The timing belt in your DOHC Honda engine is responsible for keeping your engine running and valvetrain events on time. Changing your B18 timing belt is a main part of your maintenance schedule, because this belt can fail over time. Because the 1.8 liter B18 engine is an interference engine, failure of your timing belt usually means that your pistons have hit your valves.
Typically because of the speed your engine is traveling at during failure, this can lead to lack of cylinder compression at the bare minimum. At worst your valve may become stuck or destroy your piston, which could cause further failure and damage as your rod end whips around inside your engine. Today I’ll be showing you how to change a B18B timing belt, and giving you a step by step process so that you can change your timing belt with ease.
Today’s test vehicle is a 1997 Acura Integra LS with a non VTEC B18 engine in it. Because this engine is a OBDII version of the popular DOHC powerplant, there will be small differences between a OBDII engine and timing belt directions, and a OBDI. While these changes are present, there’s not much that would be different in our How To Change a B18B Timing Belt DIY guide from a OBDI to a OBDII engine.
Before beginning our How To Change a B18B Timing Belt DIY article, set your B18 engine to TDC. Are you looking for a set of directions on how to change a timing belt on a B18C1 or a VTEC version of this very same engine? Check our DIY guide on changing the GSR timing belt here.
Parts you will need to change a B18 timing belt
- Timing Belt – This B18A or B18B timing belt can be found with the part numbers of 14400-P7J-004, or 14400-PR4-A01 and can also be under the Acura part number of 14400-PR4-A01-M1. This timing belt is meant for the 19 tooth LS water pump, and not the 22 tooth VTEC version.
- Water Pump – The 19 tooth water pump in your B18 is Honda OE part number 19200-P75-003, 19200-PT5-000 and also 19200-PT5-003.
- Timing Belt Tensioner – The 1.8 liter DOHC engine in your Integra uses a spring loaded timing belt tensioner that’s mounted on a pivot arm bracket. This bracket secures to the front of your engine, and uses the spring to maintain tension through a 14mm bolt. The part number for this tensioner is 14510-P30-003, 14510-PR3-003, or 14510-PR3-004.
- Timing Belt Tensioner Spring – Some timing belt kits will retain the use of this spring or include it with the tensioner. If you are ordering genuine Honda replacement parts, make sure to replace this spring with a new unit from the dealer.
How To Change a B18B Timing Belt
Before beginning our DIY Guide on How To Change a B18B Timing Belt, you should raise your vehicle and secure it on jackstands. Drain the coolant and oil from your engine, and disconnect the negative terminal to your battery. Always work on your vehicle with safety first and foremost in your mind. For a quick primer on safety and being safe while working on your car, check our Safety primer here.
Remove the Timing Belt
There’s a few key nuts and bolts you will have to remove when it comes to taking off your DOHC 1.8 liter B18 valve cover. Because the LS engine comes with a valve cover that covers part of your cam gears, you will want to either remove the valve cover, or modify it so that you can time the engine.
Loosen the nuts located on your valve cover, including the earth ground on the front of your valve cover that runs to your radiator support. Make sure to loosen the 10mm bolt that holds your power steering hose in place, and swing that bracket up and away.
Once you have all the bolts and nuts removed, you can start on your ignition components.
We recommend you remove your ignition distributor to prevent damage to the unit.
Before you remove the timing belt, pull out your spark plug wires and disconnect your B18 distributor. Unplug the distributor harness from your unit, and undo the 12mm bolts that run through the distributor to your cylinder head.
Once you have your ignition distributor removed, you can continue taking off your B18 valve cover.
Remove the valve cover to expose your cam gears, you’ll need to be able to see these to set your B18 to Top Dead Center (TDC).
You can elect to cut your timing belt, as we’ve done here. In the event that you want to keep your old timing belt for whatever reason, you will have to wait until we begin timing your engine before you can remove it.
Prepare your engine by removing motor mounts
Before you start learning how to change a B18B timing belt, you will have to prepare your engine. To prepare your 1.8 liter engine, you will have to remove the air conditioning mount as well as the mount on the front of your engine. If your B18 is equipped with air conditioning, you will want to disconnect the lone 10mm bolt that holds your air conditioning charge line to the radiator support.
Undoing this 10mm bolt will allow you to raise and lower your engine, which is required if you want to time your B18. Put a piece of wood or 2×4 on an automotive jack, and support the bottom of your engine by jacking up on the oil pan. Use the wood and situate your jack as to evenly displace the weight of your engine across your oil pan. Do not dent or damage the underneath of your oil pan, as it may compromise your oil pressure.
Remove the 10mm bolts that hold your cruise control box in front of your engine. Disconnect said cruise control unit and once you’ve removed the 10mm bolts, flip this whole box up and out of the way. You should now be able to see the front of your B18 engine, and the motor mount that’s located on the driver side.
Make sure that your engine is supported before you remove the 14mm nuts on this motor mount. The inner 14mm nut is connected to an extremely long stud, and this stud may come out when removing your motor mount bolt.
