My 230,000 mile Accord.
I'd been putting it off until it got warmer and I assembled all the parts I needed for the job. This would be my second J-Series timing belt and first oil pump reseal. I must say, it's really not a bad job. People complain left and right about doing timing belts, but as long as you can get your crank bolt off, Honda makes the job as easy as you could hope for. You line up all you marks, and as long as you don't smash into the crank or cams, everything stays where it is supposed to while you're putting the new belt on, provided you're not doing cam seals (I didn't, they weren't leaking at all so I left them alone). The rear pulley has a lip on it to keep the belt on as you're installing it, and if you follow their instructions, it goes right on.
I really just want to give people with these motors some hope, that its not a terrible job, and as long as you have some basic tools and understanding of how things work, it is something you can do.
Unbolt the J-Pipe from the cats and just let the exhaust hang. On my Accord this meant taking off a mount to let the system drop. Impact gun helps here to get the nuts off. If you spin out a stud (I did) you can usually put them back in easily. I slotted the end of mine with a cutoff wheel and spun it back in with a flat head screwdriver and some anti seize.
There are 18 small bolts and 2 (or more) large ones holding that cast pan on(and a ton holding on the plastic covers). Doing it by hand is going to take some time. Try to use air or battery power if you have it.
Don't forget to replace the oil pickup tube o-ring. 3-10mm bolts.
Whatever sealant Honda uses at the factory comes off super easy when you're cleaning things up. Most of it you can peel right off, the rest comes off with a scotchbrite pad in seconds.
Parts List (This should work for most J-Series motors, double check though, you only need 1 of each part)
TKH-002 - Asin Timing belt/pulley/tensioner/waterpump set
15115-P8A-A01 - Oil Pump Seal
91310-PH7-000 - Oil Pickup O-Ring. This looks like a normal O-ring. If you have a big set of them, I have no doubt you could just match it up and go.
91212-5MR-A01 - Crankshaft oil seal
91319-PR3-003 - Sensor O-Ring - See above, looks like a normal O-ring.
15825-P8A-A01 - Spool Valve Gasket/Oil Filter Mount Gasket.
36172-P8A-A01 - Vtech Solenoid Gasket
If you want to be cheap, Mahle makes a set with pretty much all of those gaskets for about a 5th of the price of the Honda ones, but I've not had great luck with non-Honda gaskets* and really didn't want to take the chance of having to do the job all over or have something not fit properly.
Optional
18212-SA7-003 - Exhaust gaskets - You can probably get away with not replacing these, my old ones looked identical to the new ones.
It took me about 6 hours start to finish for the timing related stuff, so the next day I moved on to replacing valve cover gaskets. A note here. I used Fel-Pro on this Accord and Beck Arnley on my TL and they both started leaking in less than a year. Take my advice, use the Honda valve cover gaskets. Tube seals and grommets you can do aftermarket, those seem to work ok, but not the VC gaskets. I actually buy a BA set and throw away the VC gaskets and use the tube seals and grommets. More cost effective that way. Honda is a little too proud of those parts.
I of course went through all the valves while I was in there just to double check my work from a year ago. I'd felt that I left some of them a little on the loose side (I did) so I tightened those up more towards the lower end of their specs. Just makes it a little bit quieter.
12341-RCA-A01 - Valve Cover Gasket (Need 2)
12342-RYE-004 - Spark Plug Tube Seals (Need 6)
90442-P8A-A00 - Bolt Grommets (Need 10) *They want approx $4-5 EA for these things. If you want to spend that, go ahead, if not, get some aftermarket.
12030-RYE-A01 - Valve Cover set that includes a Gasket, 3 Tube Seals, and 5 Grommets (Need 2 if you go this route)
Other things I used:
1 - Tube of Hondabond (Or your favorite sealant)
1.5 Gallons of Zerex Asian Blue
4.5 Qts of Havoline HM 5W30
Partsmaster 51334 Filter
6 - Denso Plugs (IK20TT)
I have also now sworn off anti-seize on spark plugs. I don't know what the deal is with it and these engines but the 3 plugs on the rear came out hard. REALLY hard, to the point I thought there was either going to be a coil of aluminum thread on them when I got them out, or I really thought that I was going to break one, it really was that bad. I was already thinking of how I was going to get the head repaired. But in the end, they came out and the threads were fine. Go figure, but the new ones went in dry.
Digging back through my records, this belt had 128,000 miles on it and the two idler pulleys are the original ones on the car. The first timing belt was done at the local dealer and according to the invoice, they didn't replace the pulleys, but they did replace the 3 seals and the tensioner. I did not replace the cam seals, but I did replace the pulleys. The old pulleys still felt great and the belt 'looked' to be in fine shape
I also swore I was going to take pictures of the process. I took two. One of the inside of the oil pan, and one of all the used parts strewn all over the garage.
