Ubiquitous Tech
New Member
Hey all, I have an odd problem here. I have a 2001 Accord EX. 2.3l 5speed. I have had it for about 2 years now, runs excellent, but not knowing the history of the car I decided to do a timing belt replace for peace of mind.
I have it down to the timing belts now and have a strange situation with the timing cover, someone has notched it so the alternator belt can clear it to the crank pulley. It's not from rubbing, you can sight down the path of the belt and that notch had to be placed there for the belt to be able to have a path to the crank pulley! Also, with the crank pulley off you can see that it, the pulley, has been rubbing hard onto the cover cutting into it. All cover fasteners were present and properly tight, so it's not a matter of the cover flopping around, it was secured.
Now, I had deduced in the past that the engine had been replaced, there are markings on the valve cover noting the compression and marked "Good runner", the things wrecking yards do before they pull an engine.
It kind of seems like the "wrong" engine was used as it's a U-LEV engine as indicated by the valve cover and the engine block, 23A4, but it has the Vtech exhaust on it, leaving me to believe they bought a long block and dressed it with the old engines accessories. There's also some discussion that the U-LEV wasn't put behind a manual transmission.
All of this info led be to believe that possibly they used the Vtech cover and it was wrong? But the problem with that idea is that when I look up a new lower timing cover there is nothing to note if it's for one or the other, it seems the one cover is for both engines?
That leads me to wonder if it's the pulleys, brackets, and accessories that are wrong? I don't know, lost at this point. Anyone have any ideas? Sorry this is so long. TIA for any input.
I'll attach some pics to this post if I'm able to
I have it down to the timing belts now and have a strange situation with the timing cover, someone has notched it so the alternator belt can clear it to the crank pulley. It's not from rubbing, you can sight down the path of the belt and that notch had to be placed there for the belt to be able to have a path to the crank pulley! Also, with the crank pulley off you can see that it, the pulley, has been rubbing hard onto the cover cutting into it. All cover fasteners were present and properly tight, so it's not a matter of the cover flopping around, it was secured.
Now, I had deduced in the past that the engine had been replaced, there are markings on the valve cover noting the compression and marked "Good runner", the things wrecking yards do before they pull an engine.
It kind of seems like the "wrong" engine was used as it's a U-LEV engine as indicated by the valve cover and the engine block, 23A4, but it has the Vtech exhaust on it, leaving me to believe they bought a long block and dressed it with the old engines accessories. There's also some discussion that the U-LEV wasn't put behind a manual transmission.
All of this info led be to believe that possibly they used the Vtech cover and it was wrong? But the problem with that idea is that when I look up a new lower timing cover there is nothing to note if it's for one or the other, it seems the one cover is for both engines?
That leads me to wonder if it's the pulleys, brackets, and accessories that are wrong? I don't know, lost at this point. Anyone have any ideas? Sorry this is so long. TIA for any input.
I'll attach some pics to this post if I'm able to
