I just did head work and I need to get the timing belt back on. The plastic over that is over the tensioner. I can't get off because the bolt to it is stripped. Ive tried pulling on it and breaking it but its some pretty tough plastic. What can I do to get it off

 

First I would stick a pry bar or screwdriver between the cover and block and with pressure applied turn the bolt to get it off:
If that does not work then either drill the head of the bolt off to remove cover then proceed to remove the remainder by either cutting whats left and forget about this bolt and put all the others on. I would not try to drill the remainder off after this, it would be a waste of time IMO all the othe bolts should hold it just fine
You can also just cut the plastic around the bolt and remove cover. Oh yeah just thought about it and I don"t think you would have space for a drill so maybe a dremel with small cutting wheel

 

Sears sells tools you can use to remove stripped bolts. Good Luck!

 

If you are talking about the lower timing cover, you do not need to fully remove it. there is a small circular access panel you can remove to access the tensioner bolt

 

it's by no means easy getting a drill down there just saying. Agree with blueBB4lude no need to fully remove it unless you'r doing the belt the plug is much simpler

 

Awesome guys. I'm gonna try all these. I think there is a plug for tensioner. Ill let you all know

 

Yep, there is a small rubber plug on the lower timing cover. Slip it off, and then slide a shortwell 14mm over the bolt head, and make sure its all the way down on the head of the bolt. I didn't check it and ended up rounding the head of the tensioner bolt, which is way too soft and weak.

Turned into a huge ordeal after that...

 

Depending on the motor, like everyone said there is a little plastic/ruber cap over the actual tensioner bolt. The bolt is a 14mm, as far as the cover, i wouldn't worry too much about it being stripped unless you HAVE to take the cover off for other reasons.

If you do, you can do what one of the guy said, drill out the tip of the bolt until you can get the cover off the bolt. Once you have the cover off, get some locking pliers on the bolt and take the rest of the bolt out and then just replace it.

 

Alright well I got the cover off. I had to take the crankshaft pully off and it popped right off. But now I have bigger issues which I have no idea what it is. Gonna start a new thread

 

you didn't need to remove the C/S pully to get the cover off IIRC.

 

Idk about all that, I had to take my crank pulley off to get to the lower timing cover on my d16, at least I'm pretty sure I did. How else would you get the timing belt on/off?

 

trying to remember when i had my civic, i could be wrong. But on my teg I just cut the little edge/ring at the bottom same has to be done when you remove the cam(s) on D's or B's but I took my whole cover off tho.

 

Sounds to me like you're thinking of the UPPER portion of the timing cover that covers the cam sprocket. He's referring to the lower portion that sits directly behind the crankshaft pulley.