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Acura Integra Timing Belt Replacement

Barry Soben

Information relevant to (1994-98?) Integras – B18B1 and B18C1 Engines

The Timing Belt: Questions/Answers

FAQ

Q. My owners manual says I need to replace the timing belt at 6 years or 90,000 miles, do I really need to?

A. Yes. The timing belt transfers power between the crankshaft and the camshaft pulleys. The camshaft control the opening and closing of intake and exhaust valves. If the belt fails, valves could be crushed by the pistons and cause other expensive damage. The belt will usually not give any warning that it is going to fail. You should also do the water pump while you’re in there as it is fast and easy with the timing belt off.

Q. The dealer wants a lot of money for it. How can I save money?

A. I looked on AllData (an automotive data source) and they say the job takes 2.9 hours to replace a timing belt on an Acura Integra. It took me a little under 7 hours with breaks and part runs and I've done the job twice now. Someone who does them frequently can probably do it in 2.9 hours. The belt itself cost me about $55, discounted from $70. 3 Hours of labor can vary from $165 ($55/hr) to $264 ($88/hr). Shop around and ask for a breakdown of the costs.

Q. Can I do it myself?

A. Maybe. See my “experience” below and see if it’s something you want to take on. I found the manual didn’t document some helpful things I found out along the way.

Q. Do I need special tools?

A. Not really, although I wouldn’t recommend doing the job without a 1/2" impact wrench. A 1/4" drive air ratchet is also very helpful for removing lots of small 10 mm screws that seem to populate the bays of Hondas. A good toolbox and 14 mm deep impact sockets will get you through most of it. I've included a tool list at the very end.