Hopefully this helps someone that is thinking about doing this job, especially if you want to save some coin and/or don't have a trusted person like cline, Travis, or Critic (and others) nearby.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2020/05/full-4281-44583-img_20200509_130823517_hdr.jpg "[Linked Image]")
I'd been putting it off until it got warmer and I assembled all the parts I needed for the job. This would be my second J-Series timing belt and first oil pump reseal. I must say, it's really not a bad job. People complain left and right about doing timing belts, but as long as you can get your crank bolt off, Honda makes the job as easy as you could hope for. You line up all you marks, and as long as you don't smash into the crank or cams, everything stays where it is supposed to while you're putting the new belt on, provided you're not doing cam seals (I didn't, they weren't leaking at all so I left them alone). The rear pulley has a lip on it to keep the belt on as you're installing it, and if you follow their instructions, it goes right on.
I really just want to give people with these motors some hope, that its not a terrible job, and as long as you have some basic tools and understanding of how things work, it is something you can do.
Unbolt the J-Pipe from the cats and just let the exhaust hang. On my Accord this meant taking off a mount to let the system drop. Impact gun helps here to get the nuts off. If you spin out a stud (I did) you can usually put them back in easily. I slotted the end of mine with a cutoff wheel and spun it back in with a flat head screwdriver and some anti seize.
There are 18 small bolts and 2 (or more) large ones holding that cast pan on(and a ton holding on the plastic covers). Doing it by hand is going to take some time. Try to use air or battery power if you have it.
Don't forget to replace the oil pickup tube o-ring. 3-10mm bolts.
Whatever sealant Honda uses at the factory comes off super easy when you're cleaning things up. Most of it you can peel right off, the rest comes off with a scotchbrite pad in seconds.
Parts List (This should work for most J-Series motors, double check though, you only need 1 of each part)
TKH-002 - Asin Timing belt/pulley/tensioner/waterpump set
15115-P8A-A01 - Oil Pump Seal
91310-PH7-000 - Oil Pickup O-Ring. This looks like a normal O-ring. If you have a big set of them, I have no doubt you could just match it up and go.
91212-5MR-A01 - Crankshaft oil seal
91319-PR3-003 - Sensor O-Ring - See above, looks like a normal O-ring.
15825-P8A-A01 - Spool Valve Gasket/Oil Filter Mount Gasket.
36172-P8A-A01 - Vtech Solenoid Gasket
If you want to be cheap, Mahle makes a set with pretty much all of those gaskets for about a 5th of the price of the Honda ones, but I've not had great luck with non-Honda gaskets* and really didn't want to take the chance of having to do the job all over or have something not fit properly.
Optional
18212-SA7-003 - Exhaust gaskets - You can probably get away with not replacing these, my old ones looked identical to the new ones.
It took me about 6 hours start to finish for the timing related stuff, so the next day I moved on to replacing valve cover gaskets. A note here. I used Fel-Pro on this Accord and Beck Arnley on my TL and they both started leaking in less than a year. Take my advice, use the Honda valve cover gaskets. Tube seals and grommets you can do aftermarket, those seem to work ok, but not the VC gaskets. I actually buy a BA set and throw away the VC gaskets and use the tube seals and grommets. More cost effective that way. Honda is a little too proud of those parts.
I of course went through all the valves while I was in there just to double check my work from a year ago. I'd felt that I left some of them a little on the loose side (I did) so I tightened those up more towards the lower end of their specs. Just makes it a little bit quieter.
12341-RCA-A01 - Valve Cover Gasket (Need 2)
12342-RYE-004 - Spark Plug Tube Seals (Need 6)
90442-P8A-A00 - Bolt Grommets (Need 10) *They want approx $4-5 EA for these things. If you want to spend that, go ahead, if not, get some aftermarket.
12030-RYE-A01 - Valve Cover set that includes a Gasket, 3 Tube Seals, and 5 Grommets (Need 2 if you go this route)
Other things I used:
1 - Tube of Hondabond (Or your favorite sealant)
1.5 Gallons of Zerex Asian Blue
4.5 Qts of Havoline HM 5W30
Partsmaster 51334 Filter
6 - Denso Plugs (IK20TT)
I have also now sworn off anti-seize on spark plugs. I don't know what the deal is with it and these engines but the 3 plugs on the rear came out hard. REALLY hard, to the point I thought there was either going to be a coil of aluminum thread on them when I got them out, or I really thought that I was going to break one, it really was that bad. I was already thinking of how I was going to get the head repaired. But in the end, they came out and the threads were fine. Go figure, but the new ones went in dry.
Digging back through my records, this belt had 128,000 miles on it and the two idler pulleys are the original ones on the car. The first timing belt was done at the local dealer and according to the invoice, they didn't replace the pulleys, but they did replace the 3 seals and the tensioner. I did not replace the cam seals, but I did replace the pulleys. The old pulleys still felt great and the belt 'looked' to be in fine shape
I also swore I was going to take pictures of the process. I took two. One of the inside of the oil pan, and one of all the used parts strewn all over the garage.
Hopefully this helps someone that is thinking about doing this job, especially if you want to save some coin and/or don't have a trusted person like cline, Travis, or Critic (and others) nearby.
