Been there done that. Putting the crowbar on your new pulley was risky as you could well have scored the ribs which would have ruined the pulley. Here is what works for me. Working from the top, remove the power steering hose that goes from the pump to the reservoir. A bit messy, but you need that area. I used vise grips to clamp the hose shut. Install the belt so that the slack is on the power steering pulley backside. Then using a 19mm socket on the top "fake" nut on a ratchet or breaker bar with a long pipe on it, slowly push toward the firewall. You will think it never moves, but it will. What happens is that the small shock absorber at the bottom of the tensioner has hydraulic fluid moving thru a small orfice. So just be patient and keeping pushing, meanwhile pulling the belt over the power steering pulley. Works, but really goes slow. Tightening the crank pulley bolt you first go to 47-48 ft lb (not sure). But then have to go 60 degrees which is just one flat of the bolt. Paint the top of the bolt and paint a flat on the pulley inside, move to that mark.
Sir: Your advice was sent from above. I had the same problem a 2005 Honda Odyssey harmonic pulley separated. With help from You-Tube channels, I was able to remove it in less than 15 minutes. Those same channels advised re-installing that belt by utilizing either the top 19mm or bottom 17mm nut head looking device. The top one had become rounded due to I guess various belts being installed over a 17 year period. The bottom one was still in great condition but, one could not get sufficient leverage due to space limitations. I am a pretty strong guy, but I still could not get it to move enough. I decided to purchase a new one at a cost of $167, but after trying to remove that long center bolt with over 70 lbs. of torque, I decided against it because other You Tubers warned me that bolt may break due to it being steel and it’s inserted into aluminum cast where over time the two metals seized together. After two days, I was really at wit’s end and over-night, in my own way I prayed about it. The next morning, bright and early, without searching, low and behold, your video appears. Having nothing to lose, I decided to watch my 8th 9 minute or longer video to see if I could get any tips. Watching your video for the 1st 8 minutes was similar to watching a repeat of a bad movie where things only got worse. However, something inside encourage me to watch until the end. It was then you showed your crow-bar and where you recommended one place it to force that hydraulics pump to close. I was ecstatic because somehow I knew it would work. My crow bar with its curved hook would not fit due to space limitations, so I used a flat 2 bar purchased from HF. I set everything in place, but this time, in less than 3 minutes that belt was installed, as easy as opening a steel door on well grease wheels. Almost no effort. Thank you. 03/11/22
My wife has a 2007 Odyssey that was making the same squeal noise. I thought it was the tensioner assembly that needed to be replaced, but once I had the belt off, and started checking, I found the same issue with my balancer. Pulled on it and outer piece came off in my hand. Not good! Your video provided the info I needed to get this job done. Thank you for your video!!
knocking on wood now. I bet the chirping noise is when the tensioner can no longer make up for the balancer slack belt slips on the small alternator pulley
@@glasser2819 Good theory. I'm not convinced the harmonic balancer pulley is the culprit for the chirping directly, but perhaps indirectly. I'd be curious to know if he just replaced the tensioner if the chirping would've gone away. Thoughts?
Many thanks for the video. I ran into some difficulty that others may appreciate learning about.I tried to change my serpentine belt in early March in Connecticut along with replacing my tensioner (the piston was shot). The outside temp was 10 degrees. After struggling to get the old belt off, the new tensioners swapped out without a hitch. However, when I tried to put the new belt on, I could barely get the new tensioner to move. I purchased the tensioner tool and tried to get the tensioner piston to compress. Instead of compressing the piston, the tool head sheared off the tool. I replaced the tool and it happened again. The tool is cheap, but it was certainly strong enough to work under normal conditions.I thought it might have been too cold and that the piston fluid was nearly frozen, so I waited until it warmed up a bit. That took two weeks.With 50 degree weather the piston compressed without any trouble and the 15 minute job that turned into a 2 week adventure was finally done. Lesson learned.
I am fighting that piston. It will not budge. I am in the garage. Outside temp is around 35 but the inside is probably 40. I believe your suspicion of the cold weather affect the piston compression is what I am fighting.
For whomever this helps in the future. These pistons should be compressed a little at a time to give the hydraulics to dissipate/displace which will allow the piston to compress. Regardless of the outside temp.
@@miami1393 yes, you have to apply continuous force and give it time to compress. When I did mine, I was wondering why it didn't move until I just kept pushing.
I am currently working on my 2008 Honda Odyssey, changing the timing belt , water pump and changing the serpentine belt tensioner. The tensioner shown on this video is exactly like the one on my van. According to the 2007-2008 Honda Service manual volume 1, the initial torque on the crank bolt is 64 N-m, then you place an angle torque wrench ( ~$650 for a CDI 1/2 inch if you have to have one) or a breaker bar and go an additional 60 degrees. After you torque the crank bolt you take a marker and place a vertical line on the bolt head. Then with the breaker bar you turn the bolt an additional 60 degrees. The bolt comes off lefty loosey and tightens to the righty tighty. Belt drive Auto Tensioner: the large bolt that goes through the lower idler should be tightened to 74 N-m and the small bolt to 22 N-m. The manual suggest to clean the larger bolt and add new oil to the threads, I guess you could put some anti-seize compound on the treads also. To loosen the belt the service manual suggests you purchase a YA9317 tool. This is a serpentine tool you can pick up from Advanced Auto for about $27.00 bucks. This tool comes with some sockets and crows feet sockets also, but it did not have the 19 mm I need for my 2008 Odyssey. You place this tool with the appropriate socket on the upper looking bolt just to the lower right of the upper idler on the belt tensioner and push towards the fire wall of the van. This will bleed the air of the shock and will allow you to take off or put on the belt. You could also use a breaker bar but the space is very limited so the serpentine tool is very thin and works well. Be careful with the AC lines in the vicinity of where you will have the tool. (Disclaimer: I am not a certified mechanic nor do I play one on TV but I do know how to read a manual.)
For the 60 degree angle torque, ebay had a tool for $7 to that. I bought one; but had not tried to used on this crank bolt; but I did use it on tire bolt for experimenting and it worked well.
To remove the belt, use a ratchet from the top and put in on the bolt head above the pivot bolt that is made on the tensioner. push toward the firewall and slip belt off PS pulley. No need to loosen the pivot bolt. Reverse to reinstall, but always push toward the firewall.
@@RoddyJ2k10 You talking about the idler pulley being loose? If thats the case, the idler pulley probably needs to be replaced. There is a torsion spring in it that holds tension on the belt.
A trick for getting that crankshaft bolt loose is to take a 1/2 inch breaker bar, a short 19mm impact socket, and brace the breaker bar against the lower control arm, taking all the slack out. Then just bump the engine over with the starter with a very brief turn of the ignition key, not starting the engine. Works like a dream. Just had to do that old trick today on my son's 2004 Acura MDX. Same engine. Lot's easier than that tool and pipe extensions on the breaker bar. That bolt is super tight and an impact gun usually won't do it.
