Home › Forums › Stay Dirty Lounge › Service and Repair Questions Answered Here › 98 CRV timing belt question
- This topic has 14 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 2 years, 1 month ago by EricTheCarGuy.
-
CreatorTopic
-
September 22, 2022 at 7:34 am #1002071
Replacing head gasket on a 1998 Honda CRV and my question is do I need to remove the entire timing belt? Or can I just loosen tension and slide it off and back on cam gears? That’s what I did to remove the head. Now I’m waiting on the machine shop to replace a burnt exhaust valve.
-
CreatorTopic
-
AuthorReplies
-
September 23, 2022 at 9:03 am #1002140
You don’t need to remove the belt to remove the cylinder head. You can slide it on and off as you suggest. Next time you might consider replacing the valve yourself. It’s not a difficult procedure and the valves are pretty reasonably priced.
Just make sure you get everything back in time and set the belt tension when you reassemble. There is a removable plug in the lower timing cover that gives you access to a 14mm bolt for the timing belt tensioner. Loosen it to remove the belt. It makes things a lot easier.
Also, to replace a valve, you need to remove the cam. I recommend you do a valve adjustment once you have the head reinstalled.
Good hunting
September 24, 2022 at 2:17 pm #1002189Thanks Eric! I’ve been watching your videos since the beginning. I’ve done Toyota’s and Subarus which all have the grenade pin tensioner but I’m not familiar with Honda. I’m going back with the head today so we’ll see. I purchased your B engine timing belt video and I’m going try to do as you did. Thanks again!
September 24, 2022 at 2:25 pm #1002190Forgot to mention…this is the second burned exhaust valve in less than a year. My machine shop guy, that’s mostly does big V8 high HP engines recommended I bump up the valve adjustment from .004 & .007 to .007 & .010. The guy has been doing engines for decades but I’m unsure about whether I should do this.
*He was working on a cool 331 Hemi and a 454 punched to 497 when I walked in today.September 25, 2022 at 4:19 pm #1002196Pretty much all that’s left is to torque the exhaust bolts, install air inlet, and adjust the valves. I followed Eric’s B timing belt video and that thing was still a bear. Maybe because it’s an aftermarket belt, but it took a lot of struggling to slide it over that intake Cam.
It’s on, and all timing marks are perfect. White TDC mark on crank is spot on and I can easily slide 2 drill bits through the top of the Cams. I took a pic but don’t know how to post it.
Thanks for those links Eric. Last time I lapped in new valves was in auto technology school 30+ yrs ago. If it happens again I’ll give it a go.- This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Tim.
September 26, 2022 at 7:57 am #1002205Glad to hear it came together. As for the valve adjustment, it takes experience to do it correctly and consistently. For those starting out I recommend going loose over tight. Also, the engine must be cold when you make the adjustments.
September 26, 2022 at 7:36 pm #1002304It’s all back together but…. Haven’t started it yet. The timing belt concerns me. I tried your method from the video B timing belt and couldn’t get the front side of the belt “to stay tight”. It’ll be tight but then it will slack just a tad for just a second and go tight again. I have the engine all back together and have spun the engine many times by hand and tdc is always spot on. At this point I’m thinking of pulling the crank pulley and putting eyes on the tensioner to see if there’s anything going on. I’ve loosened and tightened the adjuster so many times I’m almost afraid to mess with it any more. Maybe I’m overthinking it?
I set the intake at .004 and exhaust at .007.September 26, 2022 at 10:31 pm #1002308Here is a better description (maybe). It’s almost like it’s a 1/2 tooth loose on the intake cam side. When I rotate the intake cam and go to the next groove on the belt then it’s too tight, and throws my timing off. As stated before another guy installed the belt in Jan and it was banjo string tight. Maybe it stretched a tiny bit? I’m tempted to just leave it be, but then my ocd wants to just replace it. Opinions are greatly appreciated.
- This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Tim.
September 27, 2022 at 7:42 am #1002380I wouldn’t be concerned with a little slack on the belt. If you get it too tight, it can make noise and possibly damage the tensioners.
September 27, 2022 at 5:52 pm #1002434Question for Eric. Did you ever have a Honda with a stripped out adjuster bolt? Mine isn’t but I’m sure it’s happened. And did you apply any kind of lubricant to a new adjuster bolt?
September 28, 2022 at 8:01 am #1002450No, I have not encountered a stripped adjuster bolt. Keep in mind that the adjuster bolt does not set the tension. The installer would do that when installing the belt and then lock it down with the adjuster bolt.
If the adjuster bolt is stripped, the block would need to be repaired to accept a new bolt.
You should not need to apply any lubricant to new adjuster bolts.
September 28, 2022 at 7:25 pm #1002621I stripped out a distributor bolt. I may zip tie the thing on just so I can crank it up.
September 29, 2022 at 8:27 am #1002796There should be 2 more fasteners holding the distributor in so you should be fine. If it’s the top bolt, I’ve drilled them out larger, or used a smaller fastener, and used a bolt and nut to fasten it in place.
September 29, 2022 at 9:26 pm #1002872It’s a bottom bolt on the distributor. The other 2 are secure. Fired right up today and ran smooth as butter. Did have some exhaust fumes, probably because I reused the exhaust manifold gasket. Bled the cooling system with the spill free funnel (that I purchased because of one of your videos way back) and he (my son) has put about 50 miles on it with zero problem.
Service manual calls for 16° +/-2° for ignition timing and this one is at 10° according to my 30 yr old timing gun. I found the blue connector under the obd port behind a lower trim panel. I didn’t have time to remove the trim and couldn’t get the connector apart but I’ll try again Saturday.October 1, 2022 at 8:09 am #1003002The crank pulley has 4 marks on it. The single white one is TDC, the other 3, that are close together, is where base timing gets set.
Thanks for the updates. Glad you got it solved.
-
AuthorReplies
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.