I have both upper and lower timing covers off. I am working on my wife's 91 accord. I am using the Hayne's manual. The next step after removing the oil dipstick tube is to insert a (6x100mm) bolt (i am using an allen wrench) to lock the rear balance shaft. I inserted the 6mm allen wrench and it goes in a good length but it never locks into anything. It doesn't feel like it is snug or fitting into anything really. Should it fit tightly? Or am I doing it right when I put it in as far as it can go? Thanks. I know this is very general but hopefully someone knows what I am talking about. Thanks.

Aaron

 

A 1/4 inch drill bit would fit in the hole better than a hex - it should go inside the hole. If it does not go inside the hole, the shaft may be out of alignment. turn it a little till you manage to insert the drill bit inside the hole. It should fit in snuggled.

Jim

 

if you are brave enough, you can take the shaft out a little and you will see the hole and you will know what i am talking about. test it with a 1/4 inch drill to see if it fits in.

 

How do I turn it? I tried by hand and it didn't seem to do anything. It feels pretty snug. This is my first timing belt change so I'm sorry if I seem incompetant. I appreciate your help so far.

 

this web site http://www.3geez.com may help. There is how to do section after you register which can be very handy.

when you asked me how to turn it, i rememberd i had the oil pump cover off to replace all oil seals and I was able to take out the balancer shaft. You probably could not take it out so...

To turn the balancer shaft, you turn the oil pump gear. I think it should move freely without the belts. If it does not move after you insert the drill bit or hex wrench, you have it secured ok.

It is important that you have the camshaft and crankshaft pullys pointing upwards at distributor rotor pointing to wire #1. And do not move them afterwards.

 

The rotor is pointing at wire one and the mark on the flywheel is lined up with the mark in the bell housing. However, when I pull the timing covers off, the pulley marks did not line up as you stated they should. Does this mean that the timing has been wrong up until now?

 

take off the #1 spark plug and carefully insert a long thin screw driver or really long socket extension or something thin and long, through the #1 spark plug hole and see if the #1 piston is on the top. The screwdriver or extension should not go too down far if it is set up correctly. If piston is on the top and the arrow on both camshaft pulley and crankshaft pulley point straight upward. then they all should be ok.

If the #1 piston is not at the top, turn over the engine till you see rotor pointing at wire 1 again and check again with the screwdriver/extension.

 

dont align timing via flywheel.

There is an arrow marking on the camshaft sprocket - on the side. you should be able to see it when you take off the valve cover.

There is also an arrow marking on the end of the crankshaft.

Look for them befoe you do anythign - when you see them (the arrows), align them along with the rotor pointing to wire 1 and ensure them all by inserting long thin screwdriover or whatever through the #1 spark plug hole.

 

Ok. I got the pulleys all lined up and #1 cylinder at TDC. After further review, I was just off from being at TDC. My next question refers to tensioning the belts.

Both belts are on and I have reinstalled the two tensioner pulleys, springs, and pulley arm. The bolt that goes thru the center of the arm is threaded but loose. The Haynes manual says that in order to put tension on the belts, I have to rotate the camshaft (by turning the crank counterclockwise) 3 teeth. Then it says to tighten the center bolt on the tensioner arm. I did as they said. There is now tension on both belts. They say a quick way to check is to make sure there is tension on the timing belt on each side of the camshaft sprocket/pulley. I checked and there is more tension on the side toward the front of the car than there is on the side facing the back. Does the tension have to be equal or does there just have to be tension on each side? Thanks.

 

that is a tricky part. I just tightened the belt by feel. you don't want it to be too tight or loose. I tightened and push the belt up and down - it should go up and down about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch, my opinion.

My first TB change was too loose and my 3rd TB belt was bit too tight. I notice that the TBs get loosen up after a while so I personally prefer it to be on little tighter side but not too tight.

The way the book described on how it should be adjusted seem not working well for me as they seem to end up too loose for me (that was what happened to my first TB belt change).

I am no mechanic but have done some work on cars.

I guess it is the similiar way you adjust with alterator and power steering belts, but just little looser.

It will whine if too tight. They say that you can hear if it is too loose but not if it is too tight, but I think it would whine if too tight.

 

Should I be seeing the tension difference on the timing belt like I am seeing? Where the timing belt comes off the camshaft sprocket toward the front of the car is tighter than where it comes off toward the back of the car. Is this normal? Because it is pretty tight on the side facing the front of the car. But it is noticably looser on the backside. Does this make sense?

 

I am not sure - I saw samething what you are seeing now. That was where I got confused before.

Maybe after you tightened the nut, and reverse it a little and see if it gets any better?

I had a lot of trouble figuring this out myself with my first tb change so I decided to discard what the manual says and use my best judgement/common sense. it seems to work a liittle better.

My 92 accord is running great now, but I know too tight belts can harm bearings.

use your best judgement and just be careful. It seems that you are doing well so far.

 

What technique does everyone do for tensioning the timing and balance shafts belt? I am kind of second guessing the way I tensioned mine. Please post the proper way of tensioning the belts. Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by amb4081 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What technique does everyone do for tensioning the timing and balance shafts belt? I am kind of second guessing the way I tensioned mine. Please post the proper way of tensioning the belts. Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

You should able to give it a 1/4 twist in the middle of the belt when done. If you have more, it's to loose, less and you will get a high pitch whine when you're done.