Thanks for the video. To all of those commenting on using the welded bolts to loosen the tensioner, I respectfully say ...Hah! That might work on a new vehicle, but once they have 100,000 plus miles on them, those upper and lower welded bolts just sheer off. In fact, I've encountered a few that have broken off using brand new replacement tensioners too. This truly is a poor manufacturers design. I've been working on all kinds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and boats since 1973 and this belt tensioner is on my top 10 worst list. I'm betting that "Jo Daddy" has also run into this frustration. Maybe using the harmonic balancer might not be the best thing to use to pry against, but if you've been the victim of breaking off those bolts when simply trying to replace a drive belt and then replacing the entire tension unit with a new one and then breaking both of them off all over again when putting the belt back on, then you might have a different opinion on the best way to approach this. I've had to use a three-foot crowbar wedged in between the tensioner and the engine with the handle placed behind the rotor in order to get the serpentine belt in place. Sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do when you don't have another set of hands around to help you... And sometimes you still need to do this on these vans even if you do have a spare set of hands around to help you. The high tension on the belts is needed on these 3.5 VCM engines because the vibration from running on 3 cylinders is ridiculous. That is probably what wiped out this engines Harmonic balancer too. I recommend using something like the VCM tuner or VCM Muzzler or any of those devices that keep the Variable Cylinder Management system from kicking in because honestly, it isn't doing any good for the life of these engines. I've installed one of these VCM arrestors on my personal Odyssey and my gas mileage actually went up. No more fouled plugs. No more burning Oil. No more converter locking up at strange times. No more vibrations from the engine. The 3.5 Honda engine feels like it should feel. Nice power curve even in a minivan. I hope that my humble opinion helps somebody else.
thank you Frank for your precious inputs. Let me swap some of my nuggets that helped restore a smooth TLV6 around 130kMi: 1- forget the skinny Iridium plugs and instead use double platinum plugs for better ignitability ie. less misfires and superbe low-rpm torque to drive around town! 2- lift your intake runner cover and clean the dirty IMRC butterfly. Make sure it has NO freeplay around its closed point. 3- consider checking your 24 valves lifter gaps because they wear in and therefore get tighter... meaning valves will leak compression and burn! 4- Dont overlook brake service to keep wheels spinning freely with 4 caliper slides silicon lubed and flushed out to keep rear pistons rust from chewing seals. 5- Tranny likes clean and fresh Honda ATF to maintain correct viscosity. 6- everyone knows a thing or two about a thing or two 🤗
Wow, this was a great video. Couldn't have been more educational and instructive. Being my age at 64 & not a whole lot of tools, I'll have to take my 2009 Odyssey in for service. Thank you very much.
Had exactly the same thing go on the way back from Scotland a couple of trips ago, the belt ended up snapping about 20 miles over the border, the garage replaced the lot as it was under warranty, but now I have seen this vid, think I would be happy to now have a stab at it myself.. great tutorial fella. appreciated.
Thank you for posting this video. I have a 2006 Honda Odyssey, it's been making that seems squeaking noise for the past six months. The check engine light has been coming on periodically. A neighbor with a computer reset it after it said it had misfire codes. The squeaking is getting worse and it's sounding like more of a grinding now. Also, the check engine light flashed last night when I fired it up. My better half and I moved to the Las Vegas area about eight months ago. We don't know anybody out here and we're not familiar with any shops that are reputable. I really fear taking it to a random mechanic, I'm worried I'm going to get taken for a ride. Your video gives me hope that it's not going to cost me too much to have somebody fix it. Thanks again!
I found this looking for info on the tension pulleys, stopped watching yours as you started with the harmonic balancer, thinking- I won't need to do that, then my balancer pulley fell off and hit the pavement.... great video, many thanks
what year and mileage do you have to loose the balancer?? (I have 140kMi on '04TL: just replaced steering pump supply side O-ring and the hardened supply hose when I noticed the belt noise upon steering or running the AC...
@@glasser2819 ours is an 03, 198k miles. It was struck by lightning- arced from a tree it was parked next to. It's been having issues about a year after since. Insurance was generous and helpful when we filed the claim, they replaced several boards, and gave us $$ the the body work of the shrapnel bark that exploded off the tree. The belt slipped off, it rolled into a parking lot. I did my work there, so no Jack stands etc. I put the belt back on, slipped off, put it back ok on, slipped off. Then decided to get a new belt from Autozone. That slipped off 2 or 3 times. Then I watched your video again fully through. I put the belt back on, started it up, the belt slipped off and then thud, the pulley separated from the balancer. I checked online avg price for replacing the balancer and parts stores availability, then called my mechanic, he soft quoted a $200 figure, so I towed it in. Ended up being $400, but he's saved us $$$ in the past for our multiple vehicles. He may have done the tension pulleys also- the wife picked it up, so I haven't seen the invoice. No previous noise from the belt, which led me to think it was just the belt, then the tension pulleys, then the balancer. I'm used to working on older American cars (tons of compartment room) and my Toyota Tundra... so after many many scrapes and gashes working on the Odessey, in parking lot, in 102°, and watching you having pulled off your wheel and wheel well parts to get the engine, I opted to let someone else fix it.
My mechanic mentioned the 180ftlbs of tork also, said it'd be pretty tough to get that without access and the right tools. I thought you using the Jack to get more tork on the lever arm was great, but that was when I made the decision, with a frustrated wife watching me front the air conditioned Tundra to add someone else to the formula.
Great job! I just changed my balancer and chirping tensioner. To make it simple, I just put the breaker bar and socket on the balancer bolt (without the special tool) and cranked the engine just a bit and let the torque or the starter loosen the bolt.
I have similar chirping noise coming from my 2006 Honda Odyssey as well, but my vehicle already has a new tensioner I put on less than 20K ago. The thing that bother me most is that this chirping noise is louder and constant when the engine started unlike the original tensioner which only chirped when it first started but went away in a couple minutes. The only reason I changed the original tensioner is because of the minor chirp, but now it is much worse with the new one! Unfortunately, the aftermarket tensioner was bad, and worse the fake nuts were no good, I stripped them both trying to take it off the belt to change it again. It seems to me that the lower nut has better torque to compress the tensioner shock than the upper but it is much more difficult to get the leverage at the bottom. So I ended up using the prybar to compress the tensioner shock to release the belt tension to replace the tensioner again with a new belt. I can live with minor chirp from the original tensioner but I simply cannot stand the new tensioner persistent chirping. In this case, it is a good thing that he found the balancer nearly separated, but I don't think the balancer was separate yet, otherwise, there wasn't much torque on the belt to drive the rest of the accessories on the engine. He missed the opportunity to change out the timing belt when he changed out the balancer, that was the hardest part of the timing belt change, given the car has over 200K, it is due anyway. For my case, I had the very same set up he has to break loose that crankcase bolt, 5 ft extension pipe and a 15" 1/2" breaker bar and 155lbs. of torque and it made a horrible bang noise that I thought I broke the damned bolt. I can also attest that the 400ft lb. torque from the impact wrench does nothing to brake this bolt. I believe that the torque spec on that bolt is 181ft. lb. or 47ft lb. plus 60 degree turn (1/6 of a turn). I followed the latter, because I don't have a torque ratchet better than 150ft lb.
Good video, I've done some work on both my 05 & 03 Honda Odyssey's and man what a pain at times. I had to use the crowbar techniques since the bolts for releasing tension had been striped on both.
The bolt head between the pulley bolt and the hydraulic tensioner bolt that is on the aluminum bracket is the head that you use to compress the hydraulic tensioner. You might not have had a long enough breaker bar to get enough leverage on it. You would not want to use the crank pulley as a leverage point with a crow bar. Excellent video! I am not impressed at all with Honda's design. Quite difficult - and expensive - to do simple maintenance like this. Thanks!
I just replaced one of these belt tensioner assemblies on a 2007 Odyssey. Here's what I learned: On 2007, the tensioner is DIFFERENT if the trim level is TOURING. The auto parts store online catalog shows a different tensioner for non-Touring Odysseys. I needed the one in the video. The problem with this particular vehicle was a growling noise from the accessory drive (it sounded very much like a noisy power steering pump).
10:50 is where to watch if y'all just need to move the tensioner & get a belt on. Thanks for showing that part because nobody else does and I've seen dozens of trash videos on this subject.
First, really appreciate that you do not include obscenities in your videos as it lets me watch them around my 9 year old. Second, this is an awful design and am gravely disappointed with our 143,000 mile Honda Odyssey (2007). It makes me wish I had grabbed the Volvo 240 station wagon that was for sale nearby a couple of years ago. I could have replaced all of its belts twice in the time it has taken me to fight with the head end of this engine already. Third, what started as a Power Steering pump replacement job may have become a serpentine belt tensioner job as well. I have completely stripped the lower bolt head on the idler pulley bracket in trying to free up the serpentine belt. Next, I will try the upper bolt head on the idler pulley bracket. If that strips also, I'm going to try the prybar against the crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer to compress the serpentine belt tensioner. I hope not to damage the pulley/balancer in the process. If I do, this is going to my favorite independent mechanic. Next job is to replace some, but not all of the transmission fluid as I don't want to detonate that other Odyssey land mine. BTW, the dark blue paint is peeling off in small sheets, especially if driving in the rain. Disappointed.
