I called a shop to ask a question about the tensioner, and the tech informed me that the rear balance shaft is not correctly timed even if it is pinned. He said something about if the shaft had been rotated when the balance shaft belt off, (which I believe mine has) it is not necessarily aligned even if the pin fits into the maintainance hole snugly. He said it rotated on a 3 revolution cycle and that mine was probably off. Is there any way to check to ensure that I have it timed correctly?

Also, how exactly does the auto tensioner work? And how do I make it apply tension to the belts? And how much tension needs to be on the belts?

Sorry for all the questions, this is my first time workig on a Honda. It's my daily driver and I don't want to screw anything up. Thanks for the help.

 

Base everything off of the camshaft.

For every one turn of the camshaft, the crankshaft turns twice, the rear balance shaft turns three times, and the front balance shaft turns three (I think).

Just get the camshaft to top dead center and put a 1/4 drill bit in the access hole on the back of the engine. If the bit goes in about 3 inches then you are lined up (don't forget to remove the bit when turning the engine). If you rotate the crankshaft a bit, the drill bit won't go all the way in.

If the rear balance shaft is off set cam to TDC, then remove the balancer belt and turn the rear bal. sprocket till you get it to the point where the bit goes all the way in. Triple check your timing marks until you are confident that they are all lining up before you put it back together. You don't want to rip everything apart just becasue you were one tooth off.

 

"The crankshaft pulley doesn't appear to have the normal timing marks. It has an "UP" mark, but no horizontal marks to line up with the valve cover mating surface. Has anyone else run into this type of pulley? If so, what is the correct way to get TDC. "

Did you mean to say the camshaft pulley?
There are little marks on the edges by the teeth of the pulley, maybe spray it down with some brake clean. Look on the back side too. "

OK, the were on the back side of the pulley, I'm pretty sure the timing on the cam is right.



I'm not sure whether the balance shafts are timed correctly, the timing was alraedy of when I took the belt off, so I have no reference for how many revolutions it is out of time. Is there a way to re-calibrate the shafts?

 

Yes there is, just re-read the post above yours and that should get your shafts back into place

 

Sir Nasty or anybody else,

This question is a bit off topic. Since we are on the topic of balance shafts....can the front balance shaft be set serveral turns out of time? Is it like the rear balance shaft sprocket (every third revolution is the same) or does the front BS return to the same position after each revolution (are all revolutions equal)?

2kAccord - it took me a while to get my timing marks lined up, but once they are, you will know it. When everything is set properly, it doesn't matter how many times you turn the crankshaft, you will always have your marks line up when you get the Cam to TDC.

 

Great link there for the members HondaDude...thank you for posting it for everyone..

WheelbrokerAng [sm=americanasmiley.gif]

 

"This question is a bit off topic. Since we are on the topic of balance shafts....can the front balance shaft be set serveral turns out of time? Is it like the rear balance shaft sprocket (every third revolution is the same) or does the front BS return to the same position after each revolution (are all revolutions equal)?"


This is actually the question I am trying to ask. Both my balance shafts are several turns out of time, so even if I line up the timing marks on the front, and the pin fits in the maintainence hole for the rear, it is still might be a turn or two out of time. These shafts were spun while the belt was removed.

Also, I'm having to pry on the tensioner to get any sort of reasonable tension on the belts. How does this thing work?The timing belt also has more tension on one side. (crank, oil pump, cam) than the other (cam, crank). Is that normal or should the tension be even along the entire belt?

With the belts sitting as they are, the motor runs roughly and will only get about 60 lbs of compression per cylinder. Is this a sign I am out of time? or is something else wrong?

 

I've got the car re-timed but it still idles very roughly and is hard to start. When running, I'll get 140-170 lbs of pressure across all the cylinders from a compression tester, but only around 60 when it's trying to start. I'm sure that I have the cam and crank timed correctly, but am still iffy on the balance shafts. Even if the rear shaft is out of balance, the motor should still fire and run somewhat normally, correct? I've been running the car without the alternator, and a couple of grounds. Could this be the cause of the rough idle?

 

If the alternator isn't hooked up, then you might have a discharged battery. Doing a compression test requires a fully charged battery. Your 2000 dosen't have a distributor, so I don't know the proper way to do a compression test. Do you have a Haynes or shop manual to give you proper instructions on how to test compression?

As for the rear balance shaft, that pin should only go all the way into the maintenance hole on every third turn of the rear sprocket. On the 3rd turn of the rear balance shaft (where the pin goes all the way in) is ony when the cam is at TDC. So the rear balance shaft shouldn't be hard to get properly lined up.

I had a bunch of problems with the front balance shaft. I would get it lined up, and turn the engine 5 ort 6 revolutions at the crankshaft. Get the cam to TDC and the front balance shaft was the only thing that did not line up. I would remove the balance belt at the front balance shaft and turn the front balance shaft one full turn (CCW) then line up the mark. Then I would turn the engine a couple of times and check again. I had to repeat this a lot of times (maybe 4 or 5). The marks finally all lined up. (That is why I asked if the front shaft is similiar to the rear one. I may have been one tooth off on the front bal shaft when initially setting it up.)

It was irritating and tedious, but I was finnaly confident that everything was lined up before I put everything back together.