89Steve Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Hey guys -- been a little while since I've posted on here. Starion is still running like a champ...I'll probably be going MPI this winter too :-) I'm helping my buddy work on his Integra this week and we've run into a snag. We've replaced the timing belt, water pump, and idler pulley and now the car won't start. The problem is low compression. A compression test showed 120,140,110,110 PSI throughout the motor. These honda motors should show above 150. Also, as the motor cranks it is obvious that the compression is low given how fast it turns. Both him and I have checked the timing five times over. At TDC there is a mark on the crank that we had lined up perfectly and both lines on the cams also lined up with the factory timing marks. After some google searching I found that the timing being off could cause low compression resulting in a no start. My question is does anyone have any advice as to which way I should test moving the timing belt first? The motor turns CCW and I was thinking of retarding the timing on the cams one tooth first and see what that does. Any advice would be helpful...been working on this for 3-4 days and have had little progress which is very frustrating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBONDO Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Did the belt break while it was running or did you change it just to change it? Also did you change the balance shaft belt If the belt broke while it was running there is a very good chance there are a few bent valves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestFan Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 (edited) I always had mine replaced every 90 thousand miles. Car had 300,000 miles on it before I sold it. But honda motors have interference heads. Meaning if that belt broke, you could have a bent valve(s). Or if your timing is off and you keep cranking on it, you might bend a valve. But you may already know this information, I am not trying to put you down. Hence having a shop replace mine every 90 thousand. Edited August 25, 2011 by YoungQuestFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Steve Posted August 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 Did the belt break while it was running or did you change it just to change it? Also did you change the balance shaft belt If the belt broke while it was running there is a very good chance there are a few bent valves I always had mine replaced every 90 thousand miles. Car had 300,000 miles on it before I sold it. But honda motors have interference heads. Meaning if that belt broke, you could have a bent valve(s). Or if your timing is off and you keep cranking on it, you might bend a valve. But you may already know this information, I am not trying to put you down. Hence having a shop replace mine every 90 thousand. No we were just changing it because it had 130k on it. Balance shaft belt was not touched. I don't think it's a bent valve given the compression readings have "below OEM limit" variance. Although it is possible one may have now been hit while cranking if the timing was off. First thing I want to try here is advancing or retarding the timing one tooth. I just don't know which to try and also if I should do it on both cams or the crankshaft. I'm trying to think...would the timing being too advanced or retarded potentially cause low compression? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 most Honda engine turn back wards to your normal think of an engine rotateing,, one way to always know what direction an engine runs,, the belt tentioner is always on the side of slack belt,,meaning the belt is always moveing in an up wards directionstanding in front of the belt if tentioner is on your left the engine rotates clockwise , if the tentioner is on your right the engine rotates counter clockwise pay more attention to the crank and it's mark then the cams odds are it's the crank tooth thats off more so then the cams,turn the engine in normal run direction untill the cams are align'd then look at crank mark and gear mark , normaly if the comp is low because of belt being off ALL cyls will be aprox the same , some up and some down is a bad sign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89Steve Posted August 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 most Honda engine turn back wards to your normal think of an engine rotateing,, one way to always know what direction an engine runs,, the belt tentioner is always on the side of slack belt,,meaning the belt is always moveing in an up wards directionstanding in front of the belt if tentioner is on your left the engine rotates clockwise , if the tentioner is on your right the engine rotates counter clockwise pay more attention to the crank and it's mark then the cams odds are it's the crank tooth thats off more so then the cams,turn the engine in normal run direction untill the cams are align'd then look at crank mark and gear mark , normaly if the comp is low because of belt being off ALL cyls will be aprox the same , some up and some down is a bad sign Thanks for the reply Shelby. So the plan then is to put everything back at TDC, make sure the cam marks are all aligned, and then would you suggest retarding or advancing the crank one tooth? Or is there really no way of telling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbrad511 Posted August 25, 2011 Report Share Posted August 25, 2011 DO NOT just move things one notch forward or backward, unless you're aligning yout timing marks. Years ago I was too cheap to buy the book on my Civic, got it back together, and it ran really bad. I moved the belt on the cam gear one tooth, but in the wrong direction, and bent every exhaust valve on the head. Scrapped the car.Verify your marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted August 26, 2011 Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 yes verify the actual belt timeing i was not saying that to sugest you try moveing any thing but to check to see if the crank is out of time ,,if your out it's gona be at the crank NOT the cam , the problem with some of those engines is it's almost imposible to get the belt on with the cam and crank at their timeing marks due to the belt stiffness , many times i have hard to retard the crank just a bit to alow slack to align the crank with the belt ,then with belt in place, rotate the crank to TDCNEVER simply try advanceing or retarding you'l deff screw up ,put the timeing EXACTLY where they say to put it as the engine turns it places a load on the belt and makes the belt very tight,, so much tention that placeing the belt on with the crank at TDC the belt is not easy to install by hand , turning the crank just a little will give ou slack to engauge the belt teeth and once you rotate back to TDC the belt will be under tention and all marks will align Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts