97 ex timing belt

[moblakely]

I had such a fight on my hands with setting the timing belt tension when I finished the head gasket job on my 97 civic ex. Doing the bolt correctly was like doing the hokey pokey in a small tihgt spot. since my torque wrench nor any combo of extensions and swivels could get me great torque on it so I could get to 33lbs... i was guessing at it with a small 3/8 ratchet and 14mm short socket. I finally got it and it ran great for two days... just now 50 feet from driveway it got a horrible knocking sound. I pulled the timing belt cover and sure enough all the slack on the front of belt and tight in the back so I know I'm going back in to mess with that tensioner again. That being said I heard somewhere that there was an upgrade to this bolt for later years and that it is recommended for older models as well. Anyone made that switch and had better/easier time with this? Am I doing something wrong? I can't seem to get the bolt in as far as it seems it was before. It was accidentally removed all the way when we set timing the first time. All I can think it borrow my neighbors decent stronger small ratchet and try again as I fear my shitty quality one let me down getting up to torque. thoughts?

 

[moblakely]

so yeah... thanks for all the replies!! come on guys, i know you have set the hydraulic tensioner before... i have not. As i messed with it more today I managed to get it to a point where at start up it would sound fine and within 20 seconds gradually start to "flap/knock" Thus I'm guessing I'm not getting the tension bolt tight enough. I'd be inclined to go find the tools to pull the crank shaft pulley (so I can remove lower timing cover) if I didn't think this was purely operator error. everything about this part of the car was totally fine before I did headgasket- now, after I've touched timing belt and tensioner I can't get it to stay right. It has to be my fault and not the car. I'll be more specific with my questions and maybe someone will be able to feel like they can help...

I can't fit the torque wrench on the bolt to get it to 33lbs... so how tight should that really feel? like I can't go anymore? I'm a small (110lb) female so I just pumped it til I could get no more turns out of it.

When setting the tension my book says loosen it 180 degreees... is that 180 degrees from the full torque spec? if so my bolt would be way to tight for me to move it up and down.

So now that you know I'm a girl whos very very new to mechanizing things (but seemingly pretty good at it except for this)... what's the first thing you think I did wrong? lol maybe that makes it easier to give me advice idk.

I'm so close I can taste it !

 

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

Hate to break it to you, but you may be damaging valve and pistons at this point. If you didn't do the job correctly and your timing is off or it jumped timing several times by now there is a high probability of damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5HbPEx6fJk

maybe watching this will help, I suck at explainations unless its forced induction.

Also about this "upgraded" bolt, never hear of it them being bad or faulty, no idea how a bolt can be bad. Usually it is the hole that is the issue. You sure you didn't strip the threads when you put it back in?