Honda CR/V Update!

Well, the water pump and timing belt have been on the CR/V for several hundred miles, and the work is holding. The bad news is the Check Engine Light (CEL) still flashes. I am assuming it is the same misfire codes from before. So, it's not a timing belt problem. It needed replaced anyways, even though the old one looked good - 180k miles is a lot for any belt. The water pump replacement is just good common sense while the front of the motor is exposed. Oh - the distributor rotor and cap were replaced along with the plugs. The wires aren't very old - so I haven't swapped them out yet, but plan to as a simple $40 assurance that the misfires aren't related to their breakdown.

Perhaps I should have started by checking the valves. After doing more and more reading on the Honda CR-V Owners Club Forum, it appears there is a not so well known fact that the exhaust valves on this particular engine tighten* over time. The Honda owner's manual recommends 105,000 miles for the first adjustment of the valvetrain. Honda later changed this to 30,000 miles, but didn't work very hard to let owners know. If I had to guess, the valves had never been adjusted.

I pulled the valve cover and checked each intake and exhaust with a set of feeler gages. I took the time to check the intakes (.003" to .006") and made only a few minor adjustments. The exhaust is spec'd at .006" to .008". At least two valve clearances were below .001" - - terrible! And several had gone down to .003" to .005". Needless to say, it really needed adjustment.

After I put it all back together, I still have the CEL coming on, but not as often. The car has significantly more power where it should now. With a steady load on the motor, no CEL comes on. If I coast or idle, the CEL will start flashing again. From everything I have read, it sure sounds like the exhaust valves might be damaged. Ugh. Double Ugh. Here comes that cussing again!

Get the right tool for the job!!!!!!!

Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words! This is the old timing belt, doesn't look to bad for 180,000 miles, huh?

I accomplished the removal of the crank pulley bolt with the aid of the RIGHT tool for the job. Nothing like buying a tool I'll probably never need again! But valuable lessons have been learned, and aside from all the cussing, it has been fun to wrench again. Been awhile since I've put the ass of the family car on the line by taking it all apart! The tool you NEED is pictured on the right. I got mine at Napa, one store found one in stock and got it for me. I had to drive in a blizzard to go get it with my son's Dodge Stealth, ohhh, how fun! The next step is to replace the water pump and swap out the old belt. Wish me luck the rest of the way!

the timing belt saga continues...

I got started on the timing belt for the Honda CR/V. I got everything torn apart, valve cover, upper timing cover, engine mount, power steering pump...etc...

I can't get the crankshaft pully bolt to budge. I tried a 1/2" impact ratchet with no luck. Amazingly, the procedure in the Haynes book I have and the Autozone website both say to grab ahold of the pully with a strap wrench to hold in and turn the bolt with a breaker arm. A strap wrench will mess up the harmonic balancer pulley. So obviously imact drivers and strap wrenches aren't the options to try.

So I Googled the situation a bit more, and found the following to be extremely helpful in convincing me I could still get this done on my own. Just not in the time I thought I would.

from The Unofficial Honda / Acura Usenet FAQ

sgtsandman is my hero...from the Honda SUV forum

this tool seemed impressive and inexpensive, from DenLors Tools, but I wouldn't be able to get one in my hands until Thursday morning...time isn't my friend for this particular job.

I kept looking (googling) and found Amazon had this one for about $20, plus another $20 spot to get it here shipped next day. So I have an order placed, and my fingers crossed.

DTV Transition...are you ready???

Well, even if you are ready, it looks like the Obama administration feels you might not be. In a letter to certain members of Congress this past Thursday, John Podesta, co-chairman of Obama's transition team, said the conversion should be delayed.


I've had digital converters connected to my old analog sets for over a year now. I bought 3, two with $40 coupons and the other at full price. I still need two more! The television in the family room is new, so it has an ATSC (think digital broadcast) tuner in it already - - no need for a digital converter. Why did I need any converters in the first place? Because I am too cheap to buy satellite TV service and the cable company can't reach my house with their coax. I suppose you might ask why I don't have something like FiOS...the fiber doesn't run out this far (yet) either.

Why might you need a converter? Personally, I wouldn't put all my eggs in a cable or satellite providers basket. You should have at least one converter, or a newer TV capable of native ATSC signal reception. This is regardless of whether you have cable or not! Why? Well, in the event of a disaster, you might need to watch your local stations. With a converter (or newer TV), you will have the option of at least tuning to local channels if your TV service provider goes down. (assuming you have power too...although converters that run off 12V DC are available - use one with your portable DVD player auxilary inputs and you'll never be without TV!)


The only sane reason I can think of for delaying the transition is because the Department of Commerce has run out of money for the converter box program. You can apply for the $40 coupon still, you will just be put on a waiting list (you'll just be number 1,100,001 on the list since there are 1.1 million on the waiting list already!)


In my humble opinion, the transition needs to go through as planned. A ton of taxpayer dollars have already been spent on the program to the tune of $2,000,000,000! That's right - - TWO BILLION! The car on the left cost taxpayers $350,000, and it got wrecked! Think about it - approximately 20 million households in America need the converters. They cost about $50 each. Our government could have just spent the $2 billion and bought the converters to supply to consumers directly!

I sure hope there is something good, wholesome, and family oriented on TV tonight...yeah right!

pico projectors!

Wow! Talk about cool! I don't think I will be running out to buy one of these "pico projectors" any time soon, but the concept of marrying a small projector to an iPod is just plain nifty. With time, one could expect improvements in projection quality, perhaps rivaling the need for a small LCD in the bedroom. I'm not sure what you can connect to the inputs of the projector aside from the iPod shown in the video. There is minimal information on wowwee's website. We'll have to keep an eye on this one! Thanks to cnet for bringing us this first look from the CES...

2000 Honda CR/V Timing Belt and Water Pump Replacement

I am about to embark on the replacement of the timing belt and water pump for the family Honda CR/V. It seems the check engine light has started to blink...and well...the codes are misfire 1,2,3,4...so timing is off. Seeing that the Honda just turned over 180,000 miles, it is way overdue for the timing belt to be replaced. The water pump will get replaced because you might as well if you are in the neighborhood. The water pump is actually driven off the timing belt for this Honda CR/V. I've picked up the parts from Autozone already, about $50 for the water pump including the o-ring gasket, and the better part of $100 for the timing belt and tensioner (again - I'm replacing the tensioner because I will be in there - might as well).

There's some good information on timing belt change procedures on the internet, Autozone actually has the procedure with nice clear photos and drawings. I know from talking with others and doing a bit of reading that this procedure is a pain in the ass. Tight quarters...metric bolts...and stubborn pulleys. Still, I have about $150 into it in parts, and shouldn't have to rent any tools (reminder...need to borrow Bob's torque wrench and strap wrench...). The Honda Dealer wants $650 and the local mechanic wants $400 plus. So, if all goes well, I should be back in business for another 100,000 miles on the Honda engine and feeling good about saving at least $250! Look for my future post on how the whole experience went down.

Getting the bigger financial picture...maybe

I've always struggled with getting the bigger financial picture of my life. I like data, statistics...you know...numbers! But if you don't use those numbers to your advantage...then you are living without a BUDGET!!! ARGHHH!!! It seems like no matter how many spreadsheets I create with balances for checking, savings, credit cards, income, etc, etc...they end up outdated and don't reflect the flexibility that a budget would need for our family. So...enter a new website I saw on TV during some network morning show. It's called mint.com and seems like a good start towards something. Being web based, we can only hope for more functionality and improvement on what they have today. I gave it a first stab and was only able to enter a few accounts. I ran out of time, and wasn't well prepared with all the account information I would need. So, get that stuff in order and your experience will be better than mine. Once I get comfortable with the site, look for a more in-depth review. For now, if you'd like, try it out and let me know what you think!