My '06 Pilot now has about 81K on it and so I plan to replace the timing belt on it sometime in the next few days. I'd rather not take any chances on it breaking when I'm far away from home and then have to pay someone else to do the work.

So, I'll be replacing the water pump, the tensioner and the oil seals all at the same time if everything goes well.

I wondered if anyone on here has any good tips or hints for me - I haven't done one of these before. For the record I do have access to a brand new Ingersoll-Rand 2135TiMAX 1/2" impact tool which I hope should easily blast off that pesky bolt with its 750ft/lbs of torque (my new baby ;-)

Thanks for any tips,

Bob

 

I have not done a Pilot before, with that stated, does this motor require you to remove the valve cover to then remove the timing cover, if so, get a complete valve cover gasket set. There may be other bearings besides the tensioner, get those also. Replace your accessory drive belts since they will be off. Remove the thermostat, do a good long fresh water flush, drain and refill with proper antifreeze and new thermostat.

If the timing covers have rubber dust seals along the mating surface of the engine, RTV those back on right away to give the RTV time to dry before reassembly. If they are swollen due to oil leakage, then replace them and RTV them first.

Does this engine have a balancer belt, is there a retainer holding in the balance shaft oil seal, if no retainer, get one from Honda, if no balancer, no worries.

If the 1/2 inch does not work, put some oil in the air coupling to increase your torque, if no help, borrow a 3/4 inch from Autozone tool loaner program, or crank up the pressure or buy a fatter air hose, volume is everything.

You will be using Honda parts, yes.

 

Thank you for the tips Duane. I'm hoping that my new 1/2" 2135TiMAX will do the job on that crankshaft bolt (it's supposed to put out 780ft/lbs in reverse) - I also have a large holding tool for the pulley itself that looks just like the Honda special tool.

Everything that I have read about this job says that the pulley bolt can be very very difficult to remove and is the hardest step. Yes, I am going to use all genuine Honda parts.

So far I have bought the timing belt, drive belt, tensioner, oil seals and fluids. I was planning to pick up the two pulleys next.

I hadn't thought of changing the thermostat but maybe I'll add that one too - it seems like a good idea to do this at the same time.

Thanks again..

Bob

 

I forgot to add - I also have the water pump.

Bob

 

I also forgot to add - there is no extra balancer on this engine as far as I am aware.

 

99% of the v6's i do require a 3/4 inch impact unfortunatly i have the same gun as you (although mine is now probably has a good 8 years of age on yours)

quick tips for you, don't let the b1 cam spin it does quite easy and it can make the belt quite difficute to put on.

easiest way to put the belt on is crank, b2 cam, water pump, b1 cam, tensioner pulley, THEN bolt the 2 10mm head bolts on with the tensioner and lock her down.

this job can in all seriousness be done in 45 minutes, 2 hours tops for your first one, v6 honda's are the easiest timing belts out there.

since you have a pilot be prepared to buy a drivers side mount, and possibly a front engine mount when you get down and check em just a heads up to you sir

edit: (adding info) the cam seals can be a bitch to get in since your limited on room and if you dont' have the tool to do so improvise one with a socket and a bolt to push it in flush to do then with just your fingers is a chore to say the least.

 

Thank you for those excellent tips. I don't have access to a 3/4" gun without going through some hoops (eg. a rental) so fingers crossed my new 1/2" gun will be enough to do the trick. Perhaps if I go back and forth on it for a while and then maybe also heat it up a bit if that becomes necessary. Yes - this is really THE step that I am a bit worried about. I don't really want to spend hours on this bolt as some people have had to.

I do also have a good strong tool to hold the pulley and so if I can get that against something really solid it should add a little torque to each blow of the impact gun. I'll also give the gun 125psi for this occasion too.

Thanks for the tip on the mountings and seals too. I have the seals and I was planning to pick up a thermostat - we'll need to see what the condition of the engine mountings really is.

I plan to do the job on Saturday (while the USA are not playing in the World Cup of course).

Bob

 

Sorry if I confused you by replying from my other computer - we ended up with two IDs (long story) so this the the same BobSproket above.

 

Update: Got the belt replaced today - much bigger job than I thought. Replaced the oil seals and the water pump. The idler and tensioner pulleys as well as the hydraulic belt tensioner. I also replaced the drive belt.

I tried to get the crankshaft pulley off using a breaker bar - it was incredibly tight but we put a long pipe on the breaker bar and when it finally did pop it really felt like something had snapped. I decided to go this route because a few people has told me that the vibrations from my impact gun were not really a good thing for the engine and its bearings. I'm not sure if I agree with this but it didn't really hurt in the end to do it that way - we got the bolt of fairly quickly albeit with a bit of a bang.

I'm still working on the car however as I need to refill the cooling system and replace the thermostat - that is now going to happen tomorrow.

Bob

 

Tips: Somebody somewhere wrote that you should mark the old belt with something like liquid paper as well as the camshaft and crankshaft sprockets and their adjacent shrouds.

You then transfer these little white marks onto the new belt while counting the identical number of teeth on the new belt while it is lying next to the old timing belt on your bench.

This little tip was a HUGE godsend for me today and it really helps getting things lined up correctly again when you put the new belt on. It is just SO easy to jump one tooth on one cam sprockets or crankshaft sprocket when fitting the new belt! (ask me how I know this) I strongly advise anyone else doing this job to do the same.

You can then turn the engine and easily check that things still line up correctly. The rear camshaft seems to be "spring loaded" in the TDC position and is very easy to know out of position.

Bob

 

Job done and the car is running fine. The only mistake I made was with the thermostat which has a weird kind of "wrap-around" rubber gasket. The first time I installed the new thermostat and gasket I completely missed this fact and I put it in on one side just like a normal gasket.

I refilled the engine with fresh coolant and it soon leaked!

Had to drain the coolant and do it all over again!! Darn - I hate that!

The second time around I noticed my mistake with the gasket and all is now well - no more leaks.

Car now has new oil seals, new water pump, new thermostat, new timing belt, new pulleys, new drive belt and new coolant. Should be good for another 100K

Bob

 

Hi Duane,

Thanks again for all your tips!

BTW, there was no need to remove the valve covers in the end - I got the cam gears off by putting a socket on a ratchet handle through one of the holes in the gear wheel to lock it in place while I used another wrench on the big nut in the middle to loosen it. Same in reverse to torque up them correctly after replacing the cam seals (there are bolt heads behind the gears that you can use to hold the socket).

The old cam seals were a pain to remove (especially the rear one) because there is very little space to work in back there.

For the crankshaft pulley I used a huge breaker bar in the end (just as Honda recommends) and I never tried my impact gun on it (another friend recommended that I not put all those vibrations into the crankshaft).

On the crankshaft...

The heavy duty crank pulley holder with long handle that I had bought for the task was a real godsend. When the nut finally broke free it was "explosive" and it really felt like something had snapped somewhere.

My buddy and I were both swinging on the end of the breaker bar/pipe at the time and we both tumbled.

Putting the crank nut on again was far easier by comparison.

Anyway, I'm putting all this information up here as it may help out someone else doing the job for the first time.

I have another car to do now but the second time will be far easier (as usual).

I used all genuine Honda parts and I'm now glad that I did.

Bob