@@thekingofgoogle1404 My personal experience from owning about 30 cars and trucks is that quality tends to vary within brands. While Ford was churning out very reliable pickup trucks in the late 90's, we bought a new, Windstar minivan. The quality was a mess, but it was the first model year of the redesign (1999 IIRC). We also had a 1991 Honda Accord that ran and ran with almost no problems, except the terrible, chalking, fading paint. In the opposite of the Ford example, early 00's Honda sedans were very well made, but Honda minivans, Ridgeline pickups, and Pilot SUVs had major transmission problems as they all shared them, being produced in the same factory also. Data indicates modern Honda sedans are reliable, but Honda has had chronic paint problems, especially with white and dark colours. Make sure you garage, wash, and care for their paint. The Car Wizard channel provides a lot of great To Buy and What Not to Buy recommendation videos.
Just an acute eve to detail & helpful specific info, from lighting, to the necessary views & angles. You made an awesome & extremely helpful & educating video! Well done, thank you!
Lol, @ 7:45 it never fails. You're in there taking care of a specific task when you start to assemble everything back on and then it happens. You notice something else need repairing.... Classic!
good video, probably no need to replace all the parts you did...Depending how old were your belts, but that is a good preventive maintenance, might be as well to do your timing belt at 200k. As someone said before, those nuts soldered to the tensioner are to move it so you can release the belts, from up or down the car. Good thinking in removing the whole tensioner component that way you could have replaced only the balancer... thanks for sharing
My wife's van had this same noise, I took off the belt to see which pulley it was. It's hard to tell which one of the two is making the noise but I'm just going to replace the whole thing. after removing the belt it was not that hard of a job if you approach it from the wheel well.
FYI. Instead of Prying against the Pulley to compress the Shock on the tensioner. Next time use a socket on that Bolt Head. That's used for removing and replacing the serpent belt. Otherwise thanks nice video.
@@Tahimate takes A LOT of force to move the tensioner. There are two fake bolts you could use. Try both. I also had some luck going at it from the top to adjust the belt on.
@@Tahimate Just replying to future viewers - the way the hydraulic shocks work is they gradually loosen as you apply steady pressure, so don't attempt to "break it loose" like a normal bolt, instead apply alot of force but hold it steady and you will gradually see the slack open up.
real helpful man thxs just replaced the alternator on my 05 and let me tell u take it to a garage for that had to take the hole front end off and pull back the radiators just to barely get it out but thxs man this really helps me out
Have the same issue: It isn't the damper. Mine sounds exactly the same with a damper change (which was needed). Be ready for your oil filter adapter housing to start leaking oil. All of those parts failed within months of each other for me (for those coming up to these issues).
Just did mine on a 2004 2.4 this morning, I simply put a spanner on the power steering pump pully and , with the belt in place on the rest of the pulleys, wound it on. I couldn't get a spanner on the tensioner pulley bolt FYI. If it's chirping, it's the tensioner. Mine was at 275K km.
Those bolts that are welded on the tensioner are were you put a wrench to compress the hydolic piston. I would never pryed on the balancer. Good infomation though thanks
Gave up on putting the serpentine belt back on the 2006 honda odyssey so I took the vehicle to a mechanic and had them put it on. For future reference if I should ever win the Lottery and its a large amount of money I will fly the vehicle back to Japan and try to drop it on the guy who thought of the idea of putting an engine in an Odyssey sideways. ( just kidding)
Ummm that's how all front wheel drive vehicles are. Motor sideways towards the drive wheels.... It's the only way. Otherwise everything would be rear wheel drive and you'd complain about not having better control of your vehicle...
i used to work on 96 Mazda MPV minivan with V6 engine, it was not sideway, it was so nice to work with the crankpulley facing forward at the head of the minivan.
Thanks! I have some noise coming from this at 2200 rpm and sounds like a wheel has a bad bearing and it is rattling a little bit. Another thing I'm adding to the parts list!
Ya, enjoyed the video , but there is a special socket (Heavy duty) that will remove the Harmonic balancer bolt easily with a good impact wrench. No need for all that apparatus you had to put together. You dont need the special socket wrench to remove the bolt , only to reinstall it. Also the torque on that bolt is 181 ft/lbs , not 43 or 47 , whatever O'Riellys quoted you. Hopefully you got it torqued back properly. Thanks for the vodeo.
going through the same thing with my van. Decided to redo the tensioner, power steering pump and balancer . had to bust off the balancer bolt by using the long breaker bar with 19 mm socket and starting the engine three times. this was after my impact wrench with 700lbs torque couldn't bust it off. Royal pain in the butt. great van otherwise .
Compressing that piston would have been a little easier if you had a buddy to help you out. I have an 08 V6 accord and the belt and pulleys are identical. Service manual says if you hook a socket (in my case a 19mm) to the fixed bolt head between the idler pulleys, that's the proper place to swing that arm. You did a little more work that you needed to, but it was only you and you did what you had to do. And yeah the torque spec on that crank pulley isn't as much as one would think. Mine is only 37lb-ft. Great video, I saved it to my favorites for future reference.
I have 2006 Honda Odyssey 2006 LX. The same noise is coming from my car when I start it in the wet weather, especially when it is rain. But it goes away after few minutes.
Relieve the tension from the bolt on top and do it on top not under engine .push forward gently and you feel the shock tension go away and belt will get loose.but good job and nice video.
This tensioner has to be removed when replacing the timing belt. The tensioner pivot bolt has a bad habit of breaking off flush with the block. A HF reversible angle drill and LH drill bits lets you back it out. If you just need the bolt, I sell them on Ebay.
I just started watching your vid because s buddy of mine pulled in my drive way with a2010 Honda Odyssey 3.5 and his belt was walking off the top pully . I've never seen a car or truck with out a belt tensioner loosener weather out be a socket or just the wrench to losing it I started watching your vid and I was like thank you in not the only one this belt pulley assemble is bull shit made to bring back to dealer crap
I had this issue with my 07 Pilot and found the entire assembly was cracked, which caused the belt to keep jumping off. My harmonic balancer had also rotted away.
I'm not convinced the harmonic balancer pulley is the culprit for the chirping directly, but perhaps indirectly. I'd be curious to know if you just replaced the tensioner if the chirping would've gone away. Thoughts?
On my 2007 Odyssey the serpentine belt suddenly became very loose. I found that the harmonic balancer part of the crankshaft pulley had actually GONE, No squeaking or warning. Just the center of the pullet was left, no grooves. My wife said that "there was a bang" and immediately the power steering got heavy and ignition lights came on. No new belt or tensioner required! Very unusual !!!
Two pieces of absolutely critical info: 1: People will have an inclination, when confronted with the basic harbor freight serpentine belt tool, to use a 12 point socket in order to get around the very limited throw you'll get with most of the 3/8th stud mounting points (there are only four) but this is a major mistake. The fake 19mm bolt on the serpentine Tensioner is made of cast aluminum and you absolutely need to keep all of your pressure on the flats. Do not use 12 point sockets on this, only six point ones!!! 2: The tensioner's hydraulic piston needs to be primed become pliant and get past the air that sits within it at it's resting state. You're supposed to put good forward tension on it three times before putting hard pressure on it to release the belt. Not knowing these two procedures is probably what causes most stripped 19mm bolts on this tensioner.
Well, actually, you can buy the pulleys seperate and (1) not spend the money on the whole assembly (2) not have to go through the hassle of taking the assembly on and off when you can just bolt a new pulley to the assembly ( for the tensioner pulley). Tensioner pulley part number=Dayco 89007.I bought it for $22. The Idler pulley=Dayco 89059. You can buy them seperately at auto zone
Can you link to these parts I would expect you should be able to get the physical bearing inside if we knew the size which would be the diameter,width and inside diameter. They just press in.
