2011 Honda Pilot - timing belt replacement - PART 3
2011 Honda Pilot - timing belt replacement - PART 3
Remove the windshield side top timing belt cover
This cover is also held to the engine with five 10mm 1" bolts. For the bottom-most bolts, I found it easier to be on my back, under the car, and approach them from underneath, and use a 12pt 10mm 3/8" socket.
There is an electrical bus, about the thickness of a pencil, along the top of this cover, gently pull the wire out with a vector where the passenger tire would be.
Wiggle the cover up-and-out with an 11 o'clock angle or so. The big 1" electrical bus that goes to over the windshield-side valve cover is in the way, so it is a bit of a pain. I had to use one hand to pull away the 1" bus while using my other hand to try to wiggle the cover off. Pix of the removed cover:
Remove the bottom timing belt cover
The bottom timing belt cover is attached to the engine with seven 1" 10mm bolts.
*** WARNING: the top-most windshield-side 10mm bolt has another smaller black/dark bolt right next to it. Both bolts are next to, and immediately above the tensioner cylender. Do "slow is fast" and make sure you only loosen the 10mm bolt. ***
Slowly and carefully remove the lower cover. Run your fingers along the gap, to do your best to not damage and retain the upper and lower gaskets that are attached to the lower cover.
Pix of the removed lower cover:
Confirm crankshaft mechanical timing yet again
With the lower timing belt cover removed, use a rag to clean the crank timing triangle/dot. Clean the engine block immediately above the crank, so you can clearly see the arrow on the block and the arrow/dot on the crank.
Use a 19mm 6pt socket to do any fine adjustments, so the two arrows align.
I used a marker to make the marks easier for me to see and get a pix of:
Confirm and Mark both camshaft's mechanical timing
Radiator-side camshaft gear mechanical timing
Use a shop rag to clean the engine block timing mark for the radiator-side camshaft gear. It is just a vertical groove at the 12 o'clock position. Also clean the top of the belt itself, and the outer edge of the camshaft gear, where its "1" groove are. Both the block grove and the camshaft gear groove for "1" should be in alignment when checked with a hand mirror and shop light.
The "1" on the radiator-side camshaft gear, for me, is only visible if you use a hand mirror, and look down on the mirror from above.
I was not able to get a pix of the alignment with a hand mirror (couldn't juggle the ladder, shop light, mirror and cellphone camera, darn it!). I was able to get an angled pix from above, showing the cam gear groove, block groove, and the mark I put on the belt (using a marker). Pix:
Windshield-side camshaft gear mechanical timing
The only way to see the camshaft gear timing marks without any parallax mis-alignment, for me, was by putting my chin on the passenger-side fender, along where the black plastic upper firewall edge meets the passenger-side fender, and look down. I tried to get a pix of the two marks:
So, I tried to mark the belt back there, but it did not go very well. Hopefully I can still transfer the marks to the new timing belt, and they will aid me when the time comes. This is a angled shot, so the original factory marks do not look aligned. Pix:
Mark timing belt near crankshaft pulley
Mark the timing belt near the crankshaft pulley and the engine where the mark was created on the belt. The goal is that all of the engine mfg alignment marks AND hand-made timing marks should line up, when the new belt is installed.
*** KEEP THE OLD BELT INTACT, and transfer its marks to the new belt, in PART 4 ***
...continued on PART 4