What happens when your Timing Belt goes?

[Oz87Si]

g'day Boys

My 87Si is at 188,000 km's and its common knowledge that in most Honda's you change the timing belt before you hit 100,000km's. I'm guessing the previous owner probs did it around 90-95,000 km's. I'm about to get my clutch done and I'll do the timing belt at the same time (will cost me $850 all up).

Just wondering about what happens if the belt snaps before it's changed as I'm getting a little vervous about the Km's and the belt letting go soon. Plus, if I launch the car in 2nd from say 2000rpm to about 5000rpm, the engine sometimes stops pulling for a split second sometimes as if it misses a few revs or something....

Can the car get seriously fucked up if the belt snaps while you're driving?

Cheers

[TheMagi]

the valves risk hitting the pistons if the belt should break.

[Strugglebucket]

Dude, replace that belt and replace it NOW. Mine was doing the same thing like it would miss every once and a while if you were driving at steady rpm. That little jump on the tach it does is because a section of the teeth are stripped out. If you don't wanna break down and have to rebuild the head, fix it now.

[FatDave]

if you're really lucky the belt will strip a few teeth at low rpm and the engine will die with no damage done, if you're not so lucky the belt will snap and the pistons will slam into the valves and make a nice boat anchor out of the head

[accordlxi2.0]

umm this has been a big debate.
the engine is NON-INTERFERANCE.
if the belt snap's the engine's fine.
i had a friend who dogged his 3g, everyday and did'nt change the belt at all.
it lasted for a while.
well doggig as usual it snapped.
he cranked quite a few time's too.
it was the belt which was really worn, and we replaced it, it started ranned too.


a few guy's on this board had the belt's break, replaced it , it was fine . . .

[mr eff]

yeah i've heard the engines are non-interference, meaning if the belt snapped you shouldn't damage the valvetrain. of course, don't let it break to find out... get the thing replaced while you're doing the clutch!

[TheMagi]

yeah i've heard the engines are non-interference, meaning if the belt snapped you shouldn't damage the valvetrain. of course, don't let it break to find out... get the thing replaced while you're doing the clutch!

I thought it was in interferance motor

[johnwc723]

hmm i think that honda engines are interference, i have heard of people messing up their engines when the timing belt breaks, one of my friends had a lude with the a20a4 and his timing belt broke and many of the valves got bent (maybe holes in the pistons too i dont remember) and he just gave up on it

sometimes people get lucky when the timing belt breaks in our cars and no major damage (or even noticable damage) happens, id replace the belt tho if you can!

[HondaBoy]

ok, well yes, its an interferance motor. think of it like this. your T belt breaks, the crank is still turing pushing the pistons up and down, but your cam shaft has stopped not letting the valves open and close with the pistons up and down run. you can get lucky as a few people have to where it broke just at the right time where the valves were not fully open. thats how they didnt bend the valve. moral of the story, its worth every penny you have to replace that damn T belt. and as your replacing the T belt, go ahead and replace the water pump and the other belts of the engine. believe me the water pump will like to go out on you many times after changing the T belt. actually if you change the alternator belt which also runs the water pump sometimes soon after that the water pump will go out when its pretty old.

[locknload68]

Yes it's an interference motor. I talked to a mechanic at Honda's Civic plant about my timing belt breaking and he was amazed that no valves got messed up. He said every one that he has seen has had internal engine damage.

[accordlxi2.0]

then why did my friend's 3g start up okay.
and some of the people on this board said thier's was fine . . .

plus i heard that 90 and up accord's ARE.
i don't know . . . . .

[rideredorgohome]

ok well it is really easy to take the cover off to check it. get a haynes manual at Auto Zone or something and it will tell you what it looks like when it needs to be replaced. any worn edges, fraying etc will indicate it is time to change it. i would not recommend changing it yourself, unless u r a mechanic. the engine is an interference engine. the belt was one of the first things i did when i first got the car for safety's sake. don't forgrt that our cars have power steering as well and not only can you punch a few holes in the pistons but when u lose power u will also lose steering.

[Oyvind Ryeng]

The car will steer fine without pressure from the PS-pump. A little hard, but it would still steer.

[rideredorgohome]

The car will steer fine without pressure from the PS-pump. A little hard, but it would still steer.

I meant to put "power" in there Steering without it is not fun and almost dangerous IMO at lower speeds

[Neuspeed87lx]

my timing belt snapped..... not good things happened.... dont like it snap .... replace it now and save the trouble

[KoNEY]

well, what does "interference" mean?? and what is this talk of '90 on up accords being "non-interference"??

[Oyvind Ryeng]

Interfering= The piston will hit the valves if they are open when piston gets to TDC.
Non-interfering= The piston will not hit the open valves at TDC.

[Ludi Mali]

I thought all hondas were interference, as are a majority of cars, they're cheaper to produce. Thats the one thing i loved about my 87 camry, non-interference=no stress

[accordlxi2.0]

by sean
"for the last fucking time the a20a is not an interfernce engine. i dont know when where or how it got around that it was but the bullshit stops here. put a belt on it youll be fine "


sorry sean i had too,peep's are confused again.

[AccordAddict]

its an interference engine, im sure of it , j/k . im glad the owner before me put a new belt on .

[accordlxi2.0]

i have a confession to make i never replaced neither t- belt's, cause they looked new, i gotta check this one though . .

[Oyvind Ryeng]

Is the A20 NOT an interfering engine? Are you guys absolutely sure about this? This is news to me!

[accordlxi2.0]

nope, plus one person knew the clearance's and he said they would'nt touch.
plus, one guy at my job, an acura owner say's that also what contribute's to prevent the engine from hitting if the . . .
oh my head hurt's wait . . .
okay you know on the block then the piston, then the top of the block, well if the piston does'nt surpass that or does'nt reach to the top then that's a non- interference engine.
i've seen the diff between a interfernce and non-interference
a mitsubishi galant (poor engine)
and a a20a3 whoa!@

[Oyvind Ryeng]

okay you know on the block then the piston, then the top of the block, well if the piston does'nt surpass that or does'nt reach to the top then that's a non- interference engine.

Are you thinking about the deck height?

Anyway, if the cam does not lift the valves high enough to make them come into contact with the piston @ TDC, it's all fun 'n' games. That means one doesn't even have to change the t-belt or tensioner to prevent engine damage.

[accordlxi2.0]

umm yea, but i'm glad that's over with, you know this should be a sticky.

something like:

ALL NEW MEMBER'S ( OR ALL MEMBER'S) A20 SERIES ENGINE'S ARE NOT INTERFERENCE.