Recently picked up a 00' Civic EX and long story short I need to remove the lower timing belt cover b/c the engine had some over heating issues and from what the mechanic said the lower timing belt cover has melted inward and its having rubbing issues with pulleys and what not.... So my question is how hard is it to remove the upper and lower covers? The upper looks okay and it seems I just need to remove the valve cover and bolts and it should come right off, but how hard is it going to be for the lower...? Am I going to need to remove the engine mount, and other accessories to get to that lower timing belt cover off?

 

yes you are correct. engine mount and accessories. and crank pulley as well. Though as far as the engine overheating and timing belt cover rubbing, that is incorrect. if the cover is rubbing on the timing belt then yes you do have a problem and it needs to be fixed by replacing the cover that is rubbing or else your timing belts gonna snap eventually. as far as it causing the engine to overheat....I do not see how engine heating up is related to a slight rub on the timing belt at all. however, if your timing belt cover is in fact melted....then yeah your gonna wanna look into what caused that.

 

Just to clarify, the previous owner I bought the car from was returning from vacation and the radiator developed a leak and all the coolant leaked out, and the engine overheated and stopped; From the overheating the mechanic stated by taking the upper cover off and looking down you could see the lower cover has melted inward and is rubbing on certain parts... The car cranks and runs but is really noisy from the lower cover issue ; I had it towed to my house and once the timing belt covers have been removed I'm going to cross my fingers and listen to the engine hoping the block or engine is not toast... Thanks for your help man! Car is a 00' EX with 160K and I got it for a 1,000.00 so I believe I got a great deal on it even if I have to replace the motor ;