Did my timing belt change!

[ejthomp]

After reading up on the procedure and mulling over the expensive mechanic options, I just decided "What the heck, I'm doing it myself" "How long can it take a regular joe in his garage?"

It ended up taking most of my Saturday and my total cost was less than $300 including waterpump, three belts and the tensioner. My 2003 Pilot has 108,000 miles and I tow my boat quite often so I thought it was way overdue. When I removed the timing belt and waterpump I was amazed by the pristine condition of them. They certainly looked like they would last a long, long time. Of course, I changed them anyway.

The only really difficult part was removing the crankshaft pulley. I cannot express how darn tight that thing was. Even with a cheater bar and bracing the special tool against the floor, it took all of my 240lbs of strength to finally break it loose. Of course now that I've done it once, I have a better idea of how to exactly arrange things to get it off.

Once that was off, there really wasn't anything difficult about it. I just took my time and followed the manual. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. I'm sure I could knock it out in less than 4 hours.

With everything I did, I figure that I saved over a thousand dollars for my Saturday. More fishing money!!!!

Anyway, the point of my post is to encourage others to do it themselves if they have a little faith in their own abilities. I questioned myself in a couple spots, but worked through it and the money saved and satisfaction of doing it myself, left me with a very positive afterglow!

[N_Jay]

Just as a caution, several people had water pump pulley failures shortly after timing belt replacements (even when the dealer did the work).
It seems like this may be a 'finicky" part.

[ejthomp]

Wow! Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep my eye on it.

By waterpump pulley failure, you mean the brand new waterpump fails? Any word on why? Maybe the new belt is too tight?

I assume that once it fails, you get a coolant leak or are you talking a major failure that breaks the timing belt and destroys the motor?

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by ejthomp
Wow! Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep my eye on it.

By waterpump pulley failure, you mean the brand new waterpump fails? Any word on why? Maybe the new belt is too tight?

I assume that once it fails, you get a coolant leak or are you talking a major failure that breaks the timing belt and destroys the motor?

The reported failures were a loss of power-steering and the finding of the pulley (less the center) lying loose in the engine compartment.

[ejthomp]

So we're not talking about a timing belt/waterpump failure, but a power steering pulley failure. I've heard of that. And I can understand why that part can be tricky. The bracing and supports for the power steering pump are funky and had to be removed to gain access to the timing belt. Wouldn't be difficult to screw up the reassembly.

When I put it all back together everything seemed to be quiet and smooth. I'll be keeping an eye on it though.

[GreenMachine]

Originally posted by ejthomp
So we're not talking about a timing belt/waterpump failure, but a power steering pulley failure. I've heard of that. And I can understand why that part can be tricky. The bracing and supports for the power steering pump are funky and had to be removed to gain access to the timing belt. Wouldn't be difficult to screw up the reassembly.

When I put it all back together everything seemed to be quiet and smooth. I'll be keeping an eye on it though.

I think you need to change your signature. You've put on a few miles since then.

Somewhere on this site I think there is a picture of a defective water pump pulley.

[ejthomp]

Originally posted by GreenMachine


I think you need to change your signature. You've put on a few miles since then.

Jan 06 48,000 .... Sept 07 108,000 That's right.... Next year this time it will be about 150,000 miles.

I'm getting to know my Pilot pretty well

[BedfordFred]

Originally posted by ejthomp
When I removed the timing belt and waterpump I was amazed by the pristine condition of them. They certainly looked like they would last a long, long time. Of course, I changed them anyway.

The only really difficult part was removing the crankshaft pulley. I cannot express how darn tight that thing was. Even with a cheater bar and bracing the special tool against the floor, it took all of my 240lbs of strength to finally break it loose. Of course now that I've done it once, I have a better idea of how to exactly arrange things to get it off.

Good job. I did a timing belt on my Civic a month ago. Same observations as you - crankshaft pulley bolt was an absolute bear to loosen, and the timing belt and w.pump were pristine.

[gouveias]

The only really difficult part was removing the crankshaft pulley. I cannot express how darn tight that thing was. Even with a cheater bar and bracing the special tool against the floor, it took all of my 240lbs of strength to finally break it loose.

Rats!!! i'm in the process of trying to break that darn bolt loose...

Question: -did you buy the special honda tool to hold the crankshaft or not? ( would an impact wrench do the trick, ya think?)



anyway, congrats on doing it yourself!!!

[ejthomp]

I don't think you could possibly get it off without the tool. And I don't think an impact wrench would even touch it. Picture 3 ft cheater bar and every ounce of strength from my 6'2" 250 lb body(most people would say I'm much stronger than average).

You need the tool and then position yourself with the best possible leverage.

Good luck!

[Layspeed]

There are a couple of 1/2" impact guns rated pretty high that WILL take off the stubborn Honda crank bolts. I happen to have one Mine is made by S & K, the other one I have used that worked is the newer IR titanium impact. There are others but I haven't used any of them. But the special tool is essential if you don't have an adequate impact and/or air compressor. Also there are different variations/manufacturers of the special tool I've seen ranging from about $35 - over $100.

[Sunday Rider]

ejthomp Well done

I am getting to the point where I need to do this. But have never done anything of that scope before.

Did you buy the tool or rent it to remove the crankshaft pully, how did you compress the tensioner?

I have been reading the repair manual and sweating. I called the dealer up here for pricing, it is around 750 for the labour and 300 for parts. They change the water pump and the coolant too. So with taxes it is around $1,150. Whoa


So your signature says you traded it in for the 2008, that was a lot of trouble when you were going to trade it.

Thanks for the post and inspiration!

[scuba steve]

locktite on the waterpump pulley bolt(s) may be a nice cure.

[gouveias]

Well i just ordered the special 50mm toll to hold the pulley... so far it seem to be a "no brainer" if you have the service manual.

Ejthomp, i appreciate the fast repply ! thank you very much!!!

Layspeed, i must agree that there are some good old air guns able to break the bolt loose... but i no longer have a compressor available. (*^%#$*^%$*&^%) do you know what i mean?...

thank you for the usefull info gentleman.
Best regards, MG.

[ejthomp]

Originally posted by Sunday Rider
ejthomp
Did you buy the tool or rent it to remove the crankshaft pully, how did you compress the tensioner?

So your signature says you traded it in for the 2008, that was a lot of trouble when you were going to trade it.

Thanks for the post and inspiration!

Bought the tool. I don't know if anyone rents it. Figure I'll need it to do my 2008 someday..... 30k miles per year...won't be long.

When I went to the stealership to buy a couple parts I talked to the parts guy and asked him what parts they normally change when doing the timing belt. He said they stock the tensioner and usually change it. I purchased a new one based on that info. I now believe they change it so they don't have to compress the old one. They charge the customer anyway so why not make the job easier and faster for the mechanic? I ended up changing mine too because I didn't have a good way to compress the old one. You will need some kind of press. Maybe a large C-clamp would work...

If I had planned to trade the 2003 in, I certainly wouldn't have done this! I had a hit and run that did some front end damage and when analyzing my long-term options, one thing lead to another and I drove home a 2008 EX-L. My 2003 was an early model and although it had been very reliable, I didn't love the vehicle. It still had some trade-in valvue and the wife gave the okay so I went for it.