Alright... BossHogg is here. (Villagers let a sigh of relief)

I just got done changing out the timing belts in my 89 Honda Accord. Compared to the drama that everyone stirs up about this operation, the whole job was extremely easy.

Now a few things you need to know.
1. An 89 is very different from the 90's and up. In 89's you have one timing belt, and it is not connected to the water pump. Very easy to work on. In 90s and above. There are two belts you have to replace, and you might as well get a water pump while you are there. You will have the conventional timing belt, and a belt that goes from the crank to a balancer shaft. The conventional timing belt turns the camshaft and the oil pump. I haven't read up on the balancer shaft or what its purpose is, but I think it runs the water pump as well. At any rate, all it means is that you will have to sync this belt up as well.

2. I have pictures from the operation for the DIY page, but I need links to it to post it up there. I think the whole thing took me about 4 hours from start to finish. Guys it is not rocket science, but you can really screw up an engine if you don't do it right. The Hayne's manual talks a lot about Top Dead Center and lining up the crankshaft on the compression stroke for the number one cylinder. Well, you guys can screw around with that. I did mine the BossHogg's Shade Tree method. Find a spot at the top of the camshaft with the belt still on. Take some white out and mark the gear and belt on one of the teeth. Then mark the gear in relation to the case. Repeat the above for the crankshaft pulley. Slip the old belt off. Count the number of teeth in the belt from the first mark to the second mark. Take the new belt and arbitrarily make a mark on one of the teeth. Count off the number you got before and make a new mark. Put the new belt on the pulley lined up with the marks you made on the pulley's. If you moved a pulley getting the old belt off, simply align it back to the marks you made, and then put the belt back on. I have pics of this btw.

3. Yes, you have to take the left side motor mount off and support the oil pan with a floor jack. You don't have to reposition the engine or anything. You take that mount off simply to get the old belt off and the belt on. Honda makes it a tight squeeze in there, but it required no special tools save one. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS, I REPEAT, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS JOB. UNLESS YOU HAVE AN IMPACT WRENCH. The crankshaft pulley is a bear. They put that thing on with a bottle of thread locker and I tried a breaker bar and a strap wrench for a little while before I went to my Dad's and got his electric impact wrench.

4. It would be a good time to replace all your belts while you are down there. You have to take off all the belts anyways. I replaced my drive belt, AC belt, and PS pump belt all for 20 bucks.

In fact, the whole thing only cost me 50.00. One last side note. I put the crankshaft pulley back on with the impact wrench, then used a torque wrench to 108 ft-lbs (as per Haynes manual). It fired right up and ran like a champ. I should also mention. Take the plugs out and rotate the crank around a few times before bolting everything back on. If you get any metal sounds, or abnormal feel to it, you got it wrong. Don't start it. However, if you used my tried and true method, you should be A OK.

Side note: My belt had not been changed and the car has 110K miles on it. The belt I took off wasn't in really bad shape. However, there was some play between the teeth, and the belt itself had some slop from the tension pulley not being tight enough. It was time for a change, but it wasn't in dangerous shape. Hope this helps you guys, and tell me where to put the pics up. Stop killing your wallet and being a slave to a mechanic. You guys kill me. You will spend thousands on ground effects, spoilers, suspensions, but won't touch anything on the engine. I ran across an old 89 FI engine for an Accord for cheap. I am going to completely rebuild it and put it in later. I will have some photos up from the rebuild later on.

 

Oh, just read Bob's reply about the special crankshaft pulley tool. Forget it. You don't need it. Even with the plugs pulled out you still have enough resistance from the compression stroke to keep the pulley from spinning with an impact wrench. Take it off with the impact wrench. Then snug it up with an impact wrench. Take a BF (BF needs no explanation) screwdriver and slip it through one of the holes the tool was intended for. Wedge it in there such that it touches the block on the other side. Then take out your torque wrench and tighten as per spec. Just be careful. Use a good torque wrench. If it hasn't been calibrated you could over torque it and warp the crank. Create a hard spot on the bearing, or cause that seal to leak. Use common sense. If you need a neighbor to come help you put some extra muscle to it, then stop there.