Thanks for the video. Just like the usual song and dance. I changed my alternator a week ago and here comes the chirps. So I went to change the belt. But my welded on bolt that I use to compress the tensioner stripped. So I can’t turn it. So I am just going to replace the whole assembly. The car has a lot of miles so why not since my hands are already dirty. Another tip I got from another forum. Was to use the OEM bolts because aftermarket bolts may snap What was the torque specs on the bolts if you remember
Well done production and I appreciate the information. Have the same chirp and suspect it's the idler or tensioner pulley. I plan to dig into into it tomorrow. I hope to just replace the pulleys and will reply back as to how that went. Quick question, are either the pulley bolt (that also bolts down the tensioner assembly) or the balancer nut reverse thread. I am 99% sure they are not but with bolts that are difficult to break loose it's good to be 100% sure. I've had to pull the serp belt a couple of times on my wife's 07 and it's a pain. I tried rotating the tensioner via the "nuts" and there was no way that would work. I ended up using a crowbar like you did (I actually used a ratchet strap tied to a member about mid vehicle on the right passenger side which allowed me to slowly pull the crowbar back and then, when far enough stop, leaving it compressed, and put the belt on, then release. I didn't even pull the wheel off) Again, thanks for taking the time to create this and pass it along. Good stuff!
My wife's 2010 Ody Touring sheared the tensioner bolt off 5 hours and 300 miles from home and she had a local mechanic replace the bolt for $480. He said he couldn't get his angle drill into position to drill out the broken end so he removed the alternator, AC compressor, and the bracket in order to drill it out. Research on the Ody forum indicates that this bolt shearing off is a common problem if you do not follow the Honda prescribed procedure of slowly and completely compressing the hydraulic tension link four times before slipping the serpentine belt back on and if that procedure is not done the bolt will shear off again in a week or two. So...have you had any more problems since using the methods shown in this video? If not, how many miles has it gone since the tensioner was changed? I am concerned that my wife may be driving around in a ticking tensioner time bomb if Charlie the mechanic did not know to use the Honda procedure.
Nice Video. I really need your advice on my 2007 Honda Odyssey . 2 months ago, I was at a stop sign, suddenly the van was making the high pitch sound then smoked and the steering wheel was heavy and "BOOM" the balancer and a pulley fell off the engine hood. Van was towed to Firestone, They replaced the parts and the belt. Then 1 month ago, I was sitting in the van while it was on parking gear. " Boom" the pulley which just replaced from Firestone, fell off from the engine again, I noticed the bearing was broke in half. Van was towed again. They replaced the parts in the warranty. Now the AC kicks in and off...the the freon is good...I don't know what is going on here. I m scared to drive it when my kids are with me. The van is 92000 thousand miles now. What's going to happen if the parts fall off the engine while I m driving 60 miles an hour? Should I sell this van? Is it worthy to keep driving? I really appreciate your advice. Thank you so much
Wow. That is definitely a scary situation. Have you researched this happening on other vans? Contacted Honda? While I can't really give perfect advice in this situation, I will say peace of mind is valuable. If you're uncomfortable driving it, sell it and find another vehicle.
I am replacing the ractory alternator on my 08 odyssey with 314,000 miles on it. Someone at some point rounded off the tensioner bolt that allows you to take the belt off so i had to unbolt the tensioner piston to take the pressure off of the belt. I was worried how i was going to depress the piston on the tensioner to line it back up with the hole to put the bolt back through, i figured i would have to use a bar to depress it then i seen your video and seen that's what you did. Looks like it worked. When i bought this van the cover on the engine was missing so i figured someone had worked on it at one time hoping they had replaced the timing belt but since the alternator says Honda on it that makes me wonder if anything has ever been fixed on it.
I know you did this in june but I have fought with this harmonic balancer bolt on my accord several times. and there are several things that help,heat up the bolt head and use as short an extention as possable to twisting of the extentions I have seen mechanics use a super thick heave wall socketcustom made for this bolt.
Do you remember or have access to the torque settings for the two bolts holding on the pulley tensioner? Replaced the alternator and reinstalled pulley tensioner but having trouble finding those torque settings and is having a little trouble idling under load now. Hoping I just have something a hair too loose or tight rather than a bad alternator.
I would have used a 19mm socket to compress the tensioner assembly, remove the accessory belt, release tension, and THEN work on the car. It seems to me that the way you did it is dangerous.
Great and informative video. Thank you. You mentioned the van has 200.000 miles on it. Is it original transmission? I have an 08 with about 80,000 miles and want to see how long these (great) vans can last. I got it new and maintain it well (regular synth oil changes, tranny fluid change (Honda) every 10k miles (fill and drain) etc. Is your transmission original?
those "bolt heads" that are on the tensioner are, are for doing what you did by putting the prybar against the crack pulley...you put a wrench on itand twist, and the assembly turns and compresses the spirng/cylinder
I got an accord and that vvt keeps leaking on the alternator and i replaced last year and it went out again well anyways i striped the fake bolt to grab the tensior and im gonna use your way of leaving loose but im wondering how you were able to hold tension and tighten the bolts without striping them in the block
Can you put the tensioner in two different ways.When I went to put the serpentine on I had 2 torque the tensioner really hard.I got the 40 belt on but after that sheered off the tensioner bolt. Luckily the bolt came out easily so I replaced the tensioner assembly and got a bigger belt.
Tool wasn't needed. Just the breaker bar and a 19 mm socket. Brace it in place and crank the engine for 1 second in spurts and that will break it loose.
Been there done that. Putting the crowbar on your new pulley was risky as you could well have scored the ribs which would have ruined the pulley. Here is what works for me. Working from the top, remove the power steering hose that goes from the pump to the reservoir. A bit messy, but you need that area. I used vise grips to clamp the hose shut. Install the belt so that the slack is on the power steering pulley backside. Then using a 19mm socket on the top "fake" nut on a ratchet or breaker bar with a long pipe on it, slowly push toward the firewall. You will think it never moves, but it will. What happens is that the small shock absorber at the bottom of the tensioner has hydraulic fluid moving thru a small orfice. So just be patient and keeping pushing, meanwhile pulling the belt over the power steering pulley. Works, but really goes slow. Tightening the crank pulley bolt you first go to 47-48 ft lb (not sure). But then have to go 60 degrees which is just one flat of the bolt. Paint the top of the bolt and paint a flat on the pulley inside, move to that mark.
Thanks
Sir: Your advice was sent from above. I had the same problem a 2005 Honda Odyssey harmonic pulley separated. With help from You-Tube channels, I was able to remove it in less than 15 minutes. Those same channels advised re-installing that belt by utilizing either the top 19mm or bottom 17mm nut head looking device. The top one had become rounded due to I guess various belts being installed over a 17 year period. The bottom one was still in great condition but, one could not get sufficient leverage due to space limitations. I am a pretty strong guy, but I still could not get it to move enough. I decided to purchase a new one at a cost of $167, but after trying to remove that long center bolt with over 70 lbs. of torque, I decided against it because other You Tubers warned me that bolt may break due to it being steel and it’s inserted into aluminum cast where over time the two metals seized together. After two days, I was really at wit’s end and over-night, in my own way I prayed about it. The next morning, bright and early, without searching, low and behold, your video appears. Having nothing to lose, I decided to watch my 8th 9 minute or longer video to see if I could get any tips. Watching your video for the 1st 8 minutes was similar to watching a repeat of a bad movie where things only got worse. However, something inside encourage me to watch until the end. It was then you showed your crow-bar and where you recommended one place it to force that hydraulics pump to close. I was ecstatic because somehow I knew it would work. My crow bar with its curved hook would not fit due to space limitations, so I used a flat 2 bar purchased from HF. I set everything in place, but this time, in less than 3 minutes that belt was installed, as easy as opening a steel door on well grease wheels. Almost no effort. Thank you. 03/11/22
My wife has a 2007 Odyssey that was making the same squeal noise. I thought it was the tensioner assembly that needed to be replaced, but once I had the belt off, and started checking, I found the same issue with my balancer. Pulled on it and outer piece came off in my hand. Not good! Your video provided the info I needed to get this job done. Thank you for your video!!
knocking on wood now.
I bet the chirping noise is when the tensioner can no longer make up for the balancer slack belt slips on the small alternator pulley
@@glasser2819 Good theory. I'm not convinced the harmonic balancer pulley is the culprit for the chirping directly, but perhaps indirectly. I'd be curious to know if he just replaced the tensioner if the chirping would've gone away. Thoughts?
