I heard a terrible sound coming from the front bank of cylinders in early 2013.  It turns out that Honda utilized external timing chain tensioners on both banks of cylinders, and that they seem to fail often.  In my case, the tensioning spring did not break, but the tensioner apparently weakened so that I would hear the clatter of the timing chain when the engine was cool.  It was kinda embarrassing pulling up to a light sounding like a jalopy.

If you have small hands it is possible to replace the front tensioner without removing the carbs, but you’ll have much better access if you do remove them.  The rear tensioner can be tricky to get to as well as it is far up behind the engine.  Give yourself some time if you haven’t done this before.

I found pretty good prices at Partzilla.com, though their shipping isn’t the fastest.

Here’s what I paid in April of 2013:

$1.41  HP-12194-HC5-740 12194-HC5-740 GSKT, TENSIONER HOLE x 1

$1.31  HP-12194-KW3-880 12194-KW3-880 GSKT, TENSIONER HOLE x 1

$56.48  HP-14520-MZ5-003 14520-MZ5-003 LIFTER ASSY., RR. x 1

$64.96  HP-14530-MZ5-003 14530-MZ5-003 LIFTER ASSY., FR. x 1

$1.77  HP-90463-ML7-000 90463-ML7-000 WASHER (6.5MM) x 4

$0.64  HP-90502-KBV-000 90502-KBV-000 WASHER (6MM) x 2

Let me know if you have questions about the procedure…