honda timing belt replacement?

[brimic]

I bought an old beater honda civic (2000) for my son to get around itn to school and to work, everything works and drives great on the car, but its closing in on 200k miles and its due for a timing belt replacement.
Has anyone replaced one of these themselves? I've watched utoob videos on it, it looks tedious but doable.
Any opinions on this one, or is it better left to a pro?

[charby]

V-6 or I-4

I believe the I-4 are gear driven timing and don't require any service.

[brimic]

1.6L I4- Pre-2006 had timing belts

[charby]

1.6L I4- Pre-2006 had timing belts

I looked it up, looks like you need to remove the wheel, inner fender and engine mount to start with. You'll also need a crankshaft pulley holder to remove the crankshaft pulley, luckily it should only be held on by 120 ft lbs or so.

[brimic]

I looked it up, looks like you need to remove the wheel, inner fender and engine mount to start with. You'll also need a crankshaft pulley holder to remove the crankshaft pulley, luckily it should only be held on by 120 ft lbs or so.

From my understanding, the crank pully nut is the hardest part.
I came across this product, which is an impact socket made out of a massive chunk of steel. Apparantly its the only thing that works consistently well for the job. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RGNCV1U/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Its one of those things that might come off easy, or might be near impossible.. 

[Brad Johnson]

Do you have a local shop that specializes in imports? Chances are they have a flat-rate program for the timing belt service due to its commonality. Repair Pal is giving a range of $275-$350 for the job, turnkey.

Brad

[charby]

Its one of those things that might come off easy, or might be near impossible.. 

My 3.3 Nissan was a sun o beech, ended up having to brace my custom made GM front axle breaker bar on the truck frame and bumping the starter to break the bolt on main pulley. Impact wrench just spun the engine.

[brimic]

Do you have a local shop that specializes in imports? Chances are they have a flat-rate program for the timing belt service due to its commonality. Repair Pal is giving a range of $275-$350 for the job, turnkey.

Brad

I just called a local shop listed on that site, they wanted $515... local estimates for the work are 375-500 in my area.

[dogmush]

It's not that bad, just kinda cramped.  As long as you have air tools and a lot of extensions you can do it.  You do have to take off the wheel and inner fender.  It's been a while but I think I dropped the strut and spring assembly as well, since I was right there with the impact.  I didn't buy the honking socket, just ran it off with my craftsman 19mm impact socket and Snap-on 1/2" impact wrench.  I don't recall the crank bolt being particularly recalcitrant.

Do the water pump while you're there.

[Brad Johnson]

Do the water pump while you're there.

Is the Civic's crank position sensor on that end of the crank? If so, probably a good idea to do it, too. In fact, pretty much anything that might leak, split, die, or generally fail from age/use should get replaced if you're digging that far in.

Brad

[brimic]

It's not that bad, just kinda cramped.  As long as you have air tools and a lot of extensions you can do it.  You do have to take off the wheel and inner fender.  It's been a while but I think I dropped the strut and spring assembly as well, since I was right there with the impact.  I didn't buy the honking socket, just ran it off with my craftsman 19mm impact socket and Snap-on 1/2" impact wrench.  I don't recall the crank bolt being particularly recalcitrant.

Do the water pump while you're there.

I'm doing both front wheel bearings as well... the right front is pretty noisy. I'll probably do the driver's side wheel bearing the same time I do the timing belt, remove the steering knuckle so that at least will be out of the way.
I ordered a kit that includes a new tensioner and water pump this morning.
I don't have air tools, but have a big old Rigid plug-in 1/2" impact driver.

[brimic]

Is the Civic's crank position sensor on that end of the crank? If so, probably a good idea to do it, too. In fact, pretty much anything that might leak, split, die, or generally fail from age/use should get replaced if you're digging that far in.

Brad

I just looked that one up. Yes, its its under the timing cover as well. Pretty inexpensive part. Great suggestion.

[brimic]

Working on wheel bearing today, forgot how aggravating it can be to work on older cars. Rented hub puller kit from an autozone. Hub puller piece didnt fit, rented the right piece from oreilly’s. Smacked on it witha slide hammer until my arm went numb, but it wouldnt budge. Pulled the steering knuckle- every single cotter pin fought me, they were old and brittle. Finally got the hub out using a big socket + a sledgehammer.