Many thanks for the video. I ran into some difficulty that others may appreciate learning about.I tried to change my serpentine belt in early March in Connecticut along with replacing my tensioner (the piston was shot). The outside temp was 10 degrees. After struggling to get the old belt off, the new tensioners swapped out without a hitch. However, when I tried to put the new belt on, I could barely get the new tensioner to move. I purchased the tensioner tool and tried to get the tensioner piston to compress. Instead of compressing the piston, the tool head sheared off the tool. I replaced the tool and it happened again. The tool is cheap, but it was certainly strong enough to work under normal conditions.I thought it might have been too cold and that the piston fluid was nearly frozen, so I waited until it warmed up a bit. That took two weeks.With 50 degree weather the piston compressed without any trouble and the 15 minute job that turned into a 2 week adventure was finally done. Lesson learned.
would it have helped if you warmed up the car before and drive it and then do this?
I am fighting that piston. It will not budge. I am in the garage. Outside temp is around 35 but the inside is probably 40. I believe your suspicion of the cold weather affect the piston compression is what I am fighting.
For whomever this helps in the future. These pistons should be compressed a little at a time to give the hydraulics to dissipate/displace which will allow the piston to compress. Regardless of the outside temp.
@@miami1393 yes, you have to apply continuous force and give it time to compress. When I did mine, I was wondering why it didn't move until I just kept pushing.
I am currently working on my 2008 Honda Odyssey, changing the timing belt , water pump and changing the serpentine belt tensioner. The tensioner shown on this video is exactly like the one on my van. According to the 2007-2008 Honda Service manual volume 1, the initial torque on the crank bolt is 64 N-m, then you place an angle torque wrench ( ~$650 for a CDI 1/2 inch if you have to have one) or a breaker bar and go an additional 60 degrees. After you torque the crank bolt you take a marker and place a vertical line on the bolt head. Then with the breaker bar you turn the bolt an additional 60 degrees. The bolt comes off lefty loosey and tightens to the righty tighty.
Belt drive Auto Tensioner: the large bolt that goes through the lower idler should be tightened to 74 N-m and the small bolt to 22 N-m. The manual suggest to clean the larger bolt and add new oil to the threads, I guess you could put some anti-seize compound on the treads also.
To loosen the belt the service manual suggests you purchase a YA9317 tool. This is a serpentine tool you can pick up from Advanced Auto for about $27.00 bucks. This tool comes with some sockets and crows feet sockets also, but it did not have the 19 mm I need for my 2008 Odyssey. You place this tool with the appropriate socket on the upper looking bolt just to the lower right of the upper idler on the belt tensioner and push towards the fire wall of the van. This will bleed the air of the shock and will allow you to take off or put on the belt. You could also use a breaker bar but the space is very limited so the serpentine tool is very thin and works well. Be careful with the AC lines in the vicinity of where you will have the tool. (Disclaimer: I am not a certified mechanic nor do I play one on TV but I do know how to read a manual.)
Hector Guerra Good information. Thanks for sharing.
For the 60 degree angle torque, ebay had a tool for $7 to that. I bought one; but had not tried to used on this crank bolt; but I did use it on tire bolt for experimenting and it worked well.
Hector Guerra
Would you mind If I copied and pasted your comment giving you credit so people don't have to scroll so far to see it?
To remove the belt, use a ratchet from the top and put in on the bolt head above the pivot bolt that is made on the tensioner. push toward the firewall and slip belt off PS pulley. No need to loosen the pivot bolt. Reverse to reinstall, but always push toward the firewall.
What if the pulleys are loos what do I do then?
@@RoddyJ2k10 You talking about the idler pulley being loose? If thats the case, the idler pulley probably needs to be replaced. There is a torsion spring in it that holds tension on the belt.
A trick for getting that crankshaft bolt loose is to take a 1/2 inch breaker bar, a short 19mm impact socket, and brace the breaker bar against the lower control arm, taking all the slack out. Then just bump the engine over with the starter with a very brief turn of the ignition key, not starting the engine. Works like a dream. Just had to do that old trick today on my son's 2004 Acura MDX. Same engine. Lot's easier than that tool and pipe extensions on the breaker bar. That bolt is super tight and an impact gun usually won't do it.
gotta get a weighted socket it works great
Kudo's. That was one of the best how to's I have ever watched. All the important points with no useless info. Great job!
Thanks for the video. To all of those commenting on using the welded bolts to loosen the tensioner, I respectfully say ...Hah! That might work on a new vehicle, but once they have 100,000 plus miles on them, those upper and lower welded bolts just sheer off. In fact, I've encountered a few that have broken off using brand new replacement tensioners too. This truly is a poor manufacturers design. I've been working on all kinds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and boats since 1973 and this belt tensioner is on my top 10 worst list. I'm betting that "Jo Daddy" has also run into this frustration. Maybe using the harmonic balancer might not be the best thing to use to pry against, but if you've been the victim of breaking off those bolts when simply trying to replace a drive belt and then replacing the entire tension unit with a new one and then breaking both of them off all over again when putting the belt back on, then you might have a different opinion on the best way to approach this. I've had to use a three-foot crowbar wedged in between the tensioner and the engine with the handle placed behind the rotor in order to get the serpentine belt in place. Sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do when you don't have another set of hands around to help you... And sometimes you still need to do this on these vans even if you do have a spare set of hands around to help you. The high tension on the belts is needed on these 3.5 VCM engines because the vibration from running on 3 cylinders is ridiculous. That is probably what wiped out this engines Harmonic balancer too. I recommend using something like the VCM tuner or VCM Muzzler or any of those devices that keep the Variable Cylinder Management system from kicking in because honestly, it isn't doing any good for the life of these engines. I've installed one of these VCM arrestors on my personal Odyssey and my gas mileage actually went up. No more fouled plugs. No more burning Oil. No more converter locking up at strange times. No more vibrations from the engine. The 3.5 Honda engine feels like it should feel. Nice power curve even in a minivan. I hope that my humble opinion helps somebody else.
thank you Frank for your precious inputs.
Let me swap some of my nuggets that helped restore a smooth TLV6 around 130kMi:
1- forget the skinny Iridium plugs and instead use double platinum plugs for better ignitability ie. less misfires and superbe low-rpm torque to drive around town!
2- lift your intake runner cover and clean the dirty IMRC butterfly. Make sure it has NO freeplay around its closed point.
3- consider checking your 24 valves lifter gaps because they wear in and therefore get tighter... meaning valves will leak compression and burn!
4- Dont overlook brake service to keep wheels spinning freely with 4 caliper slides silicon lubed and flushed out to keep rear pistons rust from chewing seals.
5- Tranny likes clean and fresh Honda ATF to maintain correct viscosity.
6- everyone knows a thing or two about a thing or two 🤗
Lisle makes a socket to use on your Impact that will make removing that crank bolt a lot easier. Lisle 77080 19 mm Harmonic Balancer Socket
Wow, this was a great video. Couldn't have been more educational and instructive. Being my age at 64 & not a whole lot of tools, I'll have to take my 2009 Odyssey in for service. Thank you very much.
Had exactly the same thing go on the way back from Scotland a couple of trips ago, the belt ended up snapping about 20 miles over the border, the garage replaced the lot as it was under warranty, but now I have seen this vid, think I would be happy to now have a stab at it myself.. great tutorial fella. appreciated.
Thank you for posting this video.
I have a 2006 Honda Odyssey, it's been making that seems squeaking noise for the past six months. The check engine light has been coming on periodically. A neighbor with a computer reset it after it said it had misfire codes. The squeaking is getting worse and it's sounding like more of a grinding now. Also, the check engine light flashed last night when I fired it up.
My better half and I moved to the Las Vegas area about eight months ago. We don't know anybody out here and we're not familiar with any shops that are reputable. I really fear taking it to a random mechanic, I'm worried I'm going to get taken for a ride. Your video gives me hope that it's not going to cost me too much to have somebody fix it.
Thanks again!
the "misfires" are reported by the computer when it identifies abnormal rpm variations in fact not misfires but loose balancer/belt .
