I have done valve adjustments on newer cars, but I cant figure out how to tell if its at TDC on a b18a! I dont see any marks on the crank pulley, or the timing belt cover. Do you all just put the dipstick down the spark hole and wait till you feel the piston come up and start to come back down a little bit, move it back up and call that tdc?

Edit: got that done, please see my post below for a few more questions.


Modified by Atheist at 12:47 AM 8/7/2004

 

there should be some marks on the cam gears, double check there

 

the marks on the cam gears look like rectangular arrows. with the marks pointing straight up you'll reach TDC for #1 piston. rotate the marks 90deg CCW so they point toward the front of the car and that's #3 piston TDC. next 90 deg rotation CCW (point down) is #4 TDC, and the next one is #2 TDC (marks pointing toward the rear of car). i've done this twice on my b18b1 and the engine is basically the same as b18a. in case you want the valve clearances:
intake .003"
exhaust .006"
torque spec for locknuts 18 ft lbs

 

I didnt even look for the up indicators on the cam gears for some reason. Thanks a ton Joizee! That was very very helpful.

But now I have a new question... When exhaust cam gear is pointed directly up, the intake cam gear's 'up' is pointed slightly to the right, like 12:15 o'clock or so.

Is it possibly that he missed a shift and just that cam gear skipped a notch? We also noticed that the idle was very bouncey, which as far as I can remeber, it was not when he bought it (only 2 days ago). Could this be from the cam gear being off by one, or would it assuredly be the IACV.

Also, how do you check timing on these motors? There is no indicator for tdc or an advance on the crank pulley.

 

if both cam gears aren't pointing straight up, there's a possibility of one being off by one or more teeth, that's baaad, mkay. the timing belt might be stretched out from high mileage and has mucho slacko. you might want to consider replacing it if there's over 60k miles on the engine and belt has never been replaced. the bouncy idle could very well be attributed to that.
in order to align both gears perfectly, you need to find 1 notch at the very edge of each cam gear on one tooth. when the arrows on the gears point straight up TDC #1, those 2 small notches should be right next to each other.
at that point you need to check if the mark on the crank gear is aligned with one on the block (if the lower belt cover is off along with crank pulley). if you don't have all that stuff removed, there SHOULD be marks on crank pulley and the lower plastic belt cover.
****if everything is NOT lined up PERFECTLY, do NOT risk running the engine untill you have everything aligned properly.*******
you also use the latter marks to adjust timing advance/retardation with a timing gun. that involves loosening distributor cap and hooking up timing gun to #1 spark plug, i haven't done that cause i'm lazy, but you can find full procedure either on h-t or on the web, it's very simple. stock timing is 16 degrees advanced.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JoizeeAutoXer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if both cam gears aren't pointing straight up, there's a possibility of one being off by one or more teeth, that's baaad, mkay. the timing belt might be stretched out from high mileage and has mucho slacko. you might want to consider replacing it if there's over 60k miles on the engine and belt has never been replaced. the bouncy idle could very well be attributed to that.
in order to align both gears perfectly, you need to find 1 notch at the very edge of each cam gear on one tooth. when the arrows on the gears point straight up TDC #1, those 2 small notches should be right next to each other.
at that point you need to check if the mark on the crank gear is aligned with one on the block (if the lower belt cover is off along with crank pulley). if you don't have all that stuff removed, there SHOULD be marks on crank pulley and the lower plastic belt cover.
****if everything is NOT lined up PERFECTLY, do NOT risk running the engine untill you have everything aligned properly.*******
you also use the latter marks to adjust timing advance/retardation with a timing gun. that involves loosening distributor cap and hooking up timing gun to #1 spark plug, i haven't done that cause i'm lazy, but you can find full procedure either on h-t or on the web, it's very simple. stock timing is 16 degrees advanced.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well the problem is, I have no way of knowing when the #1 cyl is at tdc becuase the crank pulley is not marked at all. I also cant check the timing for this same reason... What do to?

 

I know you can watch the intake and exhaust valves to figure out which cylinder is firing. Just think of it as going in order, watch for the intake stroke, compression, combustion, pause there, and you're at TDC. It will still be the spoke of the cam gear, and maybe you could even mark it yourself. I remember I tried this several times because I was cranking the car backwards and couldn't understand why the firing order was 1-2-4-3.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RidinStock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I know you can watch the intake and exhaust valves to figure out which cylinder is firing. Just think of it as going in order, watch for the intake stroke, compression, combustion, pause there, and you're at TDC. It will still be the spoke of the cam gear, and maybe you could even mark it yourself. I remember I tried this several times because I was cranking the car backwards and couldn't understand why the firing order was 1-2-4-3. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I can get it close to tdc by watching the valves but I don't think itd be *exact* which is all I'll settle for...

