DOHC owners--the Haynes manual lies

[q240z]

Here's the thing--you don't need a chain wrench to pull the crank damper pulley. Toss your 3' breaker bar on it and rotate the pulley until it is firmly wedging the end of the bar against the ground to the right of the pulley, looking down on it from the front of the engine. Go use the ignition key to bump the starter. The engine rotates clockwise while bolts unscrew counterclockwise. Just a bit will do. Voila! Done.

 

Next, ignore Haynes' stupid advice to use a giant pair of channel locks to hold the cam pulleys in place in order to remove the pulley bolts. I have the identical pair of channel locks that they use in their pictures and they WILL NOT WORK on the 2-4 side of the engine. Even if they do work on the 1-3 side, don't try because you could seriously gouge or destroy the pulley, or worse...bend a valve, when the channel locks lose their grip. Which they will.

 

Instead, thank the fine Japanese engineers who put a built-in hex nut on the camshafts and go get your big-boy crescent wrench. Taking sensible precautions so as not to bend a valve, put the wrench on the hex nut thingy and brace it up against the frame rails (or head, depending on which side you're working on) so that the cam cannot move when the bolt is loosened. Put a rag between the wrench and the frame (or head, as appropriate) to protect your paint. Badabing! It will come loose in no time and your pulleys will love you for it.

 

btw, does this site have a forum for this sort of DIY advice, or do you guys just rely on the search feature to find nuggets like this?

[Adnan]

Hi,

 

Cranking the engine to pop a bolt is like playing Russian Roulette. At the very least, if you insist on this method, disconnect the appropriate fuses to make sure the engine won't start. It's one thing to say "bump the engine over" and another to guarantee that it won't fire.

 

The thought of having a large piece of metal potentially flailing around scares me and I would never attempt it, speaking for myself.

 

There is another way, and it's safer. I have used this technique on all the cars where I've needed to remove the crank bolt and it has worked every time: That same breaker bar (or shorter, I use a typical 18" bar) should be placed as described but instead of relying on the starter, I place a jack under it and raise it. While it does not provide the kind of impact that cranking does, it works. You do have to lock the engine, which you may not have to do with the crank technique.

 

I guess I'm a little more conservative.

 

Regards,

Adnan

[q240z]

I guess I left out one part of the play by play--pull the spark plugs. Kinda figured that was a no-brainer. My bad.

 

How do you go about "locking up the engine" in this conservative method of yours?

[blitz]

There's a frontward-facing access hole located in the top of the bell-housing that you can use to jam your favorite screwdriver tool through the teeth of the flywheel/flexplate. Normally it's closed-off with a removable rubber plug.

[richierich]

While you at it, throw the chain wrench away and don't use it to tightened the pulley back up, or the cam pulleys. Just get them as tight as you can and that will be good enough. Forget what you have read on the board about wobbly front crank pulleys and needing to replace parts and motors because of it. Don't heed mechanics advise and tighten the cam pulleys correctly, it will only do internal damage to the valves. No big deal.

 

The Haynes manual tell of one sensible way to do it. If you find it damaging the crank pulley you need to use an old rubber belt as a buffer. It doesn't lie, it just doesn't want to get sued when someone puts the breaker bar on the wrong side and it goes 180 and smacks the other guy standing there in the face or someone forgets to unplug the coil pack and does some damage to the motor.

[richierich]

I guess I left out one part of the play by play--pull the spark plugs. Kinda figured that was a no-brainer. My bad.

 

QUOTE]

 

So people should spend an extra half hour to an hour to pull the spark plugs on a 2.5 DOHC motor, just to replace a timing belt? How about just un plug the coil pack? Kind of figured that was a no brainer. My bad. Might want to get a few more post to your name before showing you are smarter than the service books out there.

[Hondasucks]

A much safer method is to put the car in gear, wedge the breaker bar against the frame, and shove the car forward (If the breaker bar turns the wrong way, you might have to put it in reverse.. ) This is how I got the crank bolt off on my Turbowagon when I replaced the water pump, since the parking brake wouldn't hold it and I couldn't find anyone to mash the brake pedal for me :-)

[scoobyclimbs]

my Mac 3' breaker bar and Snap-on strap wrench, with 1/2" drive flexhead ratched worked great! no effort really just leaverage. I have an auto 4eat trans , so putting it in gear and turning is absurd!

 

Are you kidding me ! removing spark plugs or disconnecting coilpack ! Get the right tools and do it right.......!

[q240z]

I guess I left out one part of the play by play--pull the spark plugs. Kinda figured that was a no-brainer. My bad.

 

QUOTE]

 

So people should spend an extra half hour to an hour to pull the spark plugs on a 2.5 DOHC motor, just to replace a timing belt? How about just un plug the coil pack? Kind of figured that was a no brainer. My bad. Might want to get a few more post to your name before showing you are smarter than the service books out there.

Switch to decaf recently?

 

Plug replacement is required about the same time as timing belt replacement, so it's not much of an issue, really. Especially on the DOHC model, where cylinder gasket replacement seems to be about as commonly necessary as timing belt replacement. Even if one was only doing a timing belt replacement, I've been using the "bump the starter" method for about 25 years on a wide variety of makes and models and haven't had a problem with it yet. My comment about pulling the plugs was just an attempt to point out that there are a variety of ways to stop an engine from starting if you're a spazz who can't adequately control the starter. Point being, if you don't want to invest in the specialty tools, there are simple ways of doing the same job without them IF you're mechanically competent.

 

Since torquing the damper bolt involves turning the bolt in the normal direction of crank rotation, using the drivetrain to hold the engine or jamming a screwdriver into the flywheel would suffice without posing any risk to the valves.

 

But if you're a Haynes worshipper, by all means try to use their recommended channel lock method for removing the cam pulleys. But your recommendation of using a chain wrench on the cam pulleys is risky, if the archives on this topic are to be believed. But to each his own, I guess. I'll just use the hexagonal portion of the cams like the Japanese engineers intended.

[Scottbaru]

In desperation, I used the starter trick on my Landcruiser. I learned not to do it more than once in the same spot, had to replace the starter contacts and plunger after that. Luckily I had a set handy. That was a cold-weather, extra heavy duty, geared starter. I like the method of pushing the car, I'll try that next time (if it's a stick).

[q240z]

Yeah, the starter method doesn't work everywhere. My '94 Accord has a damper pulley bolt that's cranked down to 180lbs/ft. I didn't even try on that POS. Subi runs 80-90, I think, and the starter spooled up just as it normally would.

[Scottbaru]

Subi runs 80-90, I think, and the starter spooled up just as it normally would.

Hmm, that's a good point. The Landcruiser was I think 310 ft/lb.

[q240z]

Hmm, that's a good point. The Landcruiser was I think 310 ft/lb.

HA! Break out the ten foot breaker bar extension for that one, eh?!

[Scottbaru]

The inch-drive breaker bar comes in handy. I considered making a torque multiplier for the torque wrench, but I think I estimated close enough based on my weight and moment arm.