The Timing Belt: How I Did It

My car was due for a timing belt. It didn’t have the miles that would necessitate the change, but it had been on there for 6 years and that was enough. The dealer wanted (what seemed like) a lot of money for it. I researched it in my Acura Factory Service Manual. (Available from Helm Inc.) It seemed like a simple procedure. It turns out, it might have been if they had provided a little more information. My goal with this webpage is to either help you decide that it’s a lot of work and should be left to someone with the appropriate tools or if you’ve decided to do it yourself, save you some time and aggravation. This webpage is not a substitute for the manual.
	The first step in a timing belt replacement is to remove the valve cover and expose the timing belt. If the belt is beginning to fray, replace it immediately. The bolts are all 10 mm and the 1/4" air ratchet would come in handy. Use hose clamp pliers to remove the clamp that holds the hose to the valve cover. Keep all the bolts in a safe place.
Raise the car on a lift or onto jack stands. Remove the front left wheel and bottom splash shield. The splash shield bolts are all 10 mm. Some of the bolts are plastic or nylon and some are metal. The next step is to remove the power steering pump. DO NOT MOVE THE STEERING WHEEL AFTER THIS POINT. You can change the timing belt without removing the power steering pump from the engine bay, but it impedes access substantially.
	The Acura manual says nothing about breaking the power steering system, but by looking at this picture, it’s obviously in the way. You can move it just enough to get the belt on and off. It also greatly impedes access to the top alteranator bolt. In short, you could do this job without removing the traversing hose and moving the pump, but it may not be worth it.
There are two 12 mm bolts on the side and an adjustable “wingnut-screw.” The two bolts on the top of the pump that attach to a hose are 10 mm bolts. They also need to be removed.
	After removal, keep a plastic bag handy to catch the residual from the power steering hose.
Disconnect the reservoir, preferably using special hose clamp pliers, from the hose clamp that holds the reservoir to the rest of the power steering system. You should now be able to remove the pump and reservoir set it safely aside. This may be messy. Clean the oil off all belts and components before proceeding.
	Next remove the round engine mount shown in the picture. The best way to do this is to support the engine oil pan with a jack. Use a piece of wood between the jack and the oil pan to prevent damage to the oil pan. Raise the jack so that it raises the engine slightly. With the weight off the mount, the 14mm bolts come off easily. (Use a deep socket.) An impact wrench makes the procedure very easy. At this time, remove the 3 – 10 mm bolts from the cruise control unit near the engine mount. Set them in a safe, labeled, place and move the unit off to the side as I have done on the right side of the picture.
Loosen the belt on the air conditioner compressor and then remove it from the crankshaft pulley. There is a longish 7 mm bolt sticking out that controls tension. Loosen it and the holding nut at the bottom of the 7 mm bolts shaft. It is in the lower left hand corner of the picture.
	Also loosen the top and bottom alternator belts. With the power steering pump out the way, the top 12 mm bolt should be easily accessible. You can access it with the power steering pump in place, but it’s much harder. The bottom bolt (14 mm) should also be loosened and the belt removed.
With all the belts removed from the crankshaft pulley, align the pulleys as seem in this picture. In the picture I have used 2 dabs of white out to make it easier to see the timing marks on the pulley as they are critical and a little hard to discern under poor light conditions. David Teichholtz in alt.autos.acura noted that "On my wife's 1993 Integra there are holes in the camshafts and the front journals in through which small drill bits can be inserted so as to stop the camshaft from spinning. This essentially makes the job about 300% easier." This is true. Small Screwdrivers also work. However, the cam may still shift a little bit and you will want to double check the positions of the camshafts when reinstalling the belt. Being even one tooth off is unaccpetable.
	Use an impact wrench and 19 mm socket to remove the pulley bolt. The bolt is likely tightened to around 130 ft-lbs of torque and will be hard to remove. (You don’t want it coming off at 65 MPH.) You may be able to use a ratchet or breaker bar to dislodge the bolt, but the impact wrench is much easier. I’ve seen pictures in the Haynes manual where they use a strap wrench around the pulley to prevent pulley movement. BE VERY CAREFUL to save the little metal key on the inside of the crankshaft pulley. (It’s $4 if you lose it!) Also note the orientation of the timing belt guide plate behind the crankshaft pulley. It should be such that the sharp concave side points towards you. If it points towards the belt, it will damage the belt when it rubs against it.
Now remove the plastic timing belt covers. On the Acura, there are 2 bolts on the top plastic cover and I believe 5 bolts, some in difficult to access places, on the bottom cover. They are all 10 mm bolts. With the covers off, loosen the timing belt tensioner. I think it was a 14 mm bolt . It is in a difficult to access location and torqued down tight.
	Tip: If you are having trouble loosening the tensioner bolt. Remove the other engine mount on the drivers side while supporting the engine with a floor jack. Then lower the jack such that you can just access the bolt from the wheel bay with an impact wrench. The tensioner is supposed to be torqued down to 40 ft-lb (it may be more) and in that confined area you have to work in, it may be very difficult to apply sufficient force with hand tools. The impact wrench is a savior in this case. Raise the jack back up when done. Also, this is a good time to swap out the air conditioner compressor belt, if needed, as it wraps around the bottom engine mount.
Now, you are ready to remove the belt. With the camshaft pulleys at cylinder 1 top dead center, stick small screwdrivers or appropriate inserts into the camshaft locator holes to help keep the camshafts from moving much. Slide the belt off the pulleys. The camshafts will shift a little. ALERT/UPDATE 12/28/04: A kind website visitor has alerted me that: “You should not use the 2 holes in the cam shaft for holding the cams in place while getting the crankshaft bolt loose. These are only there for keeping the cams at TDS while the belt is off.” That being said, I've been quite successful removing the 19 mm crank bolt with a 1/2" impact with and WITHOUT small screwdrivers in the camshaft pulley holding holes. But, it's not a great idea especially with what the pulley immobilizer costs and the risk to the belt and potentially bending or breaking something. If you don't have an impact wrench, I can't see removing the crank bolt without the large hex crank pulley holding tool to immobilize. A couple of quick hits from the impact has not yet broken a belt on me. However, I would imagine immobilizing the cam pulleys and then putting a breaker bar on the crank bolt just might. END OF UPDATE Carefully inspect the location of the crankshaft timing mark. It is a line on the crankshaft gear that points to a triangle. They should be dead on. With the tensioner loosened. Install a new timing belt. Start at the crankshaft, pass through the water pump, tensioner, and then use a 27 mm wrench to align the timing mark on the camshaft with the mark on the plastic (shown in picture) and then slide the timing belt on. The 27 mm grips the camshaft itself. Be careful not to move the crankshaft pulley while installing the belt on the camshaft pulleys. The 27 mm wrench is instrumental in providing the control needed to get the belt on the pulley where you need it. The Acura/Honda engines are unforgiving when it comes to the timing belt being off one or two teeth. Although the picture is somewhat deceptive from being shot at an angle, the white marks I added do line up with the line on the plastic. Use these marks and the wrench to precisely line up the pulleys and install timing belt. It has to be perfect. In the picture, the pulleys are at cylinder 1 top dead center and cylinder 1 is at the very top of its stroke. They are right at the point where they begin their downward stroke. They will want to spring back. The 27 mm open end wrench is critical. Without it, it is exceptionally difficult to control the pulleys such that they can be lined up to accept the belt in the appropriate location. An adjustable wrench might also work. The belt should literally slip on. The belt should have a slight amount of slack with cylinder 1 at TDC. That slack will disappear when you rotate the crankshaft slightly.
	The factory service manual describes how to set the tensioner in more detail. It involves running the belt around a few times and then going 3 teeth past Cylinder 1 TDC and then tightening the tensioner to 40 ft-lb. Before you put the crankshaft pulley back on, make sure the timing belt guide plate on in the right direction. The side with the sharp edge should be facing you. (Concave side) If you install it the other way, you’ll not only damage the guide (See picture), but also the belt and you’ll be replacing the new belt very soon.
Now, reinstall all the plastic covers and belts. The pry bar is helpful for tensioning the alternator. Reattach the engine mounts. Use a floor jack to make sure the mating surfaces of the mounts are pressed against each other. This is important as you will feel them shift slightly (notably when shifting from park to reverse) if they are not really tight. An impact wrench works well. The socket is a 14 mm deep.
	The Power Steering Pump: Reinstall the pump and connect the hoses. Fill the power steering reservoir with GENUINE HONDA POWER STEERING FLUID. It’s expensive, but necessary. Reconnect the belt.
The crankshaft pulley bolt needs to be torqued down to 130 ft-lbs. There is a special tool that allows you to hold the crankshaft pulley and prevent it from moving while torque-ing with a torque wrench. I didn’t have the special pulley holder so I used an impact wrench with air pressure turned up to about 120 psi and a 120 ft-lb torque stick to torque it down. I figure it probably gave me a little more than 120 ft-lb, which was about what I was looking for. It’s important to get this bolt appropriately tight. Although, the special tool and torque wrench is the “correct” way to do this. Note: The crankshaft pulley should be on before you torque down the pulley bolt.
	With everything back together, and the power steering reservoir full, take the steering wheel and turn it back and forth 50 times. Again, with the power steering reservoir full, get a friend to standy by with a bottle of power steering fluid as you start the car. The pump will suck down all the liquid in the reservoir into the system. It is CRITICAL that the pump not suck air into the system. Start the car for 1 second and shut it off. As the level goes down have your friend add to the reservoir. Repeat as needed until the reservoir level is filled appropriately. When done, replace the reservoir cap, start the car, and twist the steering wheel and listen for “squeeling”. As long as none is heard, you’re fine. Again, it’s important to keep air out of the system. Reinstall the plastic splash shield and anything I forgot to mention and drive your well maintained car!

