Timing belt followup.

I asked a few days about changing a timing belt. For anyone curious,
here's how it all went.
Started off, I decided to take a little peek at my timing belt one
day, so I popped off the top of the belt cover. The belt was in
horrible shape, looked like it was about to shred. I decided I wouldn't
drive the car again until it had a shiny new belt. Went out, got a full
set of belts. Although I know I'm supposed to replace the water pump at
the same time, I decided to live dangerously.
Give everything a look over, post the message about the pulley bolt,
and start tearing down. Every thing's pretty straight forward until
that pulley bolt. To keep the engine from turning I cut my old
alternator belt, wrapped it around the pulley, and tied it to the
suspension. I gave my 3/8 ratchet a try since I had it in my hand,
broke it. Biked off to work and grabbed my 1/2 long ratchet, both 1/2
breaker bars, 1/2 T-handle, cheater pipe. Broke the second ratchet,
both breaker bars, and bent the t-handle into an S. Biked back to work,
got my 3/4 t-handle, and a long punch. Popped the head of the bolt hard
as possible several times, tried the 3/4 wrench. Snapped the alternator
belt, skinned a knee and both elbows.
Spent a day trying to hunt down the proper tool to hold the engine,
my pulley has that large hex recess. No luck, nobody within biking
distance had one or would loan one. I tried stuffing rope in the
cylinder, but the looong spark plug tunnel made it just about impossible
to get enough rope in there. I still managed to smash the rope enough
to turn the engine over. So, I did a mean & nasty thing. I put number
one on the compression stroke, pulled the spark plug, filled it up with
oil, and put the plug back. That worked like a charm, though. A half
hour of bouncing on the wrench and cussing managed to twist my long
extension apart. Skinned the remaining knee, and reskinned an elbow.
Biked to work, got all of my impact extensions, biked back. Bounced
some more, whacked the bolt some more, bounced some more, skinned my
lower back, and a butt cheek. Checked to see if the socket broke, nope.
No broken tools, bolt was loose! Yippie!
Pulled off pulley, discovered the damn cover had nowhere to go.
Cussed, fought, and bled until I managed to shimmy it out--sort of down
and to the rear. Pulled out water pump belt, marked and removed timing
belt. Marked new belt to match, and reinstalled. Put in new water pump
belt. Cussed, fought, and bled until I managed to shimmy the cover back
into place. Slapped everything together, and discovered I had the wrong
alternator belt. Was the size to drive only the alternator, but not AC.
Put it on anyway. Pulled the spark plug, turned the engine over by hand
a few times to push out the oil. Then I unplugged the coil and cranked
the starter a few times to get the rest of the oil out. Hell of a mess!
Wiped down the important stuff, put the plug back in, reconnected the
coil, and took the top of the belt cover back off. I wanted to watch
and see if anything started to shred it. Fired it up, ran like a top.
Well, a top that smokes like a chimney. It's great, I worked on my car
for several mornings, cussing the entire time in front of my neighbors,
and now that I start it, I smoke 'em all out of the area! Nobody will
ask me for help. For their own good, I know.
Belt tracked fine, no signs of anything rubbing it, put the top back
on, and went for a drive to fog mosquitos between home and auto zone.
Got there, asked for an AC belt, was told I'll need more than a belt,
asked for spark plugs too. Smoked back home, but not so much anymore,
changed the AC/Alternator belt, and drove around aimlessly until the
last of the smoke cleared out. Then drove to CVS for neosporin and
band-aids.
Hooray for DYI!
I think I'll use water next time. Or rent an air compressor.
BTW, the valve cover was apparently leaking oil into the case with
the timing belt. I replaced that gasket, though I didn't mention it
above, and put some sealant on it to boot. My guess is that the oil
rotted the belt rather than anything scraping against it.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:04:49 -0600, B.B. wrote:

> I asked a few days about changing a timing belt. For anyone curious,
> here's how it all went.

