93 Honda accord Harmonic balancer replacement throw timing off?
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From: Missouri
93 Honda accord Harmonic balancer replacement throw timing off?
Hello everyone, please forgive me if this topic is very obvious or already exists. Or is in the wrong section.
I have a 93 Honda Accord 10th anniversary edition with about 250,000 miles on it. A month or so ago, my harmonic balancer had become loose, Luckily not while driving. I noticed it when i started the car and heard an awful racket. Turned it off right away and looked under the hood. I Could see my balancer was cockeyed and accessory belts were off. So i had the car towed back to my house.
After jacking it up and removing driver side tire, i could see the crankpulley bolt was loose. Bolt was in good shape. Still had woodruff key but was slightly bent. The balancer seemed fine besides being old and having some chips in it, but i go and get a new one just in case.
Upon replacing, i decided i would use the same woodruff Key and kinda, "gently" beat it in since it was not very bent. The position of the key slot was in the top left position, so part of the car body was slightly in the way. I decide i will try to rotate it to get a better angle (this is where i think i goofd as i didnt think and look carefully) . I put the bolt in and rotated the crankshaft i think? correct me if wrong.
After doing that i realize it only rotated one half of the key slot and would need the key inserted to rotate both. "D'OH!" So i rotate it back and lined up the slots. I Put new balancer on and jimmy the original woodruff Key in. I tighten up the bolt and attempt to start the car. It cranks a bunch but never catches and starts.
Now it doesn't sound any different when trying to start. But when i rotated the crankshaft without the woodruff key, Did i throw the timing off? I only took off the harmonic balancer, crankshaft bolt, and woodruff key and nothing else. So it doesnt make perfect sense to me that i could have messed up the timing, besides me rotating it. Timing belt wasn't touched or even accessed. But maybe it does make sense, thats why i am here.
Speical note: occasionally my honda has start issue, some sorta computer issue. SO it could have been giving me grief, but i didnt want to keep cranking it if timing was off as i know running with timing off can cause some serious damage.
Let me know and thanks in advance.
I have a 93 Honda Accord 10th anniversary edition with about 250,000 miles on it. A month or so ago, my harmonic balancer had become loose, Luckily not while driving. I noticed it when i started the car and heard an awful racket. Turned it off right away and looked under the hood. I Could see my balancer was cockeyed and accessory belts were off. So i had the car towed back to my house.
After jacking it up and removing driver side tire, i could see the crankpulley bolt was loose. Bolt was in good shape. Still had woodruff key but was slightly bent. The balancer seemed fine besides being old and having some chips in it, but i go and get a new one just in case.
Upon replacing, i decided i would use the same woodruff Key and kinda, "gently" beat it in since it was not very bent. The position of the key slot was in the top left position, so part of the car body was slightly in the way. I decide i will try to rotate it to get a better angle (this is where i think i goofd as i didnt think and look carefully) . I put the bolt in and rotated the crankshaft i think? correct me if wrong.
After doing that i realize it only rotated one half of the key slot and would need the key inserted to rotate both. "D'OH!" So i rotate it back and lined up the slots. I Put new balancer on and jimmy the original woodruff Key in. I tighten up the bolt and attempt to start the car. It cranks a bunch but never catches and starts.
Now it doesn't sound any different when trying to start. But when i rotated the crankshaft without the woodruff key, Did i throw the timing off? I only took off the harmonic balancer, crankshaft bolt, and woodruff key and nothing else. So it doesnt make perfect sense to me that i could have messed up the timing, besides me rotating it. Timing belt wasn't touched or even accessed. But maybe it does make sense, thats why i am here.
Speical note: occasionally my honda has start issue, some sorta computer issue. SO it could have been giving me grief, but i didnt want to keep cranking it if timing was off as i know running with timing off can cause some serious damage.
Let me know and thanks in advance.
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 681
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From: centennial, co
Re: 93 Honda accord Harmonic balancer replacement throw timing off?
haha muckman. Well if you rotated the pulley back to the same spot as there is only one spot the key will insert it should be fine. There is a pulley behind the balancer that the timing belt sits on. I know if you rotate the belt the wrong direction you can have issues with the belt skipping teeth. The last thing I had issues with on my swap was the pulley between the balancer and the timing belt pulley, it has magnetic pickups on the back side that the ecu uses to determine crank angle. It wont start without it in place
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