conditioning compressor, we could initially only drop the engine an inch or so with the removal of the motor mount. The compressor was being stopped by the cross-member beneath it. This mere inch of space still leaves the radius rod/car body entirely in the way of the lower timing belt cover. So we had to then put a jack under the cross-member (where the front of the radius rod connects); unscrew its two connecting bolts from the frame; and lower the cross-member & the entire engine a few more inches.

These last few inches were critical in easily moving that bastardly Lower Timing Belt Cover in/out with no trouble. Without lowering the cross-member, it would take The Matrix-like mind powers to bend the timing belt cover into place, especially with a fresh gasket on it. In fact, I put the cover nearly in place before applying the gasket. By the way, don't forget to put back that internal belt cover before putting on the belts, getting everything aligned twice is a pain


Modified by Lezex at 11:20 PM 9/9/2007


Modified by Lezex at 11:22 PM 9/9/2007

 

amen to that damn blasted cover, that was the hardest thing for me also the whole damn time i did mine. I so wanted to leave it off too and not want to put it back up.

good tips

 

Hmmmm, to take off the lower you need to "hook" it out. Then hook it back in. When I did mine I just got a regular rubber mallet, took all the bolts off, hooked it over to the right, pounded it down and popped it off. Then you just hook it back in and pound it back up.

It gets a little scratched, but its not terribly difficult to get out *shrug*

Screw Honda custom tools. I use this one and it works wonders:

http://www.etoolcart.com/index...=7869

 

if you went through the trouble of dropping that corner of the front cross-member why even drop the engine? Wouldn't you be left with more room if you left the engine up when you drop the corner of the cross-member? just a thought...

the lower cover is a pain but IMO not worth dropping the corner of the cross-member. I know we had to work it around to find the best way to get it in and out, but once we got it turned the right way it came out and went in with little problem. I wish I would have taken pictures of that when we did it, then I would have added it to the write-up I did.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ramoneguru &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Screw Honda custom tools. I use this one and it works wonders:

http://www.etoolcart.com/index...=7869</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats because that tool is modeled after the Honda tool.

I agree through, dont buy the tool from Honda. I think they quoted me $80 plus tax plus an 8 week wait. I bought my tool from TheToolWarehouse.net made by Schley Products.

 

I didn't purchase the tool directly from Honda, so don't worry, I didn't pay out the *** for it.

I tried every "hooking" technique I could, playing Tetris with the damned thing, and without the full ~4 inches of drop I couldn't get it back in. Honestly, I spent 30 minutes under there turning it every which way from above and below, it wasn't going back in. Damned if I know how I got it out initially without the extra clearance.

We had already dropped the engine before finding out it wouldn't drop far enough, so to reattach the motor mount and everything before lowering the cross-member would have been a pain. Also, dropping the cross-member wouldn't have given more access if it weren't for the engine resting on it in the first place. The radius rod was what was really in the way, and removal of it didn't seem very practical thanks to the unreachable bolts connecting it to the steering knuckle or whatever.

Anyhow, just suggesting: if your lower case doesn't clear, consider dropping your engine, and if it won't drop far enough because of the AC hitting the cross-member, lower that crap too.


Modified by Lezex at 4:57 PM 9/10/2007