Gearing up for this job on my wife’s van. Thanks for all the info!
I found this looking for info on the tension pulleys, stopped watching yours as you started with the harmonic balancer, thinking- I won't need to do that, then my balancer pulley fell off and hit the pavement.... great video, many thanks
what year and mileage do you have to loose the balancer??
(I have 140kMi on '04TL: just replaced steering pump supply side O-ring and the hardened supply hose when I noticed the belt noise upon steering or running the AC...
@@glasser2819 ours is an 03, 198k miles.
It was struck by lightning- arced from a tree it was parked next to. It's been having issues about a year after since. Insurance was generous and helpful when we filed the claim, they replaced several boards, and gave us $$ the the body work of the shrapnel bark that exploded off the tree.
The belt slipped off, it rolled into a parking lot. I did my work there, so no Jack stands etc. I put the belt back on, slipped off, put it back ok on, slipped off. Then decided to get a new belt from Autozone. That slipped off 2 or 3 times. Then I watched your video again fully through. I put the belt back on, started it up, the belt slipped off and then thud, the pulley separated from the balancer.
I checked online avg price for replacing the balancer and parts stores availability, then called my mechanic, he soft quoted a $200 figure, so I towed it in. Ended up being $400, but he's saved us $$$ in the past for our multiple vehicles. He may have done the tension pulleys also- the wife picked it up, so I haven't seen the invoice.
No previous noise from the belt, which led me to think it was just the belt, then the tension pulleys, then the balancer.
I'm used to working on older American cars (tons of compartment room) and my Toyota Tundra... so after many many scrapes and gashes working on the Odessey, in parking lot, in 102°, and watching you having pulled off your wheel and wheel well parts to get the engine, I opted to let someone else fix it.
My mechanic mentioned the 180ftlbs of tork also, said it'd be pretty tough to get that without access and the right tools. I thought you using the Jack to get more tork on the lever arm was great, but that was when I made the decision, with a frustrated wife watching me front the air conditioned Tundra to add someone else to the formula.
Great job! I just changed my balancer and chirping tensioner.
To make it simple, I just put the breaker bar and socket on the balancer bolt (without the special tool) and cranked the engine just a bit and let the torque or the starter loosen the bolt.
I have similar chirping noise coming from my 2006 Honda Odyssey as well, but my vehicle already has a new tensioner I put on less than 20K ago. The thing that bother me most is that this chirping noise is louder and constant when the engine started unlike the original tensioner which only chirped when it first started but went away in a couple minutes. The only reason I changed the original tensioner is because of the minor chirp, but now it is much worse with the new one! Unfortunately, the aftermarket tensioner was bad, and worse the fake nuts were no good, I stripped them both trying to take it off the belt to change it again. It seems to me that the lower nut has better torque to compress the tensioner shock than the upper but it is much more difficult to get the leverage at the bottom. So I ended up using the prybar to compress the tensioner shock to release the belt tension to replace the tensioner again with a new belt. I can live with minor chirp from the original tensioner but I simply cannot stand the new tensioner persistent chirping. In this case, it is a good thing that he found the balancer nearly separated, but I don't think the balancer was separate yet, otherwise, there wasn't much torque on the belt to drive the rest of the accessories on the engine. He missed the opportunity to change out the timing belt when he changed out the balancer, that was the hardest part of the timing belt change, given the car has over 200K, it is due anyway. For my case, I had the very same set up he has to break loose that crankcase bolt, 5 ft extension pipe and a 15" 1/2" breaker bar and 155lbs. of torque and it made a horrible bang noise that I thought I broke the damned bolt. I can also attest that the 400ft lb. torque from the impact wrench does nothing to brake this bolt. I believe that the torque spec on that bolt is 181ft. lb. or 47ft lb. plus 60 degree turn (1/6 of a turn). I followed the latter, because I don't have a torque ratchet better than 150ft lb.
Good video, I've done some work on both my 05 & 03 Honda Odyssey's and man what a pain at times. I had to use the crowbar techniques since the bolts for releasing tension had been striped on both.
The bolt head between the pulley bolt and the hydraulic tensioner bolt that is on the aluminum bracket is the head that you use to compress the hydraulic tensioner. You might not have had a long enough breaker bar to get enough leverage on it. You would not want to use the crank pulley as a leverage point with a crow bar. Excellent video! I am not impressed at all with Honda's design. Quite difficult - and expensive - to do simple maintenance like this. Thanks!
condor5635 how to loosen the tension to put the belt on and off with that bolt head
If you're replacing the belt you can just cut the old one off and save yourself the double hassle.
Awesome video. Stripped the tension bolt, thought I was screwed, but the video solved the problem. Thanks.
me too
Great video after all these years. I would love to spend a Saturday afternoon with you just talking and working on cars.
Never know...
I just replaced one of these belt tensioner assemblies on a 2007 Odyssey. Here's what I learned: On 2007, the tensioner is DIFFERENT if the trim level is TOURING. The auto parts store online catalog shows a different tensioner for non-Touring Odysseys. I needed the one in the video. The problem with this particular vehicle was a growling noise from the accessory drive (it sounded very much like a noisy power steering pump).
10:50 is where to watch if y'all just need to move the tensioner & get a belt on. Thanks for showing that part because nobody else does and I've seen dozens of trash videos on this subject.
First, really appreciate that you do not include obscenities in your videos as it lets me watch them around my 9 year old. Second, this is an awful design and am gravely disappointed with our 143,000 mile Honda Odyssey (2007). It makes me wish I had grabbed the Volvo 240 station wagon that was for sale nearby a couple of years ago. I could have replaced all of its belts twice in the time it has taken me to fight with the head end of this engine already. Third, what started as a Power Steering pump replacement job may have become a serpentine belt tensioner job as well. I have completely stripped the lower bolt head on the idler pulley bracket in trying to free up the serpentine belt. Next, I will try the upper bolt head on the idler pulley bracket. If that strips also, I'm going to try the prybar against the crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer to compress the serpentine belt tensioner. I hope not to damage the pulley/balancer in the process. If I do, this is going to my favorite independent mechanic. Next job is to replace some, but not all of the transmission fluid as I don't want to detonate that other Odyssey land mine. BTW, the dark blue paint is peeling off in small sheets, especially if driving in the rain. Disappointed.
That's why I never will by Honda again, their quality is crap now.
@@thekingofgoogle1404 My personal experience from owning about 30 cars and trucks is that quality tends to vary within brands. While Ford was churning out very reliable pickup trucks in the late 90's, we bought a new, Windstar minivan. The quality was a mess, but it was the first model year of the redesign (1999 IIRC). We also had a 1991 Honda Accord that ran and ran with almost no problems, except the terrible, chalking, fading paint. In the opposite of the Ford example, early 00's Honda sedans were very well made, but Honda minivans, Ridgeline pickups, and Pilot SUVs had major transmission problems as they all shared them, being produced in the same factory also. Data indicates modern Honda sedans are reliable, but Honda has had chronic paint problems, especially with white and dark colours. Make sure you garage, wash, and care for their paint.
The Car Wizard channel provides a lot of great To Buy and What Not to Buy recommendation videos.
Making it work for you! Very good!
Million Thanks for actually showing all the procedure and the problems you got to go through
Just an acute eve to detail & helpful specific info, from lighting, to the necessary views & angles. You made an awesome & extremely helpful & educating video! Well done, thank you!
DIY'ers are highly recommened to get a service manual (or an alldatadiy subscription). It will explain the whole tensioner replacement process.
Good job on camera angles and explaining ever thin thank you for your video. It helped me
Omg the contraption you made has me dying laughing. Thank you for that
It worked! 😂
On the pulleys you can just press in new bearings that cost $8 a piece. Good job spotting that balancer. Ill have to go check mine now
I need to check mine too
Lol, @ 7:45 it never fails. You're in there taking care of a specific task when you start to assemble everything back on and then it happens. You notice something else need repairing.... Classic!
it happens because we care about our ride - Anywhere else they would keep milking your wallet with oil and air filters 😂
thanks for the upload my 05odyssey sounds the same and with the tire removed started the engine and chirp was louder and it was coming from crankshaft
good video, probably no need to replace all the parts you did...Depending how old were your belts, but that is a good preventive maintenance, might be as well to do your timing belt at 200k.
