95 Del Sol D16Y8
Timing belt seems to be loose. Just checking if anyone thinks It looks abnormal. Thanks

 

Follow the proper procedure to tension the belt. Set the crank to TDC1. Then you need to loosen the tensioner bolt a half turn (the the rubber grommet on the lower timing cover). Then roll the crank forward so the cam gear moves 3 teeth (this will put tension on the front of the belt with the valvesprings. Then tighten & torque the tensioner belt (the spring on the loose tensioner will take up the slack).

The trick is you want to hold tension on the crank pulley when you tighten the tensioner bolt. It helps to have a friend hole the crank pulley tight against the valvesprings (without moving past 3 teeth).

 

I'll definitely do that. Is it normal for a timing belt to come loose like this? I've not changed it and I've put about 50k on the engine since I've owned it.

 

Well they only last 7-10 years depending on environment. If you don't know when it was changed last, just change it.

No it's not normal to come loose (that I know of), but it is possible it was not tensioned properly in the first place.

 

I appreciate the response. The motor had 130k when I swapped it into my car. It's got about 170-180k on it now. Do you think it's worth while it's apart doing the head gasket or just stick with timing belt water pump tensioner and main/oil seals.

 

If it has the older style "fiber" gasket, then I recommend leaving it alone.....that is unless you have disappearing coolant or oil.

The fiber style gasket is very tough to chip away at without scraping up the aluminum block. Rolock wiz-wheels are a no no. I'm not sure what year Honda switched to MLS (multi layered steel) so figure out what you have.

But either way if you take the head off you may as well have a valve-job done.....and replace the valve stem seals. May as well skim the head (to remove all gasket) and the machinist will probably want to sleeve the exhaust valve guides to eliminate play from wear. I went this route on my CRX, but it ended up taking 6 months.

So the morale is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.....unless it's a timing belt. LoL

PS: the only thing a timing belt job has in common with a head gasket is removing the valve cover. Even head gasket can be done while leaving the timing belt in place (though nobody would really do that).

 

Thanks for taking the time out to respond. I definitely get where your coming from. I've done headwork in my old Honda back in the day. But I agree I should probably stick to timing water pump and such and go from there.

 

Yeah mine started because I needed to replace the o-rings for the spark-plug tubes underneath the cam caps (d16a6). That turned into....."well I may as well replace the valve-stem seals". Then it just snowballed from there lol.

On the plus side I completely restored the engine bay to better than factory fresh. >_>