I aquired a 96 Civic EX 5-speed a while ago. Long story short, the previous owner said he changed the timing belt and water pump about 15k miles ago. But when I try to adjust the ignition timing, I can't line the marks on the crank up.

The car is running 93 octaine, and it does spark knock, bogs easily, and sometimes stutter. I changed the timing belt on a previous Civic of mine, and I know I can't remove the crank pulley without my air tools (which are 1400 miles away). What I was thinking was remove the spark plugs, line the crank up, remove the top timing over, cut a hole in the lower timing cover to loosen the tensioner, slide the timing belt off the cam, line the cam up, put everything back together.

I know this idea is a rigged up job, but this car is FAR from being anything special other than a DD. The timing belt does look brand new, so I know it was changed. Any ideas on success or failure are appreciated.

 

It is very doable. There will be a plastic plug that you can pry out to reach the tensioner bolt.

 

Thanks, I didn't know there was a plug there! But alas, I tried it and I can't get the tensioner to loosen up. My tools kept sliding off the bolt, and I smashed my pinky pretty good lol.

I guess on the plus side, I did find the cam is off by a few teeth.

 

You can always pick up the crank pulley removal tool off amazon for $25. Makes getting the crank pulley off a piece of cake w/standard hand tools.

You will need 2 breaker bars though.

I'm not sure there's a way to adjust the timing belt w/out getting that lower cover off.

 

That's not a bad price, thanks for the heads up! I think I have to get an impact on the tensioner bolt though. Super bad part is I think I'll have to pull the engine to do so. Hopefully when I get a chance, I'll remove the lower cover and see if I can wrench it off.