As someone said before, those nuts soldered to the tensioner are to move it so you can release the belts, from up or down the car. Good thinking in removing the whole tensioner component that way you could have replaced only the balancer...
thanks for sharing
Thank you so much I got the same van but it's a 1999 117000 miles same problem
Thankyou so much. This video helped a lot!! The pulley was only $35 and some odd cents when I ordered online from walmart and waited for the part.
My wife's van had this same noise, I took off the belt to see which pulley it was. It's hard to tell which one of the two is making the noise but I'm just going to replace the whole thing. after removing the belt it was not that hard of a job if you approach it from the wheel well.
FYI. Instead of Prying against the Pulley to compress the Shock on the tensioner. Next time use a socket on that Bolt Head. That's used for removing and replacing the serpent belt.
Otherwise thanks nice video.
I used a socket on that fake bolt [3/4' socket] but the hydraulic socket do not budge. I am frustrated.
@@Tahimate takes A LOT of force to move the tensioner. There are two fake bolts you could use. Try both. I also had some luck going at it from the top to adjust the belt on.
Benjamin Butterbaugh your method works good in my case. From the top with a lever
@@Tahimate Just replying to future viewers - the way the hydraulic shocks work is they gradually loosen as you apply steady pressure, so don't attempt to "break it loose" like a normal bolt, instead apply alot of force but hold it steady and you will gradually see the slack open up.
real helpful man thxs just replaced the alternator on my 05 and let me tell u take it to a garage for that had to take the hole front end off and pull back the radiators just to barely get it out but thxs man this really helps me out
Have the same issue: It isn't the damper. Mine sounds exactly the same with a damper change (which was needed). Be ready for your oil filter adapter housing to start leaking oil. All of those parts failed within months of each other for me (for those coming up to these issues).
Just replaced the balancer on my wife’s oddysey, used 130’ torque reinstalling but most say it isn’t required and will tighten itself
thank you so much for making time. to show us how to do the job. great explanation. very helpfull.
Just did mine on a 2004 2.4 this morning, I simply put a spanner on the power steering pump pully and , with the belt in place on the rest of the pulleys, wound it on. I couldn't get a spanner on the tensioner pulley bolt FYI. If it's chirping, it's the tensioner. Mine was at 275K km.
Nice video...I like the positive attitude you have. I wish I was more like that!👍
I pulled a tensioner assembly off at the wreckers for $15 and saved $100. 50,000 trouble free miles and still going
Those bolts that are welded on the tensioner are were you put a wrench to compress the hydolic piston. I would never pryed on the balancer. Good infomation though thanks
Gave up on putting the serpentine belt back on the 2006 honda odyssey so I took the vehicle to a mechanic and had them put it on. For future reference if I should ever win the Lottery and its a large amount of money I will fly the vehicle back to Japan and try to drop it on the guy who thought of the idea of putting an engine in an Odyssey sideways. ( just kidding)
patchreefs 😁 👍
patchreefs I hope there is a place in heaven for those over thinking engineers, they should have to work on those over and over for eternity.
Ummm that's how all front wheel drive vehicles are. Motor sideways towards the drive wheels.... It's the only way. Otherwise everything would be rear wheel drive and you'd complain about not having better control of your vehicle...
i used to work on 96 Mazda MPV minivan with V6 engine, it was not sideway, it was so nice to work with the crankpulley facing forward at the head of the minivan.
That last AHHH was so satisfying. Great job 👍
Thanks! I have some noise coming from this at 2200 rpm and sounds like a wheel has a bad bearing and it is rattling a little bit. Another thing I'm adding to the parts list!
the crankshaft pulley nut is 47 ft lbs + 60 degrees.
that's why it's so tight.
Q*bert that's right !
@@lebronjordan802 hhjj
Ya, enjoyed the video , but there is a special socket (Heavy duty) that will remove the Harmonic balancer bolt easily with a good impact wrench. No need for all that apparatus you had to put together. You dont need the special socket wrench to remove the bolt , only to reinstall it. Also the torque on that bolt is 181 ft/lbs , not 43 or 47 , whatever O'Riellys quoted you. Hopefully you got it torqued back properly. Thanks for the vodeo.
Great job. Thanks for sharing.
going through the same thing with my van. Decided to redo the tensioner, power steering pump and balancer . had to bust off the balancer bolt by using the long breaker bar with 19 mm socket and starting the engine three times. this was after my impact wrench with 700lbs torque couldn't bust it off. Royal pain in the butt. great van otherwise .
You did a great job making this video.
I absolutely HATE this Honda tensioner setup. What were they thinking!?!? Thanks for the video.
Compressing that piston would have been a little easier if you had a buddy to help you out. I have an 08 V6 accord and the belt and pulleys are identical. Service manual says if you hook a socket (in my case a 19mm) to the fixed bolt head between the idler pulleys, that's the proper place to swing that arm. You did a little more work that you needed to, but it was only you and you did what you had to do. And yeah the torque spec on that crank pulley isn't as much as one would think. Mine is only 37lb-ft. Great video, I saved it to my favorites for future reference.
+BuddyLe3 Thanks for the input. It was a new one on me, and I'm not afraid to improvise....
Thank you so much this is literally exactly what I'm about to have to do
I have 2006 Honda Odyssey 2006 LX. The same noise is coming from my car when I start it in the wet weather, especially when it is rain. But it goes away after few minutes.
Same
I ran into this problem once; so then i put everything back together, took it to a local shop & they impacted it loose so i could continue the repair.
Relieve the tension from the bolt on top and do it on top not under engine .push forward gently and you feel the shock tension go away and belt will get loose.but good job and nice video.
This tensioner has to be removed when replacing the timing belt. The tensioner pivot bolt has a bad habit of breaking off flush with the block. A HF reversible angle drill and LH drill bits lets you back it out. If you just need the bolt, I sell them on Ebay.
Yup. Just paid the mechanic to back the bolt out (Replaced the whole assembly). Beyond my skill set.
I just started watching your vid because s buddy of mine pulled in my drive way with a2010 Honda Odyssey 3.5 and his belt was walking off the top pully . I've never seen a car or truck with out a belt tensioner loosener weather out be a socket or just the wrench to losing it I started watching your vid and I was like thank you in not the only one this belt pulley assemble is bull shit made to bring back to dealer crap
That’s the way 95% of my repair projects go 😂😂Oh this should be easy until all hell breaks loose 😂😂
I had this issue with my 07 Pilot and found the entire assembly was cracked, which caused the belt to keep jumping off. My harmonic balancer had also rotted away.
I'm not convinced the harmonic balancer pulley is the culprit for the chirping directly, but perhaps indirectly. I'd be curious to know if you just replaced the tensioner if the chirping would've gone away. Thoughts?
I guess we’ll never know.
On my 2007 Odyssey the serpentine belt suddenly became very loose. I found that the harmonic balancer part of the crankshaft pulley had actually GONE, No squeaking or warning. Just the center of the pullet was left, no grooves. My wife said that "there was a bang" and immediately the power steering got heavy and ignition lights came on.
No new belt or tensioner required! Very unusual !!!
malcolm grey Apparently this is more of a problem than we all realize...
Dino P, I can't reply to your comment, but yes, it is the original engine and transmission. Still runs and drives great.
Just had this problem on our 06 Odyssey. Got the Harmonic balancer replaced and 2 days later, the squeaking is BACK! 😧😧😧
then what did you do after balancer??
- new belt?
- new tensioner & idler?
..?
Doing the same job on mine thank you
Awesome job and thank you!
Two pieces of absolutely critical info:
1: People will have an inclination, when confronted with the basic harbor freight serpentine belt tool, to use a 12 point socket in order to get around the very limited throw you'll get with most of the 3/8th stud mounting points (there are only four) but this is a major mistake. The fake 19mm bolt on the serpentine Tensioner is made of cast aluminum and you absolutely need to keep all of your pressure on the flats.
