Car Died while driving...

[AZ89Accord]

Driving down the road at 50 mph, suddenly my engine died. No strange noises or loud braking of metal, nothing. It Just died. It doesn't start, It sound s as if the starter is trying to start it but the engine doesn't turn. The crankshaft and all the other pulleys do nothing, dead. Took the timing belt upper cover off and it is in good shape. No cracks, no breaks. But the rocker arms and the timing belt don't move when I crank the car. Even though my first horrible thought was that the timing belt broke, it looks good and it isn't broken. Not where I can see it anyway.

It can't be my fuel pump because the crankshaft would still turn, but it doesn't.

Anyone have any idea why this car just up and died while driving and won't re-start? It tries but it won't start. We just put a new rack & pinion in and a new master brake cylinder. Now this!!! :help:

[Dutchboy]

you probably have stirpped some teeth on the timing belt if it isnt moving at all when you crank....you probably cant see them becasue its at the bottom of the cover ...

Does the crank pully turn when cranking??? and the top doesnt..then its timing belt failure
BEn

[AZmike]

The timing belt teeth-stripping has happened to a few other guys. From what's listed that's what it sounds like. I just did my belt a few months ago. I could probably drop by and give you a hand if you'd like some help.

[AZ89Accord]

Gotta go pick up some ramps from a friend after work...and then do some more troubleshooting... I'll let you know by email if I need you to come by! Thanks for the offer!

I'll keep you posted

[AZ89Accord]

My car is still down, I haven't had the chance to work on it until Saturday. I'll go with your advice, I'll inspect the timing belt inch by inch.

I'll keep you guys posted.

[89 Accords Rock]

check you alternator and perform a load test on your battery,,,

[89LXi]

May be a bad ignition switch. Mine did something similar and changed out the distributor, coil and numerous other things before having the switch pulled and discovering it was bad. You can replace just the part with the electrical contacts to avoid having to replace the entire switch and having to use another key.

[AZ89Accord]

A mechanic I've spoken to said it may be the electronic ignition in the distributor. I have had the ignition switch in the steering column changed fairly recently so I'm not suspecting that! When that was going bad I had to wiggle the key to get the car started, but it never cut out or died while driving! I think it is the timing belt that has some stripped teeth that I can't see. The belt looks good, but I can only see about a third of it! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!:banghead:

[smufguy]

why is this thread in performance and not in technical?

[ACCORD EX]

if the crank , cam doesn't turn it's propably your starter ! does start by jumping ( givin it a push ? )

MIKE

[AZ89Accord]

Sorry, I put this thread in the wrong place! No it doesn't start when jumped and it is automatic transmission so pushing wouldn't do it either. I have to turn the crank shaft to see the rest of the belt to see if it is missing teeth. don't think it is the starter because the rocker arms would at least attempt to move etc... and they don't at all!

[89AccordNate]

Check ALL of the wires on your distributer. This same thing happened to me. The only thing it was, was the wire came off of the coil I think it was. Check all of the plug wires and then do something extreme.

My car would crank and crank, but would never start..and lucky me it happened whenever I was passing another car on a 2 lane road..so scary!

Nate.

[AZ89Accord]

It's official, it is the timing belt. I removed the top timing belt cover off ( 2 bolts) so I coud see the belt rotating. I then removed all 4 sparkplugs to relieve the preassure, I set the car on neutral and I turned the crankshaft pulley counterclockwise, at first nothing moved, so I then proceeded to turn the Camshaft timing belt pulley counterclock and the timing belt started to move. I switched to turn the crankshaft pulley again counterclockwise little by little while my wife ( Mary ) kept an eye on the rotating belt until she told me to stop, because part of the belt the was coming up had about 4 inches of teeth missing. So, there it is.

After installing the new belt, I'll let you know the final results.

Thanks Dutchboy,89LXi4dr, 89 Accords Rock, 89LXi,ACCORD EX, 89AccordNate for your input!

[Dutchboy]

your welcome for the help....to bad though i cant help you with the rest of it...

hopefully theres no damage if you are very lucky,,,after seeing all these belt failures i think iim going to change mine too...

i got time to kill..

Ben