Recently my timing belt tensioner crapped out on me. I've got a 98 auto base model with only 68K miles on it. A fellow co-worker of mine that is a tech for Honda said he personally has never done any since 'ludes weren't big sellers for them but he did notice a TSB on 98 'ludes in particular. He said he had a couple tech buddies at Honda do some but nothing major. But seeing as how the interval to change the actualy timing belt itself is between 90-105K miles, I was a little confused. I was about 3 hours away from home when it happened and had to get it done at some little hick shop. Needless to say it got me home, but my timing is still a little off. Any DIY ways to fix it or should I not even **** with it and have someone else do it? My VTEC doesn't kick in until like 4-5K, possibly higher, and also it's got a deeper, more "throaty" sound to it. Which didn't make that noise before my problem. Just curious. Thanks
-Dan

Apologize if this has been posted but I saw nothing...

 

VTEC doesn't kick in until about 5400RPM, so no problem there.

It sounds like they have the intake cam timing off when reinstalling the t-belt. The belt does last about 100K miles, but the tensioner system for the belt was known to be defective and breaks down way before that. Most people switch to the manual tensioner, which was found on the H23 motors in the 4th gen ludes.

 

Thanks for the help. I've only had it for 2-3 months so I'm still a newb when it comes to the 'lude. Appreciate it.
-Dan