This is my first post on the forum. I just recently (a week ago) purchased a 98 Teg GSR from San Jose and drove it back to my home in UT. It just turned 99K miles and I need to change the timing belt. I have a scheduled appointment with the dealership for Monday, but figured I may as well give it a shot myself over the weekend. They want $600 + to do the job. so I went and purchased the belt and waterpump from Acura and got some torque wrenches from HF (Pittsburg brand..hope they'll do the job). Anyways, I have a DIY from team-integra.net and printouts from a manual to help me out. It all seems pretty straight forward except for the crank bolt. I've read many horror stories regarding this bolt and am quite anxious to find out if mine is gonna be a bitch or not. The car spent it's entire life in CA, so I'm hoping that its not too rusty down there. Since this seems to be the biggest problem I could potentially face, I was thinking that it would be a good idea to try and break the bolt before dissassembling anything else in case I have to take it to a shop for help. Good idea? I could do this without jacking the car up and through the hole in the splash guard correct?
If there is any suggestions that you all could give me please feel free. Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to introduce myself to the board. Wish me luck!!!

BTW...I'm a little concerned about the crank pulley key. I'm not sure what it looks like or how it functions. It will be removed along with the pulley correct? Can somebody explain this a bit?

(That's strange...my profile states that i've posted 14 times..news to me)

 

Congrats on ur purchase ( i had 98 gs-r too).......if your a handy person n like like to do all the work on your car yourself buy a repair manual (HELM's) or similiar i heard that one's the best.....it'll tell you step by step what to do and what you'll need......PLUS pretty much anything else that has to do with your car.....good luck

 

Your on the right track with trying to break loose the crank pulley bolt first. Once you get that done everything else is fairly easy with the right tools. But definately start with that bolt, just in case you can't loosen it you'll still be able to drive the car to a repair shop and have them loosen it for you. Good Luck

 

I have a couple concerns.The crankshaft bolt came loose fairly easily, so I began tearing everything apart from there. Everything went somewhat smoothly with the exception of some hard to reach spots with my ratchet. Oh yeah, and the 2 quarts of coolant that leaked out when I took the water pump off! Luckily I had a bucket handy.
Okay, now my concerns. I marked and counted the teeth on the old timing belt from my cam gears to the crank sprocket before I took it off. I then marked the new timing belt and proceeded to put it on. It all lined up just fine at first. Then I began the tensioning routine and noticed after a few rotations that the marks were not inline with the marks I had made on my cam gears or crank sprocket. It was off like 6 teeth maybe more. This was very puzzling indeed. With the marks out of sync, I counted the teeth between the cam gears and the crank sprocket on the new belt while installed and the count came out to be the same. All of the TDC marks line up perfectly with the same count of teeth between the CG's and CS, but the marks on the belt weren't in the same place. Anybody know how this could happen? I'm thinking the marks don't really matter as long as the CG's and CS are still in sync.
As far as tension goes, there is some slack at the front of the belt between the 2nd cam gear and the crank. Is this normal? What exactly is the tolerance for belt slack..anyone? Also, while turning the crank I noticed that the belt tries to work it's way off the sprockets staying really close to the edge of the crank gear. I push it back on, but still makes it's way to the edge while rotating. Is this fine or cause for concern?
One more concern. When I took the crank pulley off a key came out with it. After working on my car for a few hours I was looking at the crank and noticed another key in the same place that the other key was but further into the crank. I kinda freaked out thinking, "what the hell is that doing in there still..I swore I took that out". I got a magnet, sucked it out and put it with the pulley and noticed sitting there was the key I had removed earlier. I didn't know that there were two of those dudes. This question is stupid for sure, but there are suppose to be two of those correct? One in front of the other right?
This is where I stopped for the night. I wanted to consult the board about the out of sync marks, belt slack and keys before I put anything else back together.
Again, I apologize for the long post and all the questions. I think that i'm still nervous about all this and was needing to vent a bit. Thanks for your replys.

 

I began my second half of the task today and put everything back together. Reconnected the battery, crossed my fingers, and fired her up. Much to my pleasure I heard no crazy chatter or horrible sounds coming from my engine bay. I did notice however that there was a slight (very slight) whine coming from the T belt area when it warmed up and idled down. I didn't notice if the sound was there before I replaced it, so just wondering if this is acceptable. It's so slight that i'm sure it will be hardly audible with the hood closed. I haven't driven it yet, but ran it for ten minutes and blipped the throttle now and then. So then, I deem this project a success thus far. Hopefully it stays that way for another 90K.
I must say that if anyone is debating on whether or not to tackle this task on their own I think you can. The most major work I had done prior to this is valve adjustments on my old 91 b16 rex several years ago and I was a bit nervous at first. However, with the step by step instructions that i printed off of team-acura.net and a couple printouts from a manual I found it to be very doable. Those instructions rock and I must give credit to this forum for providing me the link to them.
If there is any advice of things i should be listening or looking for concerning the belt in the next little while it would be much appreciated. Otherwise I will just keep my fingers crossed and hope I did it correctly. Thanks again board.

Those intstructions were on team-INTEGRA.net and not acura.net

 

the whine might be due to incorrect tension on the belt. what steps did you follow to tension?

also, you mentioned being able to pull two keys out at the crank. obviously you pulled off the pulley, but did you pull the sprocket as well? each has a key. each cam gear has a key as well, though those have a curve in the shape.

as for the belt working off the gears, do you have the plate in place between the sprocket on the crank, and the crank pulley?

 

1) I followed the tensioning procedure as specified by the manual. 3 teeth with the tenshioner loosened then torqued to spec. I'm not really even sure you could call it a whine. It may just be me being paranoid. It's hardly audible.
2) After I removed the sprocket key I put it back in afraid that it (sprocket) may slip or something. I put both keys back where I found them.
3) There was a plate that went between the pulley and the sprocket. And I of course put it back in its place. I didn't have the pulley installed when the belt was working it's way off the gears. I was turning the motor with it off while tensioning. I figured that with the plate and pulley installed the belt could no way come off the gears.
Im about to go for a drive now to see if I can hear any excess whining from the belt. There was a tiny,wee bit of slack(im not sure I would even call it slack), between the cam gears. I am able to push and pull the belt up and down just a tiny bit. I'm thinking that it's not suppose to be completely and absolutely tight. I was reading that the T belt can be overtightened and figured that this much movement in the belt should be acceptable. The belt is pretty much tight around all with little or no slack. I hate to use that word slack....deflection?
I gonna go drive it. I'll let you know if it breaks down :noes: