DIY: Timing Belt Replacement

[civic209]

Man..no wonder dealer charges 350 bucks to do all of this...
Its a lot of work. I think id rather let them do it

[admobandy]

Originally Posted by big2000dave

If i remember right, taking off the coil connectors allow me to move the plastic out of the way to get to the lower right bolt on the valve cover. For now, i wasn't planning to do a valve service and the cover only needed to be pried up an inch to get the timing upper cover off. Hey, thanks and your writeup did wonders for making this happen.

The valve cover overlaps and sits on top of the upper timing belt cover...

Originally Posted by civic209

Man..no wonder dealer charges 350 bucks to do all of this...
Its a lot of work. I think id rather let them do it

350, damn your dealer does it cheap... Honda dealer here quotes 6 hours @ $85 just for the labor... If you think a timing belt is a lot of work you should take a look at a clutch replacement or head gasket for that matter... At least it's fairly easy to get at the timing belt, hard part is getting the crank pulley off and putting the new belt on correctly.

[Chuckster57]

It was alot easier "back in the day" when you just used a deep well socket and then rotated the breaker bar til it rested against the frame- pop the starter and your in..Now I use the crank pulley "holder with a 24" breaker bar and a 3/4 drive Torque wrench turned up to 300 Ft/Lbs.

If you think a timing belt is a lot of work you should take a look at a clutch replacement or head gasket for that matter...

Try a clutch on a WRX Subaru.

[MS6]

I'm getting a bit paranoid because my '03 only has 65k miles but it's 9 years old already. I read somewhere that the tb replacement should be at 110k miles or 7 years. How true is this?

[MURD3R_ES1]

Originally Posted by MS6

I'm getting a bit paranoid because my '03 only has 65k miles but it's 9 years old already. I read somewhere that the tb replacement should be at 110k miles or 7 years. How true is this?

i had a friend with 120k and like 10 years, he stepped on it and the belt gave away, bye bye head. He had to rebuild it.

id say do it asap, rather be safe then sorry.

[MS6]

Originally Posted by MURD3R_ES1

i had a friend with 120k and like 10 years, he stepped on it and the belt gave away, bye bye head. He had to rebuild it.

id say do it asap, rather be safe then sorry.

That's 10k over schedule. No wonder it broke.

[GT5]

Got mine done a few weeks ago. I don't really have to worry about much more for a while.

[ArcticHonda]

Are most people installing the water pump with honda bond or some kind of sealant or just bolting on the water pump with JUST the seal and no bonding agent?

[reddawnman]

Originally Posted by ArcticHonda

Are most people installing the water pump with honda bond or some kind of sealant or just bolting on the water pump with JUST the seal and no bonding agent?

Just using the seal on the water pump. I put some straight silicone on it but it was a light coat... My civic was totaled about 180K and I never had a leak.

[tragedy]

Got a question about TDC around step 23 for reddawnman

Threaded new timing belt, and noticed cam is TDC, but crank is almost TDC. Could have moved while threading.

Update: Reusing old tensioner. Before belt came off, cam and crank were at TDC. After belt was installed, both were still at TDC.

If reusing the same tensioner, be sure to remember to remove the tension from it. When turning the crank to set the belts, the tension moved the crank pulley off TDC.

At this point looking into rotating the crank to TDC, then removing the belt, then turn the cam to up TDC, then put the belt back on.

Would both positions re align if the tension were to be removed without removing the belt?