Did my valves bend...........................

[hondacowboy003]

............when my timing belt snapped? About two weeks ago my wife was driving to the store to get some cigs, as she made the turn onto the main drag, she accelerated up to 30. As she accelerated she heard a snap or a popping noise and the engine died, she pulled it over to the curb and tried to restart it to no avail. I got the car towed home and got the the valve cover and timing cover off and sure enough the ORIGINAL belt (177k miles now that tells you how tough these little Hondas are) was shredded. Now I have been told by several people that the Honda motors use 0 tolerance heads and that there is a 99.9% chance that once the belt snapped the valves make contact with the pistons and get bent up. Is this true? It is VERY Important that I find out if those valves are bent? ANY and all help is GREATLY appreciated as I am financially unable to afford an engine swap at the moment,you can reach me on MSN under [email protected] (wifes addy) or email me directly at [email protected].

[anchovies]

Yes, it's true. It's an interference engine. But alot of ppl snap their timing belts and didn't hurt the engine.
Put a new belt on it and pray.

['A20A3']

Originally posted by anchovies
Yes, it's true. It's an interference engine. But alot of ppl snap their timing belts and didn't hurt the engine.
Put a new belt on it and pray.

what he said.

[smufguy]

this is one of the reasons that i wanna put a new timing belt on when i am done with my car cause i dont wanna be stranded anywhere after im finished cause there are a lotta places i need to go. Anyone know how much it is to get a timing belt and have it put it on or how hard it is to do it on your own?

[anchovies]

Do it your own. Not worth it to pay 300-400 for a $20 belt (at least for me)

[smufguy]

good thing, i still have the new timing belt that was put on when we first got the car two years back. Awsome, so i dont have to change them, but i still need new pwr steering belt, alt belt and AC belt.

[Mike's89AccordLX]

I would put money on bent valves. The same thing happend to me, it's very tragic though.

[NeubJ]

Damn-that is really pushing it -177k without changing it-every 60k it should be changed.
Also depends on if your wife kept trying to start the car after the belt broke- The pistons will usually crash into the open valves. They can be bent or cause damaged valves,pisonts,cylinders,etc...

[hondacowboy003]

I was told 70k, but when your living from pay check to paycheck and trying to pay off your tools, insurance, tires, brakes and living expenses out of 170-180 a week, things like the timing belt kinda get shuffled under the rug (yeah I know piss poor excuse but its the truth).

As far as i know she only tried to start it once after it happened, and one more time when I cam to get her. SO I dunno. I really dont wanna have to pull the head off and try to find another one in the junkyard that aint cracked or warped etc.

Another thing I noticed when I got to nosing around the head is that the timing cover doesnt match, i.e the notch is on the top part of the cover but not on the bottom (the notch that goes around the engine mount on the drivers side). Im thinking that when whoever had it before me ran into that Mule deer it snapped off. Am I correct in thinking that the motor mount bolts to the block or is it cast into the block?

[AccordSi]

Happened to me too.....busted valves, rocker arms and sh*t. Fortunately I had a spare engine in my backyard that I scrap stuff from. Just do like achovies said....pray. It's cool though, everything get fixed in time.

[hondacowboy003]

hm 3 for 3 :lol . I guess Ill just pray then, Im good at that :lol .
Ill let ya know how things turn out, Im gonna get on it sometime this month or next (depends on when the heat lets up and if I can get the money together to do the belt, tune up and change all my filters and hoses). and if it frigs up on me after wards guess Ill just go to the junkyard and get another engine or just rebuild the one I got Thanks for the help

[danronian]

When I bought my 3g in december the previous owner who worked at a dealer told me the car came to them with a snapped timing belt and a seized distributer bearing and they just replaced the distributer and belt and the car runs perfectly for me with no valve noise at all. So, good luck!

[danronian]

When I bought my 3g in december the previous owner who worked at a dealer told me the car came to them with a snapped timing belt and a seized distributer bearing and they just replaced the distributer and belt and the car runs perfectly for me with no valve noise at all. So, good luck!