Once you have these 14mm nuts loosened, you can pull off your power steering reservoir and carefully set to the side. Now undo the 17mm bolt that runs through your motor mount and into the chassis. Remove your motor mount and start working on the 10mm bolts that hold your upper timing cover together. Remove the front cover to your timing assembly, and you are ready to remove your air conditioning mount.
Take off your driver side wheel, and make sure to double check your jackstands and safety at this point.
There’s two plastic push pins that hold the lower splash guard in place, remove these and push the guard out of the way to expose your crankshaft pulley.
Now with the plastic shield out of the way, you should be able to see the bottom of your engine as well as your air conditioning mount.
With your DOHC 1.8 liter engine supported, remove the 14mm bolts that run up through your air conditioning motor mount and into the frame rails. Once you have removed these 14mm bolts, you can slowly and gently lower your B18 engine.
Once lowered, you can remove the 19mm nut on the end of this air conditioning mount and slide off your motor mount. You should now see something like this for the front of your engine assembly. Now it’s time to loosen the tension in your alternator belt, your power steering belt and air conditioning belt.
The alternator belt is very easy to loosen, simply loosen the 12mm bolt that holds the top of your alternator to your bracket. Then push the alternator inward to loosen and remove your alternator belt. The power steering belt can be loosened by undoing the wing nut bracket on the front of your 1.8 liter B18 engine.
To loosen your air conditioning belt, you will need to turn the adjustment screw under your power steering bracket counterclockwise. Once you’ve turned this bracket enough to loosen the belt, you can head back under the car to find the air conditioning tensioner bracket and pulley.
There’s a long 12mm bolt that holds the tension to this bracket and arm. Loosen this long bolt and then remove your air conditioning drive belt. Once the belt is gone, flip your air conditioning tensioner and bracket upwards and out of the way.
Now you’re ready to remove the crankshaft pulley or harmonic balancer on your 1.8 liter B18 engine.
Use an air gun to remove the 19mm crank bolt, or use the Moroso Honda crank shaft wrench tool, part number 61805.
Remove the 19mm crank bolt and then you are ready to remove your crankshaft pulley. Make sure to carefully loosen your crankshaft pulley by wiggling side to side until it backs off completely.
Slide off your harmonic balancer and don’t forget to find and locate your B18 keyway or woodruff key. You won’t be going far without this very vital piece of metal.
The next part of our How To Change a B18B Timing Belt DIY Guide shows you how to remove your lower timing cover to get to your tensioner, tensioner spring and water pump.
Begin by taking out all of the 10mm bolts that run through the lower timing cover. Once these are taken out, you can pull off your lower timing cover, which will give you access to the lower bolts on your front motor mount.
Remove the lower 14mm bolts that run through your motor mount, and take off the motor mount all together. Now it’s time to take off your water pump, and you may need to raise or lower your engine accordingly from this point onward. Raise your engine using your jack and remove the 10mm bolts that hold the water pump in place.
Yank off the water pump and clean the mounting area thoroughly. Dry the area to prep for your new water pump, and apply a light film of gasket maker to your new water pump before installing.
Replace your water pump and tighten to specification. To give your gasket maker some time to cure and dry, let’s remove the timing belt tensioner and tensioner spring to prepare for our replacements. Your tensioner is mounted through a 14mm bolt, remove this bolt to slide off the spring and tensioner unit.
Put your new tensioner pulley and bracket in place, and run the 14mm bolt through your tensioner. Do not tighten and do not put your spring back in place at this point.
Put your timing belt guide back onto your crank, and then secure it with your 19mm crank bolt. Rotate your crank until your oil pump is lined up to TDC, as shown above.
Once you’ve got the oil pump lined up, you can use two 12mm wrenches to properly align both of your cam gears.
Typically your upper timing plastic guide will give you center alignment marks for your cam gears. Rotate both cam gears until the word UP is pointed upward, and your cam gears lineup across the timing marks.
With the top two cam gears properly aligned, move ahead and pull down on the front of your timing belt to eliminate all the slack from the front of the engine. Slide the belt around your oil pump gear, and ensure that your crank is still at TDC by checking the marks on your engine.
Carefully route your timing belt around your crank pulley / oil pump gear. Then run the back of your timing belt over and into your water pump gears, and finally over your tensioner pulley and bracket. Use a flat head screwdriver to gently pull up on the bracket, and tighten the 14mm bolt that runs through the tensioner to finalize the timing belt tension.
Before you start putting things back onto your motor, make sure your crank pulley is installed ALONG with your timing belt guide. If the slotted guide is not in place, your timing belt may wander and cause serious damage.
With the crankshaft pulley in place, and tension set in your timing belt, rehang your tensioner spring over the mount on the engine. Now test your timing belt job by turning your crankshaft six rotations and checking the TDC marks on your cam gears.
A big part of our How To Change a B18B Timing Belt DIY directions is checking and double checking your engine timing. Make sure that everything checks out and don’t be afraid to double and triple check your work. You can start your engine as a test by putting your valve cover back on and starting your engine by reconnecting your battery.
Make sure your timing belt area is clear of all tools, and always put back all of your timing belt covers to ensure maximum reliability and performance. Have some questions about how to change a B18 timing belt? Leave us a message below and let us know!