 

Well if your cam gears are in the right place, wouldn't TDC be when the cam gear spoke is pointing straight up? What I'm trying to say is use the valves to find when it will be near TDC, then use the spoke of the gear to make it as close as possible. I don't know how to get it more precise than that...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RidinStock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well if your cam gears are in the right place, wouldn't TDC be when the cam gear spoke is pointing straight up? What I'm trying to say is use the valves to find when it will be near TDC, then use the spoke of the gear to make it as close as possible. I don't know how to get it more precise than that...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think there is a flaw in your logic...

The cam gears are attached to the timing belt, so obviously they will move in unison. I will never be able to get them to be more accurate than they are now. I know when it is near tdc just by looking down the spark hole, or by knowing that one of them will be at or close to 12 oclock. The problem is, I dont know where tdc is exactly. I know how to get both of the cam gears to 12 oclock, I just dont know how to get the crank to put cyl#1 at 12 oclock. Essentially, Im going to have to disconect the tb, set the crank to cyl1 tdc, and then slip the belt back on. I just need to figure out how to get the crank to tdc, when there are no marks on the pulley.

If worst comes to worst, I will just take the timing belt off of the cam gears, set them both to 12 oclock, and then try and slip the timing belt back on, rotating the crank as needed in a direction closer to tdc...

 

I apologize, after reading over your thread I realize what I'm saying is barely making sense. I read your edit, then I read:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Atheist &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well the problem is, I have no way of knowing when the #1 cyl is at tdc becuase the crank pulley is not marked at all. I also cant check the timing for this same reason... What do to?</TD></TR></TABLE>

So I answered according to that. Now that I read back I realize that the cam gears themselves are causing a problem because they are not even, and I don't want to even attempt to lend you any advice because I don't have near enough experience to guide you on this one. On that note, I wish you luck, and maybe some of the H-T veterans can help you out. I haven't been workin on cars long enough...

 

sorry i've been busy so haven't checked the thread.
double check, the marks on the pulley should be on the side of it where the belts run through, that's prolly why u can't see them. in my b18b1 manual it says the marks are painted white(in reality i think they were just notches), and also look for the mark on plastic belt cover, it should be a thin pointer at about 11o'clock position. the middle mark on pulley is the factory 16deg advance timing. if u can't see any of that, u might have to remove the pulley and plastic covers. THEN u should definitely see the marks on the crank gear and the block. other than that, don't chance it by "feeling" the TDC. u might end up with bent valves. i'll try to give u more help if u need it. lemme know and i'll give u my AIM sn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JoizeeAutoXer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sorry i've been busy so haven't checked the thread.
double check, the marks on the pulley should be on the side of it where the belts run through, that's prolly why u can't see them. in my b18b1 manual it says the marks are painted white(in reality i think they were just notches), and also look for the mark on plastic belt cover, it should be a thin pointer at about 11o'clock position. the middle mark on pulley is the factory 16deg advance timing. if u can't see any of that, u might have to remove the pulley and plastic covers. THEN u should definitely see the marks on the crank gear and the block. other than that, don't chance it by "feeling" the TDC. u might end up with bent valves. i'll try to give u more help if u need it. lemme know and i'll give u my AIM sn.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have a haynes manual for 94+ teggies and 96+ civics and a helms for my 94 accord, both of which tall about the tick marks on the crank pulley. I used them to set the timing on one of my civics, so I get what they are talking about. The only problem is, I just cant seem to see em on this crank pulley. Can anyone confirm that it has/does not have these marks? I will get the car in the air and get the lower cover off soon, too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RidinStock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I apologize, after reading over your thread I realize what I'm saying is barely making sense. I read your edit, then I read:

So I answered according to that. Now that I read back I realize that the cam gears themselves are causing a problem because they are not even, and I don't want to even attempt to lend you any advice because I don't have near enough experience to guide you on this one. On that note, I wish you luck, and maybe some of the H-T veterans can help you out. I haven't been workin on cars long enough...</TD></TR></TABLE>

No problem man! Thanks for trying!