There is no recommended replacement interval on the K-series engine timing chains. Your bro is spot-on.

If the engine has been run with low oil, however, the chains are known to stretch and require replacement.

If you have owned the V for a while and have monitored oil levels, you can probably just keep driving!



Here's some suggestions for high mileage maintenance on Gen2:

Sharing some findings

Ok so many have gen 2 through gen 3 CRVs with high miles now, mines at 248k. As the long timers here know, I'm an automotive tech (fancy term for mechanic, but my years, knowledge and so on, I earned the fancy term lol). Back story: my V is my baby. Everything in perfect working order, no CEL...

www.crvownersclub.com

 

The chains do not need to be replaced. They are there for the life of the engine.
Do not let the oil go low. It will stretch the chain. Thats the biggest issue. So check the oil regularly and top up.

 

The chains do not need to be replaced. They are there for the life of the engine.
Do not let the oil go low. It will stretch the chain. Thats the biggest issue. So check the oil regularly and top up.

tony how is this possible?
does the timing chain dip into the oil or something?
Ive got a camshaft bank 1 code that sometimes pops up, and a terrible driveability issue (shitty down low, and the worlds worst fueld economy), and im praying that the camshaft code is just beause of dirty VTC oil filter screen, but cant get to it because the belt tenisoner bolt is rounded, so cant even remove the belt LOL.
I interested in this oil level issue, perhaps i really need to stick it in the bin. Cant affford a timing chain job, and im too old now for DIY. (kids)

 

If you are having timing related symptoms may I recommend to check the timing components.

The chain may not stretch but the guides which are made of some type of plastic do wear out.

Jmo

 

Thank you all. This has given me a lot to think about. I have not ran the car empty on oil, but I have been very low only 1-2 times since December (when I bought the V). I don't have any timing related symptoms, so I think I'll keep an ye on it, I just don't want to blow my engine. I like my car.

 

I just don't want to blow my engine.

You won't blow the engine, but replacing the timing chain isn't a cheap repair.

Keep track of your oil level, try not to let it drop below the ADD mark on the dipstick.

 

Many do think it needs replacing. I bought my 'V' 8 years ago with a tad over 100,000 miles on it and it had just had a 'routine' timing chain replacement. The owner reported no issues, just that the dealer said it needed one...

I was happy, as it was this 'oh, this car is getting old and expensive to maintain' event which prompted the owner to sell.

And now, another 100,000 miles in, I'm still happy.

 

If timing chain is too stretched the ECU it will throw an error code for camshaft misalignment. So if no codes then I'd say you are OK.

 

theres no room for such trickery a million things in the way.
Anywya, i managed to get the valve cover off tonight in an effort to inspect if I have a stretched chain, because , well, im not convinced, as sometimes its ok.
All im getting is the code for bank 1 cam sensor, and its tempremental. There are 2 cam sensors, so to me that makes me suspect its only the bank one camshaft, which I beleive is the intake, which could indicate a VTC issue. I recon if the chain was stretched, both cam shafts would be out of phase and id see some code for bank 2 perhaps??
Anyway i got the valve cover off, and got the crank pulley turned around so that the cam marks are as illustrated all over the net, then i couldnt work out which of the 4 marks on the crank pully was TDC.
When lookign down at the pulley the marks i see are like this.For me, the cam lines line up when the pointer is on that red line.
People on the net on some honda foruks say TDC is the veyr left mark, buit if that were so, that would mean that my chain has done the opposite of stretching!
If i have to turn the crankshaft anticlockwise from TDC to get the timing, that indicates the camshaft is ahead, not behind. yah get me?
So can anyone clarify for absoulte garuanteed certai, which of the marks is TDC? red or white in this photo? Perhaps previous owner got the chain done wrong... off a tooth???

 

If i have to turn the crankshaft anticlockwise from TDC to get the timing, that indicates the camshaft is ahead, not behind. yah get me?
So can anyone clarify for absoulte garuanteed certai, which of the marks is TDC? red or white in this photo? Perhaps previous owner got the chain done wrong... off a tooth???

White is TDC. Red is timing advance. Pulley rotates clockwise. Allignment with cams is tricky as they need to be locked in place. It took me many attempts to get right. If wrong the ECU should throw errors - even if only one tooth out.

