99 - 01 Honda Accord Head Gasket, Timing Belt, Water Pump, Radiator Repair / Replacement

After engine warm-up, the owner’s Accord exhaust pipe was billowing out white smoke and coolant was bubbling in the coolant reservoir tank. Coolant was added to his radiator and the car started with the radiator cap removed. Coolant immediately shoot out of the radiator filler neck; a clear indication of head gasket failure. A crack was later found in the radiator. The cooling system overheated to the point of head gasket failure.

6.  Have you ever replaced a timing belt and water pump on an overhead cam car?  A head gasket replacement effort is a timing belt job times 3 or 4.  

Set aside an area in your garage to place removed parts in the order they were removed.  This includes the nuts and bolts.  Although this will add time to your work effort, the re-assembly of your parts will go much faster .  Eliminate the guess work of what bolt or nut goes with what part.  Don’t mix them up in a coffee can!  Also consider taking before and after photos.  It goes a long way when trying to figure out what goes where during the re-assembly process.

The photos are a combination of before and after dis-assembly and re-assembly steps.  If I missed a photo during dis-assembly, I would use a photo during the assembly process to explain a dis-assembly step.  It’s difficult at times to stop whatever you are doing to take a photo.

Step 1. Raise the driver’s side wheel and support the car with a jack stand. Disconnect the Positive Battery Terminal and Drain the Coolant at both the engine block and radiator. Dedicate an area to placed removed parts in the order they were removed.

Remove the wheel to expose the Crank Shaft Pulley.  Remove the pulley bolt with either an impact driver or an Pulley holding Tool.

Insert the Pulley Holder tool to the Crank Shaft Pulley and attach a long ½ drive breaker bar to the holder.  Then rotate the Crank Shaft Pulley with another ½ socket wrench with an attached ½ extension and socket until the brake bar is secured against the ground from moving.  Since the crank shaft bolt may be torque up to 180 lbs, use a jack stand to support the ½ drive extension for another breaker bar when apply force to remove the crank shaft bolt.  The height of the jack stand was inadequate so a wooden block was used to gain the extra height.

Loosen the belt tension on both the Power Steering Pump and Alternator then remove the belts.

On the Power Steering Pump there are two bolts;  one on the top right and the other on the bottom left.  After they have been loosen, push down on the pump to relieve the tension.

Remove the ground strap followed by the 2 nuts and 1 bolt.  In addition, the nut that’s in the middle of the bracket must be loosened since there’s a small rotating metal bracket underneath that must be turned before pulling off the mount.

There are only 2 bolts that need to be removed.   Detach the alternator wires recessed within the cover then pull up and out to remove the cover.  Remove the oil dip stick as well.

Set the number 1 cylinder to Top Dead Center (TDC) and Remove the Crank Shaft Pulley.

Work around the perimeter of the lower cover then remove each of the retaining bolts.  In addition, detach the wire housing recessed into the right hand grove of the belt cover.

Apply paint marks on your Cam Shaft Pulley, Crank Shaft and Balance Shaft Pulleys for re-assembly alignment.  Being off one cog on the Camshaft will completely screw up a timing belt replacement.  The Cam Shaft Pulley Sprocket will indicate ‘Up’, the rest of the other pulley’s apply white paint dots to line up with the engine block.

After the pulley tensioner bolt has been removed, remove the spring from the Timing Belt Tensioner Bearing and Balance Shaft Tensioner Bracket/Arm. I removed the side engine mount for easier viewing.

The Timing Belt Tensioner Bearing and the Balance Shaft Tensioner Bearing are connected together on one support shaft. The Balance Shaft Tensioner Bearing is covered by the Tensioner Bracket.

The Power Steering Bracket cannot be removed unless the Alternator Bracket is removed first since the bolt holding the lower part of the Power Steering Bracket is covered by the Alternator Bracket.

Disconnect the O2 sensor leading out of the manifold. Then remove the three bolts securing the heat shield on the manifold.  Detach the manifold from the cylinder head and exhaust down pipe.

Remove the distributor, Air Filter Box to Throttle Body Tube, Upper Radiator Hose, Upper Heater Core to Cylinder Head hose, Throttle cables, Throttle body, Intake Manifold Plenium, fuel connector and various electrical fittings and vacuum hoses.

There are 2 nuts that secures the rail to the injectors. After removing these nuts, begin wiggling and pulling on the rail. Do not pull on the rail on an angle. Try to pull straight out. Either the injector(s) will stay attached to the rail or stay recessed in the cylinder head.  Don't lose the injector O rings.

Remove the bottom mounting bolts secured to the intake manifold.  1 bolt is for the manifold support bracket, the other 2 for switch brackets.  I chose to remove the oil filter to get a better view of what stuff I had to deal below the intake manifold.