Do not use 12 point sockets on this, only six point ones!!!
2: The tensioner's hydraulic piston needs to be primed become pliant and get past the air that sits within it at it's resting state.
You're supposed to put good forward tension on it three times before putting hard pressure on it to release the belt.
Not knowing these two procedures is probably what causes most stripped 19mm bolts on this tensioner.
Bad idea using a crowbar against the harmonic balancer pulley
this rubber harmonic balancer is a Bosch design that is present on many cars besides Acura... Chrysler, Benz, etc
Yes. The tensioner fake "bolt" are for this purpose. Use them to move the tensioner.
That took some effort, you have a lot of patience.
Classic Car Overhaul Thanks. One of my trademarks apparently...
yep!
I guess "easy" is not our middle name 😂
Well, actually, you can buy the pulleys seperate and (1) not spend the money on the whole assembly (2) not have to go through the hassle of taking the assembly on and off when you can just bolt a new pulley to the assembly ( for the tensioner pulley). Tensioner pulley part number=Dayco 89007.I bought it for $22. The Idler pulley=Dayco 89059. You can buy them seperately at auto zone
Can you link to these parts I would expect you should be able to get the physical bearing inside if we knew the size which would be the diameter,width and inside diameter. They just press in.
The bracket in the assembly has a spring in it that is known to fail.
Great Video man this will help me alot with this project.
nice job on the unexpected Balance wobble. two thumbs up on this video
very useful video. thanks
great job on the video :)
Thanks for the video. Just like the usual song and dance. I changed my alternator a week ago and here comes the chirps. So I went to change the belt. But my welded on bolt that I use to compress the tensioner stripped. So I can’t turn it. So I am just going to replace the whole assembly. The car has a lot of miles so why not since my hands are already dirty. Another tip I got from another forum. Was to use the OEM bolts because aftermarket bolts may snap
What was the torque specs on the bolts if you remember
Sorry, I don't remember the specs.
Well done production and I appreciate the information. Have the same chirp and suspect it's the idler or tensioner pulley. I plan to dig into into it tomorrow. I hope to just replace the pulleys and will reply back as to how that went. Quick question, are either the pulley bolt (that also bolts down the tensioner assembly) or the balancer nut reverse thread. I am 99% sure they are not but with bolts that are difficult to break loose it's good to be 100% sure.
I've had to pull the serp belt a couple of times on my wife's 07 and it's a pain. I tried rotating the tensioner via the "nuts" and there was no way that would work. I ended up using a crowbar like you did (I actually used a ratchet strap tied to a member about mid vehicle on the right passenger side which allowed me to slowly pull the crowbar back and then, when far enough stop, leaving it compressed, and put the belt on, then release. I didn't even pull the wheel off)
Again, thanks for taking the time to create this and pass it along. Good stuff!
All standard thread.
Jo Daddy's Garage for
Great video! Very helpful 👍
My wife's 2010 Ody Touring sheared the tensioner bolt off 5 hours and 300 miles from home and she had a local mechanic replace the bolt for $480. He said he couldn't get his angle drill into position to drill out the broken end so he removed the alternator, AC compressor, and the bracket in order to drill it out. Research on the Ody forum indicates that this bolt shearing off is a common problem if you do not follow the Honda prescribed procedure of slowly and completely compressing the hydraulic tension link four times before slipping the serpentine belt back on and if that procedure is not done the bolt will shear off again in a week or two.
So...have you had any more problems since using the methods shown in this video? If not, how many miles has it gone since the tensioner was changed? I am concerned that my wife may be driving around in a ticking tensioner time bomb if Charlie the mechanic did not know to use the Honda procedure.
Well done, I dread the day my wife warns me of the squeal.
Nice Video. I really need your advice on my 2007 Honda Odyssey . 2 months ago, I was at a stop sign, suddenly the van was making the high pitch sound then smoked and the steering wheel was heavy and "BOOM" the balancer and a pulley fell off the engine hood. Van was towed to Firestone, They replaced the parts and the belt.
Then 1 month ago, I was sitting in the van while it was on parking gear. " Boom" the pulley which just replaced from Firestone, fell off from the engine again, I noticed the bearing was broke in half. Van was towed again. They replaced the parts in the warranty.
Now the AC kicks in and off...the the freon is good...I don't know what is going on here. I m scared to drive it when my kids are with me.
The van is 92000 thousand miles now. What's going to happen if the parts fall off the engine while I m driving 60 miles an hour?
Should I sell this van? Is it worthy to keep driving?
I really appreciate your advice.
Thank you so much
Wow. That is definitely a scary situation. Have you researched this happening on other vans? Contacted Honda? While I can't really give perfect advice in this situation, I will say peace of mind is valuable. If you're uncomfortable driving it, sell it and find another vehicle.
Good job.. Nice video 👍💯
I am replacing the ractory alternator on my 08 odyssey with 314,000 miles on it. Someone at some point rounded off the tensioner bolt that allows you to take the belt off so i had to unbolt the tensioner piston to take the pressure off of the belt. I was worried how i was going to depress the piston on the tensioner to line it back up with the hole to put the bolt back through, i figured i would have to use a bar to depress it then i seen your video and seen that's what you did. Looks like it worked. When i bought this van the cover on the engine was missing so i figured someone had worked on it at one time hoping they had replaced the timing belt but since the alternator says Honda on it that makes me wonder if anything has ever been fixed on it.
Could be an OEM alternator replacement.
how many miles on the odyssey when you got it?...@300+ miles, you must be due for a 3rd timing belt.
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for this great video.
I know you did this in june but I have fought with this harmonic balancer bolt on my accord several times. and there are several things that help,heat up the bolt head and use as short an extention as possable to twisting of the extentions I have seen mechanics use a super thick heave wall socketcustom made for this bolt.
Do you remember or have access to the torque settings for the two bolts holding on the pulley tensioner? Replaced the alternator and reinstalled pulley tensioner but having trouble finding those torque settings and is having a little trouble idling under load now. Hoping I just have something a hair too loose or tight rather than a bad alternator.
Sorry, I don't at the moment.
I would have used a 19mm socket to compress the tensioner assembly, remove the accessory belt, release tension, and THEN work on the car. It seems to me that the way you did it is dangerous.
Great and informative video. Thank you. You mentioned the van has 200.000 miles on it. Is it original transmission? I have an 08 with about 80,000 miles and want to see how long these (great) vans can last. I got it new and maintain it well (regular synth oil changes, tranny fluid change (Honda) every 10k miles (fill and drain) etc. Is your transmission original?
those "bolt heads" that are on the tensioner are, are for doing what you did by putting the prybar against the crack pulley...you put a wrench on itand twist, and the assembly turns and compresses the spirng/cylinder
+etyrnal I actually tried that, but the "bolt head" started to round off, so I did it the other way.
+Jo Daddy's Garage oh, I see. makes me wonder if there's a special service tool for that
@@etyrnal yes indeed there is a special tensioner tool referenced in the TSB pdf document.
@@JoDaddysGarage what size socket did you use? and was it 6 point, or 12?
@@etyrnal Sorry, I don't recall.
Excellent Video thnx
I got an accord and that vvt keeps leaking on the alternator and i replaced last year and it went out again well anyways i striped the fake bolt to grab the tensior and im gonna use your way of leaving loose but im wondering how you were able to hold tension and tighten the bolts without striping them in the block
Can you put the tensioner in two different ways.When I went to put the serpentine on I had 2 torque the tensioner really hard.I got the 40 belt on but after that sheered off the tensioner bolt. Luckily the bolt came out easily so I replaced the tensioner assembly and got a bigger belt.
It should only fit one way.
Thanks for the answer. Your a good Dude George
2011 pilot. Found out it isn't reverse thread for belt tensioner. Regular thread. remove normally***
Appreciate the vid
Tool wasn't needed. Just the breaker bar and a 19 mm socket. Brace it in place and crank the engine for 1 second in spurts and that will break it loose.
Great video man. Mine just started doing this. Funny, cause i just replaced the altetnator last week. Wonder if i caused this.
Did you end up repairing the problem? I'm on the same boat as we speak.