 

The timing chain sits inside the engine and gets lubricated by engine oil. As stated it will last life of engine if (good quality) oil is replaced regularly. If worn beyond limit the ECU will throw an error but it would not cause poor running you describe - unless it had jumped teeth - but you'd get more ECU errors if it had.
The serpentine belt tensioner is on a faifly poweful spring - so whatever method you use, take care.

 

Have you verified that the crank pulley is tight? We have heard of them coming loose after service...that's BAD. (It can wear the keyway and slot down...and if its loose you get those timing issues)

 

yeh ive considered that the last owners mechanic may have lost the key and just relied on friction... im unable to source the tool to undo it so cant verify. i think im doing too muich guessing.

Lightwizzard, consider this, this is a poverty stricken place and they take any out they can. What if the chain had stretched so bad that it wouldn't run, and their solution was to put it forward a tooth? Beleive it or not, with al the evidence i have, and the knowledge of local poverty and a will to make anything work without spending money, this is starting to look like the theory with the least unreasonable assumptions. Occamz Razor

 

yeh hah lol. ive managed to get it all off. some goose has done a dodgy timing chain job. ive been driving it around liek this for over a year!
It must have stretched, and they jsut put it forward a tooth to compensate!

This is a youtube videeo still of what the cam marks would look like after a stretch

Now heres what mine looks like, mines the other way.

 

sorry for hijacking post OP, but i intend to drop as much information into this thread as possible while at the same time learning myself.
handycrowd had me chang emy attitude and try vice grips, which led to me getting jsut the riht amount of frustrated to remove everything, headlight, engine mount, engine mount body bit, everything, and ripped the timing cover off, which was incredibly difficult with just a basic socket ratchet set and a few open enders.

I have exactly 16mm of tensioner extension, and they say 16mm is the service lim, yet my cams are ahead.
So how to i work out if its the guides worn or the chain stretched that made them do this?? i need to be able to pruchase only waht is neccesary.

 

If the photo of you camshaft gears was taken with the white mark on pulley alligned with the arrow on the crankcase then I agree - someone has tried to compensate by jumping a tooth - as they should look like your youtube image.

 

yeh and the only other thing i can think of now, is perhaps somone did some head work and shimmed it. And yes, i did get codes, the p0341 i thin it is, it was canm shaft sensor bank 1, just not consistently throwing that code, only occasionally, and if u think about it, it should have been getting better and better as the chain stretched more and more getting closer to original distance, but it isnt, its getting worse. hhah so many variables.

the onyl thing i really cant work out, is if i think that the previous owners mechanic is incredibly dumb, or incredibly smart!

 

I had to replace my exhaust cam a while back (the 2003's were made from cheese) and I used drill bits to lock the cams in place.

Setting it back up. look for the darker coloured chain links and that will help you set it up right.

I set mine up near enough (or so I thought) and it threw a code. I must have been one tooth out. No damage luckily. It sent me off to youtube to find a video on exactly how to do it, and with my haynes manual I was able to get the lines perfect. And that is with a chain that had around 100,000 miles on it (and the timing cover was in place).

 

I had to replace my exhaust cam a while back (the 2003's were made from cheese) and I used drill bits to lock the cams in place.

Exactly what I found. Engine was running fine - but when I came to do 1st valve adjustement I spotted lobes were very worn. A batch of exhaust camshafts were not hardened correctly apparently...I used various spanners & cable ties...

 

I found the tricky bit with aligning the camshaft marks is determining if they are actually horizontal. I.e. they can appear to align but are not actually on a horizontal line through the middle of the sprockets as they should be .E,g your inlet camshaft could be correct (i.e. mark exactly horizontal) which woudl mean the exhast camshaft needs to slip anticlockwise by one tooth. Worth checking.

 

ok so getting more and more confused now.
in al videos, they show top timing mark is between a link and at the bottom the black chain link goers ON the dot.
Frustratingly,i can confirm that mine are of the same mismatch,, which means if it is indeed off, it has to be off by 2 teeth, not one!
I doubt the engine would run like this.so how on earth do i have an advanced camshaft???

for me to line up the 2 camshaft marks with each other, i have to rotate the camshaft counter clockwise half a tooth!
ALso, in that position, the arrow on the vtc actuator is about a tooth left of the marking on the rocker assembly. so i think also the vtc actuator is bust, but that doesnt explain whey the gear itself wont line up. its just too hard, nothing is working out for me like it does for eveyone else on earth with this engine..
Could the entire engine have stretched vertically? by about 5 mm?

hang on a minute, the entire world of youtube videos is wrong, theyve all been installing their chains wrong!
The honda manual shows trhat the dots are always (both cam and crank) in the centre of the links, whereas all youtube videos of these idiots, shows them instaling it with the bottom one on the dot, but the top onesw with the dot between the links.