The Cylinder Head was sent to an Automotive Machine Shop for testing of cracks, valve condition and warpage. In addition, the Valve Cover, Intake Manifold and Plenium was provided for steam/pressure cleaning. Fortunately, the head was slightly warped which required only .001 milling (shaving) to flatten the matting surface. The cost of the machine shop work came out to less than $100.

The block deck surface must be true (completely flat) and free of any debris before matting the head with the block. Do not use any tool that could scratch the block deck such as sandpaper. Although the RA (Roughness Average) should be around 30 which is almost a mirror finish, the Automotive Machinist stated that whatever the condition of the deck is in now, from the factory, should be good enough; just ensure the surface is oil and debris free. I used a combination of 0000 steel wool and ultra fine polishing compound to clean the block deck.

 Attach the Intake Manifold with the new gasket to the Cylinder Head.  Torque each nut per the manufacturer’s specifications.

Lubricate the TTY head bolt threads with 30 weight oil including the head with the washer.

Remove any oil from both the cylinder head and the engine block deck with acetone or any other non oil containing oil solvent. Chase the bolt hole threads for any obstruction. Blow out any debris in the bolt holes with compressed air. Place the new head gasket on the block. The gasket used was FelPro’s PermaSel MLS.

Insure that the cam shaft position is set to cylinder 1 top dead center. The grove in the camshaft for mounting the camshaft sprocket should be pointing up and both the intake and exhaust rock arms should be loose.

To ease alignment of the Cylinder Head TTY bolt holes with the gasket and engine block holes, place 2 oil free bolts on the back left and right bolt holes corners of the cylinder head. Angled the head on the block aligning the 2 bolts protruding from the head with the holes in the engine block. After the head is mounted, jiggle and twist the TTY bolts to insure they cleared the head gasket. Do this for each of the ten bolt holes. The bolt hole in the back center of the head uses the extra long bolt. After alignment, remove the old bolts and twist in the new bolts hand tightening each bolt with a 14 mm spline socket attached to a ½” extension. The cylinder head may have to be tilted and held forward to offset the weight of the intake manifold.

Torque down each head bolt to 22 lbs using a torque wrench with the manufacturer’s outlined torque sequence.  Place white paint dots on each of the bolt heads before angle torquing each bolt at 90 degrees or 1/4 turn.  Performed this task three times for each head bolt for a total of 270 degrees or ¾ turn.

It may be easier to remove each injector for the fuel rail and inserting them back into the intake manifold one at a time.  A small amount of silicon spray applied to injector O ring will ease the process.  The Injector Rail can then be pressed against all of the injectors.  2 Rail Retaining Nuts can now be screwed on and one rubber tube attached to the intake manifold.

Re-attach the Thermostat housing components, the Oil Pressure Sensing Unit and the EGR Valve.  

Replace any Cooling System related O rings if they appear worn or apply silicon gasket making material on the outer edges to obtain a good seal.  

Mount the Intake Manifold Plenium onto the intake manifold and connect all fittings.  Upon completion, attach the Throttle Body and connect all fittings. 

Install the exhaust manifold with new gaskets.  Then attach the heat shield and torque to specifications.  Attach the O2 sensor electrical connection when completed.

Most new pumps come with a new O ring.  Clean the mounting surfaces and bolt on the new pump finger tight.  Alternate torque on the bolts during installation.

Ensure that the Camshaft and Crankshaft paint marks are in alignment.

1. Install the new Idler Pulleys. Position the Timing Belt Idler Pulley to allow the most slack on the belt during installation.
   
2. Install the new Timing Belt starting from the Crankshaft counter clockwise.
   
3. Move the Camshaft sprocket 1 cog if having difficult slipping on the new belt. Reposition the sprocket after the belt has been installed. Relieve tension from the Pulley Bolt to allow the Belt Tension Spring to remove belt slack.
   
4. After installation of the Timing Belt, temporarily remove the Balance Shaft Pulley to ease installation of the Balance Shaft Belt. Use the alligator clip to hold the left most part of the belt in place; then with both hands, apply tension to the bottom portion of the belt by turning both shafts inwards. The white marks should be in alignment. If not then advance to retard the belt position until they are. At that point, you can mount the tensioner bearing with the bracket and nut.
5. Attach the balance shaft spring to the balance shaft arm and the spring mount protruding from the water pump. Push down slight on the balance shaft bearing and let the spring tension allow the proper tension to be applied to the bearing. Tighten the timing belt nut.
   

After the Timing Belt Covers have been attached, slide the Crank Shaft Pulley onto the Crankshaft. Torque down the Crank Shaft Pulley Bolt per manufacturers specifications or use an impact driver.

After installation, attach either new or existing belts and tension to specifications.