The largest Civic Type R club forum

Established in 2002 it brings together people from all over the world to discuss their one love of Type R's.

The place for all those routine questions about routine servicing.
User avatar
By jaz458
#3804287
Hi all

Can someone please clarify, who is in the know...

When and IF ever is the timing chain on an EP3 CTR ever to be replaced / inspected ?
Is it done by mileage or year ?
How is it checked for wear / the need to be replaced ?
Is the tensioner also usually replaced in the process too ?
User avatar
By Lewisgame
#3804352
There's no maintenance schedule for the chain.
They normally get changed when they cause a problem. They stretch causing camshaft position/crank shaft position faults. Worse case they skip 1 or 2 teeth. Although this doesn't generally cause any damaged.
To check the timing you need to remove the cam box cover. There's timing marks on the top pulleys and one on the crank.
If you're going to replace the chain you'd also replace the tensioner and the chain guides.
User avatar
By yella
#3804366
Lewisgame wrote:There's no maintenance schedule for the chain.
They normally get changed when they cause a problem. They stretch causing camshaft position/crank shaft position faults. Worse case they skip 1 or 2 teeth. Although this doesn't generally cause any damaged.
To check the timing you need to remove the cam box cover. There's timing marks on the top pulleys and one on the crank.
If you're going to replace the chain you'd also replace the tensioner and the chain guides.

there was originally, 100k was the magic number by Honda. But they dropped it off the schedule early on.
User avatar
By mjhamilton
#3804386
yella wrote:
Lewisgame wrote:There's no maintenance schedule for the chain.
They normally get changed when they cause a problem. They stretch causing camshaft position/crank shaft position faults. Worse case they skip 1 or 2 teeth. Although this doesn't generally cause any damaged.
To check the timing you need to remove the cam box cover. There's timing marks on the top pulleys and one on the crank.
If you're going to replace the chain you'd also replace the tensioner and the chain guides.

there was originally, 100k was the magic number by Honda. But they dropped it off the schedule early on.
that was just to inspect the tensioner not replace anything
User avatar
By dandemoraliser
#3804458
mjhamilton wrote:
yella wrote:
Lewisgame wrote:There's no maintenance schedule for the chain.
They normally get changed when they cause a problem. They stretch causing camshaft position/crank shaft position faults. Worse case they skip 1 or 2 teeth. Although this doesn't generally cause any damaged.
To check the timing you need to remove the cam box cover. There's timing marks on the top pulleys and one on the crank.
If you're going to replace the chain you'd also replace the tensioner and the chain guides.

there was originally, 100k was the magic number by Honda. But they dropped it off the schedule early on.
that was just to inspect the tensioner not replace anything
yep this.

After minimal wear found then they removed from the scheduled servicing, however for peace of mind i would ask for it to be looked at for the sake of what could be an hours labour (but it wouldn't take an hour)
User avatar
By davey j
#3805068
*nub* wrote:What kinda noise would it make if the chain or tensioner need servicing ?
You'll get a distinct "slapping" from the chain on cold start up which will last about 0.5-1 seconds tops. Mine was out 1 tooth after stretching but didn't throw up the cam position fault. It did throw up the top lambda sensor fault though. Have since had new chain, tensioner and guides. No more eml and car drives much smoother and boosts better/cleaner into vtec. Was a noticeable dip in power at changeover prior to fixing it. Mine originally started getting noisy at 109k but went away and then reared again on 131k. Figured best to swap it out at that point. Money well spent tbh.
User avatar
By jaz458
#3805217
So guys, the timing chain is good for over 100k miles so long as the car is regularly serviced and the oil is always at max, and never under the min level and changed every year / 12.5k miles ?

Long time ago I had and Ep3 for 220k kilometers in[…]