NOTE: This webpage is not a substitute for the Acura Factory Service Manual which is available from Helm Inc. If you are going to do this job, make sure you have it. This is NOT an exhaustive explanation or meant to duplicate the manual. No warranty as to the accuracy of this information is offered.

The Timing Belt: Required Tools

The Timing Belt: Recommended Tools

Tool Box with a range of metric regular and deep sockets.

27 mm open end or combination wrench (An adjustable might also work..)

½" Impact Wrench

19 mm socket

14 mm Deep Impact Socket (Can be a non-impact.)

1/4" and 3/8" Torque Wrench. (You need both. The torque specs on the valve covers are 7.2 ft-lb (86 in-lb) and it’s important to torque them to seal the valve cover correctly. The tensioner bolt should also be set with a torque wrench.)

½" Torque Wrench for torqueing the pulley bolt

Floor Jack

Jack Stands or a Lift

Hose clamp pliers are very handy (although the regular pliers will work.)

A pry bar for adjusting the alternator belt tension.

A small 1/4" Air Ratchet (Very handy for removing 10 mm bolts.)

A 3/8" Air Ratchet

Steering Wheel Holder (A steering wheel Club device might also work.) Or just don’t move the steering wheel.

A holding device for immobilizing the crank pulley is HIGHLY recommended.

Questions? Try rec.auto.makers.honda or rec.autos.tech on USENET.

LINKS

Changing Timing Belt and Water Pump on CRX Si

The author is not an expert on Acuras or anything else for that matter. However, your author did complete a 2 year program in Automotive Technology and holds a CA Advanced Emissions Specialist License. If you have improvements or corrections, please drop me a note here so that I can add them or provide a link. Thanks.