 

Definitely the black links go on the dots.

 

yeh so these timing chains with 2 sets of double black links, are simply, WRONG. they are sold by honda, what is going on. Is this another one of these silly JDM discrepancies? How can we have a bunch of pl usign cam chains with 2 links either side of the camshaft dot, and then a differnet bunch of ppl uising chains with one link on the dots. what is going on

 

They are just a guide. As long as correct number of links between dots at top of cam sprockets, timing marks line up (indicating camshafts are in sync) and cranshaft pulley is on white mark then you should be good. When I did this I didnt use black links as a guide. i wasnt even aware they were there...

 

well thats the thing, that number of links is different depending on which of the 2 diagrams you follow, the diagram for the 2 black link verison, or the diagram for the one black link version. both are floating aroudn the net with no explanation as to why there are two types with different number of links .. i hope im making sense, i promise i have a valid point.

 

To be clear are you fitting a new chain? If not I'd ignore black links. I suspect they are intended as a guide with a new chain. If like me you only had the cam cover off (and not timing chain cover), the best you'll be able to do is make sure when the timing lines are pointing at each other that you have 7 full links between the dots - and a further hallf a link to each dot - exactly as your image above. Then its a matter of getting the chain on the correct position on the crankshaft sprocket (TDC white dot). To do this I removed tensioner, slipped the chain by one tooth on the crankshaft sprocket, put back tensioner and then rotate engine to check alignment. Its a painful process and took me quite a while - mainly because it was tricky to jump a single tooth on the cranshaft sprocket, By the look of it you have the camchain cover off so should be less trial and error.

 

haha that does sound horrific! yeh im waiting for a new chain in the post, and it will be the type with only 3 black links. I guess ill just have to lock everything in its tdc position and see where the links fall. I guess i just desperately want to knwo how 2 authorative pieces of literature can have different ideas abotu how many links are supposed to be between crank and cam!

OK so ive jsut counted the links on the chains in the product images of the k24 and k20 chains, form this website Timing Chain and Gears | K Series Parts
there are 88 links on the k24 and 85 links on the k 20, probabyl because of the deck height difference. So perhaps what we are seeing is youtube videos and authorative diagrams marked as K20/K24 timing, when in reality they are showing a specific k20 timing procedure, and mistakingly suggesting that its the same for both.

 

ok face slap, turns out this isnt even a k24. i didnt do enough research. ive been buying k24 parts because theyve been fitting, and all crvs of this vintage have the same looking engine, but south seast asia gets the k20A4. So ive been looking at specs for thewrong damn engine the whole time.
SO it lloks liek the reason i have only 3 marks, is because thast how k20 engines are, and k24 engines shoiudl have 5.
so , hanycrowd, that haynes manual, that page must be talking about the k20 motor!

 

ok face slap, turns out this isnt even a k24. i didnt do enough research. ive been buying k24 parts because theyve been fitting, and all crvs of this vintage have the same looking engine, but south seast asia gets the k20A4. So ive been looking at specs for thewrong damn engine the whole time.
SO it lloks liek the reason i have only 3 marks, is because thast how k20 engines are, and k24 engines shoiudl have 5.
so , hanycrowd, that haynes manual, that page must be talking about the k20 motor!

Sorry to hear that you’ve been mixing up the 2.4 and the 2.0. Things get even more subtle than that though. Here is the USA we have second generation CRVs imported …. manufactured in Japan and in england. There are often differences in parts between the two factories, occurs common enough to need to check parts by VIN number at times. I’ve even been supplied the wrong parts from a dealership before because they mixed up Japan and england variants. The service manual provided by Honda in our area is for the North American market, and includes Canada vehicles... sometimes I get annoyed because I’m studying the wiring diagram to figure out something, and it turns out Ive been studying the Canada version instead of the USA version which are different. When I needed an engine replacement, I went with a JDM motor, and learned everything attached to the long block was different.

I think the reason for some of the differences is because there are differing traffic/safety/environmental laws dealing with emissions and oils/chemicals around the world. Other differences seem to come from their parts distributors.

 

"laughing" it happens lol!

I learnt early on that a lot of the stuff online talks about the CRVs which are 2.4L engined, whereas ours are all 2.0L...