(quit in the heat) 91 Honda Civic

A word to the wise; get the crank bolt broken loose before you start on the
timing belt replacement project.

Fortunately my son works at a body and paint shop so we are going to load
the car onto the flatbed tow truck on Monday to go use his air impact
driver.

I do have a few choice words for Honda.

Jay C.

 

Your '95 200sx has a timing chain. The only reason you will ever have to
deal with the bolt will be if the front oil seal ever leaks.

 

Yes, I knew about the Nissan having a chain, but you see I had to
remove my '73 Datsun 1200's crankshaft bolt to replace the timing
chain (when the car was about 24 years old at that time, it's still
running) and I expect to keep the Nissan "indefinitely" also.

BTW, the Datsun's ONE chain is a whole lot easier than the VTC DOHC
Nissan engine's TWO chains are going to be...and its associated gears,
etc.

But as you said, that shouldn't happen for a LONG time...if ever. I
hardly put any miles on the car, presently only about 3000-4000 a
year. At that rate, 100K will take me almost 19 years...I may not even
live long enough to worry about it! ;-)

John D.

 

For my Acura's I bought a special tool that holds the crank pulley in place
while torque is applied to the crank bolt. The tool fits the hex inside the
pulley and has an opening for the socket on the bolt to fit through. It
worked great but cost about $40. The same tool fits most Honda's as well.
I think the manufacturer is Scheley Products and the part number is SP
60100. I bought the tool on-line at thetoolwarehouse.net.
-Acura Legend Guy

 

I don't know why you people go to such hassle to try to save a few bucks. I
had two Civics and on both I had the dealer do the job. They charge less
than $300 and use only genuine Honda parts. The also changed all belts and
the water pump too. Oh, they also washed the cars after they were done.
Dave

 

I spent about $350Cdn in Honda OEM parts alone doing my Accord.

 

Very nice, Dave, but how about the guy making only $400-$600/month?
Retired or otherwise. He has plenty to worry about. Count your
blessings.

All through life, retired or not, either you pay someone else to do
the work -- have the big bucks/income available and HOPE it's done
right even at that -- or, you don't have the $$ and are forced to DIY.
In the latter case, no one else is going to do it if YOU don't. So I
do a lot of "quality reading" on occasion: auto
service/repair/troubleshooting/parts manuals -- and here in the
Honda/Toyota and Nissan newsgroups -- and hope at least regular
maintenance with quality fliuds/filters forestalls/prevents any
trouble down the road. And I drive my cars gently, don't abuse
them...that helps A LOT.

But I DO take it in to the shop when I have tried everything I can
think of to solve the problem but still can't find it, or, it's
something out of my area of expertise. For example, I will NOT get out
my cordless drill, put in a huge bit, hold the block between my feet
and rebore the cylinders! I used to do that -- just eyeball the bore
measurements in fact, and tried to hold the drill completely vertical
-- but that didn't work to well! Just kidding. ;-)

In those cases (very rare fortunately), it goes in to the shop. But
it's still tough coming up with the money sometimes.

John D.