Hello All,

97 accord lx 2.2l f22b2 87k miles. all original. no mods.

went after the distro leak and PS pump leak. i rebuilt them with seals and bearings and o-rings and rainbows, oh my....

put the distro in, got it wrong, spun it 180, car was humming. i then decided to get bold and do the o-rings under the rocker arm assembly (this had caused me to ditch my 91 civic in 05....dumb dumb dumb)

here is where the issue starts. i loosened the bolts out of sequence. i kept all bolts in place to avoid that disaster...when i put it back on, i did not do the torque sequence. I then rotated the crank clockwise (wrong) and it got tough. i pushed thru and it budged. made some noises, and i figured i just jumped the timing belt. inspection showed i had jumped the cam pulley by 2 or 3 teeth. I then took the rockers off. i knew i had to do the TB job. i replaced the WP, belt, and tensioners...i then learned i was turning it the wrong way. I reassembled the arms in sequence, the heads aligned much better with the valves, some were off by a nudge on the previous tries. i got the belt on with the crank and cam aligned. tight side to the left and slack on the WP side. i dropped the tensioner and proceeded to turn the cam cc. after 2 full turns of the cam, the crank was off by three teeth and the snapping/popping action came back. i did not do a proper tension adjustment (by the service manual) or install the balance belt and align those pulleys (is it true you can just eliminate the belt assembly altogether and won't notice a change in the vibrations? well EX and LX models i saw.)

I have rotated the crank freely back and forth full revolutions to align the marks. i have done the cam maybe 3x in the wrong direction freely spinning away from the crank.

I fear that i have damaged the valvetrain in some way. What is the popping/snapping of the arms to the valves? it just snaps and it varies as i turn the crank. on one turn, it does it on 1, the next turn it is on 3 and so on. it is doing it on the exhaust side (radiator side) of the valves only.

All help is appreciated and especially your time for reading this.
i understand i will get dragged for this. i did not listen or CAREFULLY watch the videos.

 

Oof, that hurts to read about such a low mileage survivor. Now, I'm confused about what you mean by "spun it 180, car was humming." Did you rotated the engine by hand or with the ignition, and what was humming? Was it more like a hissing sound? That snapping noise could be the valves getting pushed up by the pistons against the rocker arms if mechanical timing is off. If not then valve lash should be checked but only after the engine has warmed up. Regardless of what it is you need to make sure mechanical timing is set right before anything else. Pro tip; Loosen the spark plugs before hand-cranking the engine so you're not fighting compression.
The balancer belt wouldn't have been designed if it wasn't useful. The engine will buck more under acceleration with it not installed and aligned and will both shorten the engine mounts' lifespan and and make a knocking noise as the mounts wear. Only race cars should get rid of them.

 

please excuse the poor verbiage used. i don't get to describe my issues often.

before the o-rings on the rocker arms, i had resealed the distro and the PS pump. when i reattached the distro, car wouldn't start. i had the shaft 180 off. i rotated the distro shaft 180 and got her running. she was humming. no sounds no issues.
i then went after the rocker arms. i have been doing the turns all by hand the whole time with the crank free from the belt and cam and likewise with the cam.

what you described about the valves being pushed by the pistons..i am fearing this. when i rotated the crank 360 (4 or 6x ) to align the marks, as well as the cam....did i misalign the pistons and valves? are they smacking now? i do have a sense that the cam is off? the lobes would cause this snapping issue? but the cam goes on 1 of 2 ways? the 1 and only way is with the woodruff key groove facing upward...the cam is in that position...can it be off by a tooth? thus making the lobes to be out of time?

do i need to finish the TB job (balance belt, proper tension adjustment per manual) to be able to rotate the engine in the correct direction by hand giving me a true sample? i suggest this as i had the belt on, tight side on the left, rotated it cc and the slack jumped from the WP side to the left side, thus making the crank out of alignment by a couple of teeth.

I am also doing the same job on our TL. i had not taken the plugs out on that and am fighting the back cam's bouncing back and forward...i took the plugs out on the accord as they were being changed and i had the cover off. the TL back bank is a beesh to get to

 

It is unlikely the valves are damaged by rotating the crank by hand. You need to do the timing belt procedure again.

 

thanks! that's encouraging. i am starting to better understand the system. I will reassemble and adjust valves. and see where that lands me...that dang tension procedure is a doozy

I did find another post on another forum that described exactly the stupid i did. he posted a video of the engine and all it sounded like it needed was a valve adjust.

 

hi all!

please review the video on the link. is this a normal sound? did i bend the valves when i took the rocker arm tower off NOT in sequence...it seems like they are sticking then popping back up

Valve Train Rotation by Hand

thanks for your time and advice. should i post this strictly here or in a new thread?