I blew it bigtime! Was following the destructions on how to adjust timing belt on my d15b SOHC engine and instead of turning the crank pulley to tighten it after I loosened the tensioner adjustment bolt, I cranked on the cam pulley (too lazy to bend down and turn crank pulley) counterclockwise as it says you are supposed to. Well that's when I screwed up. Something slipped like the belt jumped a few teeth on the pulley(s) or something? Then it slipped huge after I tried it again. Guess I needed to replace the timing belt anyway. The problem is that I now have no clue how to get the engine back timed since there are no marks that I was supposed to make before removing the belt. Can anyone give me the steps to re-time the engine from scratch after I get the new belt installed? Thanks for any guidance from the pros.

 

Does ANYBODY know of another way to get the SOHC 1.5 engine back in time other than the following suggested way?

Disconnect your batt. Pull the rocker arm assembly off, loosen the tensioner pulley, slide the belt off, pull the cam out. That should close all the valves when you turn the motor by hand.
Look at the crank pully for the white TDC mark, turn the motor with your wrench on the crank pulley untill it is perfectly ligned up with the plastic needle on the belt cover, Then set the cam back in place with the "up" or "top" at the 12 0'clock position then put the rocker assem. back on. Torque it all to spec..
Slide the belt on, with the tensioner loose rotate the motor 3 revolutions to give it proper tension then tighten the tensioner. This should take about 3-4hrs with the right tools, then bust out the timing light.
By this way you should'nt have to worry about bending valves..

 

P.S. I was gonna replace the timing belt while I've got it apart so maybe there is another way to re-time the engine after you pull the crank pulley off in order to get the belt off. Somebody please say yes and describe how. I've got the power steering pump out of the way and the bracket off, the a/c belt off, the alt belt off and am now ready to pull the crank pulley and have run into another problem. How do you break the crank pulley bolt loose? When I put my socket on it, it spins freely. Guys this has turned into a real biatch! Hoping there is an easier way.

 

BUMP I've been told that the pull the cam out is way too extreme. Anybody have a better way?

 

get a new belt and water pump/gaskets if you havent already, this WILL save you alot of trouble.

The helms describes this perfectly. Take your time and start from scratch. I havent heard of taking off the cam. You should just tightly fit the belt over the pullys/gears and then adjust.

 

Got a new belt but since the water pump is not leaking I'm gonna take the chance that it is still good. At least for now. Funds are really tight right now. I have a friend that is coming over with his truck mounted air compressor (mobile commercial forklift repairman) to bust the bolt loose. He is also a wizard at working on Honda engines and said he could get it replaced and timed back up fairly quickly. My Helms manual, I think its Helms, on CD doesn't have a section that explains how to retime an engine if you incorrectly take the timing belt off.

 

i thought it doesnt matter? you can mess the timing up with the belt off the car? cant you just alight the cam and crank with tdc? As far as basic common sense tells me, thousands of people have seperated the head and the block, and stripped the block and head aka teardown, and rebuilt from scratch.

If this was true these people would have F'ed the timing up beyond repair.

I think your reading it wrong. maybe some pro engine builders can explain it better.

 

I agree with bigskye, just line up both the crank and cam with TDC and then replace the belt.

 

You guys are prolly right. That is most likely why the friend of mine that is coming over told me it wouldn't take long to put back on. I just thought since I've never done this before that if you didn't make some kind of marks on the pulleys or something and pulled the timing belt off that it would be difficult to put it back on and the timing be right. When I slipped it trying to turn the cam pulley, all I prolly did was just get that pulley and the crank pulley out of time in relation to TDC. Thanks gents!

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Bigger problem now. Got the crank bolt off with his compressor and impact gun and the belt on. Went to fire it up and it started briefly and then quit. Won't start back up. Checked and it has fair compression in #1, very little in #2 and #3 and excellent pressure in #4. When I first tried to adjust the belt, I recall the cam pulley that I was tugging on slipping alot not just once but twice. When we put the belt on, we got the cam pulley at TDC but didn't put the crank pulley on and get them both at TDC like I recall someone saying you are supposed to. Would this have anything to do with the engine not having good compression in all cylinders? My friend thinks I may have bent a couple of valves but in the SOHC engine I'm not sure how I could have done that even if the engine was way out of time and I tried to start it. Anybody have a good idea about the inner works of one of these SOHC 1.5 engines and can offer some solid technical advice? I hope I don't have to take the head to a shop to fix it or replace the engine since I could prolly get a decent used one for what it'll cost to have the head rebuilt. Thanks guys.

 

you put the belt back on wrong and bent some valves. youll need to take the head off to replace the valves now.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dbailey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but in the SOHC engine I'm not sure how I could have done that even if the engine was way out of time and I tried to start it. Anybody have a good idea about the inner works of one of these SOHC 1.5 engines and can offer some solid technical advice? I hope I don't have to take the head to a shop to fix it or replace the engine since I could prolly get a decent used one for what it'll cost to have the head rebuilt. Thanks guys. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm pretty sure that your D15 is an interference engine.

You have this topic going on in two forums.... and the outcome is going to be the same. Take your head off and have a machine shop check and replace any bent valves. Call up your local engine shop and see how much they charge to do a valve job. Replace the damaged valves and guides (if required) It shouldn't cost that much. $85-$150 tops. If you can find a used head for cheaper than that you could go that route as well.

 

Thanks my man. I was soooo hoping that was not the case. Well I guess it's pull the head job. That sux! Hope its not too intensive. The engine has 180,000 miles on it with some piston slap noises so I guess I'll just bandaide it and throw it back together and let er ride. What really sux is that I sold it to my son and screwed it up trying to make what should have been a simple adjustment.

 

Yeah I ran the thread in a couple of places hoping I would run into someone that would give me the answer I was looking for. And NOT! I agree that I am going to have to bite it off and do the dirty work. If I could find a good used head I'd do that. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

piston slap? i think you have no idea what youre talking about lol...

when was the last time the valve clearance was adjusted? thats probably the noise youre thinking is piston slap. either that or rod is knocking or you have some 75mm vitara pistons in it..

 

Engine is noisy until it warms up and then the noise almost goes away. Sorta of a low octane ping when warmed up. Was told that is piston slap. Pistons warm up and expand and fill the gaps and the noise goes away. Yes?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dbailey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Engine is noisy until it warms up and then the noise almost goes away. Sorta of a low octane ping when warmed up. Was told that is piston slap. Pistons warm up and expand and fill the gaps and the noise goes away. Yes? </TD></TR></TABLE>

same goes for valve lash clearance. thats why you adjust the valves with the engine cold.

 

Well I guess we'll see after I get the bent valves replaced and the head back on her.

 

After you get the head and timing belt back on that would be the best time to check the valve clearances if you want to rid yourself of that tick.

 

So the machine shop doesn't take care of adjusting the rocker arms after the valve job?

 

Yes they should but i would still get a set of feeler gauges and check it yourself just to be sure. You shouldn't have to do any adjusting it's just for verification.