[snip>

Beautiful story! Thanks! I have been LMAO!
Especially the part of putting the oil was brilliant

shakiro

Great story; If the oil worked, use it again (if necessary) do not use
water.
As far as the bolt, I have a 98% sucess rate with the 1/2 inch gun; 100%
with the 3/4 inch gun.



--
Stephen W. Hansen
ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician
ASE Automobile Advanced Engine Performance
ASE Undercar Specialist

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/troub...l_obd_main.htm
http://www.troublecodes.net/technical/

In article >,
"Stephen H" > wrote:

>Great story; If the oil worked, use it again (if necessary) do not use
>water.
>As far as the bolt, I have a 98% sucess rate with the 1/2 inch gun; 100%
>with the 3/4 inch gun.

Yeah, through the whole episode I was wishing I had a compressor. I
have a 3/4 that can break corroded u-bolts on semis. Would have laughed
at that silly bolt. In fact, that pulley bolt took more force than the
half shaft nuts did now that I think about it.
I was pretty impressed by how much damage engine oil did to my wiper
blades. I washed my car after I got it back together, but the next day
the wipers were all wavy anyway. Oh well, they were worn out anyway.
BTW, why not water? Is it just that I may wash out the oil and score
up my cylinder the first time I turn the engine over? That was my
thinking when I opted for oil in the first place.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

You don't want water to set around the rings. It isn't meant to be in there
and we should keep it out of there.
Perhaps your method on getting the oil out should be changed; i.e. stuff
rags around the plug hole before cranking.



--
Stephen W. Hansen
ASE Certified Master Automobile Technician
ASE Automobile Advanced Engine Performance
ASE Undercar Specialist

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/troub...l_obd_main.htm
http://www.troublecodes.net/technical/

"B.B." u> wrote in message
news
> In article >,
> "Stephen H" > wrote:
>
>>Great story; If the oil worked, use it again (if necessary) do not use
>>water.
>>As far as the bolt, I have a 98% sucess rate with the 1/2 inch gun; 100%
>>with the 3/4 inch gun.
>
> Yeah, through the whole episode I was wishing I had a compressor. I
> have a 3/4 that can break corroded u-bolts on semis. Would have laughed
> at that silly bolt. In fact, that pulley bolt took more force than the
> half shaft nuts did now that I think about it.
> I was pretty impressed by how much damage engine oil did to my wiper
> blades. I washed my car after I got it back together, but the next day
> the wipers were all wavy anyway. Oh well, they were worn out anyway.
> BTW, why not water? Is it just that I may wash out the oil and score
> up my cylinder the first time I turn the engine over? That was my
> thinking when I opted for oil in the first place.
>
> --
> B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

B.B. wrote:
> I asked a few days about changing a timing belt. For anyone curious,
> here's how it all went.

good story.

the good news is if you have to do it again, that bolt should come off a
LOT easier the second time around.

Helped my buddy do his 98 Acura - I think it's the same engine as yours,
and the OEM torque specs on that bolt were like 500 ft-lbs!!!! You
"only" tighten it back up to 145 or something, so it'll probably come
off the second time with a lot less cussing.

Never thought of the oil... my buddy bought two 1/2 impacts and returned
them when they couldn't do it, he paid a mechanic to loosen it for him.
And after helping ... I almost wished he had paid the mechanic to do
it all.

Ray

In article
>,
"Stephen H" > wrote:

>You don't want water to set around the rings. It isn't meant to be in there
>and we should keep it out of there.

Point taken.

>Perhaps your method on getting the oil out should be changed; i.e. stuff
>rags around the plug hole before cranking.

I did stuff rags! Blew 'em right out when I turned it by hand. The
sputter I got when spinning the starter wasn't much at all. I really
wasn't too bothered by the oil that came out the top, just the oil that
I had to burn out. Maybe I'll try two-stroke oil next time and see if I
get less smoke with it.
Until then, I have to decide if I should return that bent up T-handle
for warranty or keep it as a trophy. (:

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net