THSCC Forums

I wish I could give you some good news here, but I really can't. It's not a trivial job, not in my opinion.

Go ahead and get replacement belts for everything - AC, power steering, and alternator - because you'll be taking them all off anyway. My recollection is that there's not a lot of room in there to work, either.

I hope you've got compressed air and a good impact gun, because getting that crank pulley bolt off is a son of a gun. I went out to the garage to look and see if I still had my Matco crank pulley bolt tool, but I must have sold it with the race car. I did tell the guy "you get everything Integra I own" so that's probably right, even if I still have a couple noses up in the rafters.

The driver side motor mount has to come off to do this job, because the belts route around it. Sure you can cut the old ones out but that doesn't help you at reinstall time.

You should replace the water pump while you're doing this, which is driven by the timing belt. Yep, gotta drain all the coolant.

Oh, and Donnie - I can't speak for Holton, but my own suspicion with the VTEC solenoid is that it's the reason the VTEC is not engaging, and the noise issue is separate.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Thanks for the feedback Karl. It's gonna be a real pita and there's no doubt about that. The motor mount thing is no biggie- I replaced the rear mount already and that's a real b*tch!!! Thanks for the offer on the pulley remover: I think Brice is going to lend me his. I'm finally in the position that my wife and I have three cars, so the ITR can sit/rest between knuckle busting sessions. My patience and the gravel driveway I have will be the only variables.

I really don't think the vtec solenoid is the culprit because the sound, which is turning to knocking, started exactly when the vtec starting going on the frenzy. I'm really starting to think it's oil pressure related. Although, I'd love to be wrong on this one and just replace the solenoid unit for around $100.

I might just take the car to my mechanic down the street (Premium Imports) and have them check out the sound and do the parts replacement myself.

If you get to that point consider taking it to Gary Gordon 244-1042.

You can check out his JRSC B18C(5) powered del sol while you're down there. It's a little ricey, but it ain't slow.

He helped a buddy of mine who was getting a similar sound find it. Turned out the bolt that was holding is cam gear to the cam had come loose and the key/keyway was getting thrashed. He was also getting a Crank angle code, and the car would bog. Variable cam timing ftl!

Tell him I sent you if you call.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

Paying other people to do things you hate FTW! This is how you get on the "Shultzplan (tm)."

It's obviously been a lot of years, but I remember paying 500 bucks to get the timing belt done on the black GS-R the first time. Having done it myself once now, I'd happily pay that amount again.

Very happily.

Since it seems like it's not real clear, let me reiterate. I DO NOT think the noise has anything to do with the VTEC solenoid. I just want you to be aware that this is a common cause of VTEC not engaging, and given that last weekend you told me VTEC was still engaging, yet the noise was still present, you should watch out for this. *Especially* since it isn't throwing a light (solenoids often don't).

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Matt,
I did the Timming belt in my wife's integra, I followed the procedure in the Helms manual and it was pretty easy, the hardest part was the crank bolt but once I got a snap-on Air Gun (thanks Westerfields) it came right off. I had never done something so extensive on a car either, but It probably took about 4 to 5 hours of time to get it done. (minus the time to locate a good air gun).

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David Teague
2015 Lexus IS 250c
1994 Honda Del Sol HS 39
2009 Dodge Journey R/T
http://teaguefamily.us

damn dave, you're fast! Took me way longer than 4 hours, but of course, a lot of that time consisted of trying to gather the necessary tools and figure out how the hell to get the crank pulley off, its a bitch. Thank goodness my 3 has a chain!

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

I did not count the gathering tools part in the time, that was all work time. IT took me 2 days to get it done, but I only wokred on the car about 4 or 5 hours in the 2 days.

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David Teague
2015 Lexus IS 250c
1994 Honda Del Sol HS 39
2009 Dodge Journey R/T
http://teaguefamily.us

I agree gary gordon would be a good person to take it to if your gonna pay someone to do it.

The ticking sounds like it might be the lma's(lost motion assemblies) My old b16a in my del sol did it cause it was high miles. It never hurt anything. You can manually test the oil pressure with a guage to see where you actualy are wiht that. It is possible for the oil pressure sensor to be bad on the vtec solenoid there for it not working.

Just my .02

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[color=#FFFFFF][/color]http://www.usedmiatapartsonline.com for all your used miata parts needs
http://www.wagnersauto.com for your salvage needs
2000 miata se Estreet,going to rally
2004 mazdaspeed miata bsp #77
shifter kart also(someone buy this $1500)

Well, the R is back to normal. It turns out the stethescope revealed that the terrible knocking sound was a really noisy a/c idler pulley. Awesome news!

Now, why vtec was temporarily not working is beyond me, but it's working great now.

suhweet that is great news

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[color=#FFFFFF][/color]http://www.usedmiatapartsonline.com for all your used miata parts needs
http://www.wagnersauto.com for your salvage needs
2000 miata se Estreet,going to rally
2004 mazdaspeed miata bsp #77
shifter kart also(someone buy this $1500)

probably still wanna do the timing belt, its about time at 82k miles

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV