anyone ever changed a timing belt?

i simply would like to know, how hard it is to change the timing belt on a crx. from visually inspecting the thing, it appears to be fine, but i COULD be running with a 15 year-old belt with 242k miles on it. i'm afraid it'll break on me one day and leave me with a screwed-up engine.

from what i've read in my haynes manual, it seems like it's a complicated process, and i'd be better off paying a mechanic to do it.

tell me of your experiences with the timing belt.

bad experiences...lol i always have the dang timing belt off one tooth when i do them for some reason i cant fix that problem with me....maybe somebody say how to have timing dead on but its really easychanging them out like 1 hour process..hard parts getting timing belt tight without making it jump a tooth or two like what happens to me when i do it...somebody have a easier way let me know..as i speak my motor off one tooth...lol

I broke mine and I'll be changing it and whatever else when I take the car out in spring, so this thread can help me too. :)

Change yours as soon as you can. :(

Yes i personally reccomending change your timing belt regularally(sp) my 90 teg, bought, t-belt broke, 95 integra, bought with broke t-belt, 90 civic-snapped t belt and it flew off!

Its not a complicated process for a everyday person thats handy! At least with a single cam you cant get the timing belt off TDC to hard! Id say go for it. Worse comes the worse, someone can finish the job for you, at least you tried and thats what counts!

get a factory service manual, ive never had one off using the method it describes.

Same here. I dont know why its soo hard for people to change timing belts?

for me the hardest part was breaking the crank bolt loose (i'm a skinny little nerd :p)..after that it's pretty straightforward..just make sure you have the right belt and that there's not to much slack..or to tight. Just take you're time and it's really not [that] hard for the average do it yourself mechanic.

timing belt is so easy, ive changed 4 honda timing belts before. really easy. the cam gear and the crank gear have marks on them to get them to TDC. once both are at tdc, the timing belt will go on and it will be all good

as long as u don't free spin the cam gear or crank gear after u get the timing belt off, u'll be A-okay. it's not a recommended way, but another way to do it so u know u have it set just how the old one was when u took it off; take a paint marker and make an aligning mark on the cam gear and timing belt at two places and do the same on the crank gear and timing belt. then take off the belt, set the new one beside it making sure it's in the right direction. pick a starting mark on u'r old belt, and make a matching mark on the new belt. from there count the teeth to the next mark and make a matching mark on the new belt, again to the next, and again to the last, then count the teeth from the last mark to the first mark, making sure it's the right belt. then match up the marks on the gears and let the tensioner pulley do it's job. this way u should avoid putting it on too loose and having a gear turn as the tensioner pulley does its job, or have the belt jump/skip a tooth. but this is only a secondary method to the service manual's recommended way. just do this in conjunction w/ the service manual, and u'll have it dead on no problem.

edit: another thing, make sure u have it as close to TDC as u can BEFORE u take the old belt off. it'll be a lot easier that way, than trying to turn the cam and crank at the same time w/o the belt.