I have been trying to find help on this question without much luck so I
thought I would try posting this to the Vanagon List and see if anyone has
any experience with this vehicle.

We were trying to replace the timing belt on my friend's '86 Honda Accord
Automatic with EFI the other day and were running into a problem.  First of
all his belt broke while going down the highway.  I didn't think this engine
was an interference engine so I figured we could just put on a new belt and
he would be good to go.  However when we tried to line up the timing marks to
put the new belt on we ran into a problem.  In the Haynes manual we were
using it says that there should be a "T" on the flex plate to represent the
mark for TDC.  However we couldn't find anything that looked like a "T" and
the marks looked different than in the book.  We had a line with a "1" next
to it, then a space, then a blue dot, then a space, then a 4, a red line, and
a 6 crammed next to each other.  We set the timing to the red line initially
but when we started the car up we got a very loud valve tapping noise.  So we
changed the timing to the line next to the "1" and the noise changed (like it
went to a different valve) but was still there.  I need to know which mark
should be TDC (I am starting to think it is the blue dot since this is
between the two other marks)?  I also would like to know if this engine is
actually an interference engine (it is a 12 valve OHC) because if it is then
he may have bent a valve when the belt broke.  Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242