car died while driving it...

[AZ89Accord]

Car Died while driving...
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!!!

[shepherd79]

sounds like your starter doesn't turn the flywheel. which means only one thing, started is bad.

[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 shepherd79 , for your input!

[AZ89Accord]

Timing belt removal and installation ( My story) Part One.

I removed the valve cover

Rotated the crankshaft counter clock until the flywheel pointer was aligned with the "T" mark on the flywheel. ( There is a small aperture on the front left side of the engine where this is clearly visible with the help of a flash light) It is about 3/4 x 1/4 inch wide.

Loosen the lognuts.

Set the car on stands and set a car jack on the front of the center beam to add extra support for the car, remove the front left tire.

Removed the top timing belt cover off.

Loosen the alternator and water pump to remove their belts.

Loosen the AC pump and the power steering pump, removed belts.

Now, for the next task, which is to remove the crank shaft pulley’s bolt off, well, let me tell you...That bolt was tightened not in Japan, as everyone believes, but in Krypton or whatever place Superman is from.

Warning for future DYS people, get a hold of an impact wrench capable of removing bolts off the freaking golden gate bridge!
That sucker was in there for good, I spent all damn Sunday (didn't god chose that day to rest?) Instead I spent my day fighting against the evil forces of the pulley's bolt!

I broke a strap wrench in the process, which by the way, you will need to hold the pulley still.

So I decided to rent an electric impact wrench with 120 ft-lbs for $10 dls per day. I had a grin on my face confident that I was going to finally take the bolt off..... I was wrong...That thing would not budge...

After 5 hrs of trying to take the damn bolt off, just before my frustration got the best of me, my next door neighbor ( who was out of town ) came over and asked if I needed help, he got an impact wrench with 600 ft-lbs connected to an air compressor. Tried it once with an extension...nothing....tried it again with a deep impact socket, no extension this time, and the bolt came off...

I called it quits for the day, it was getting dark, got a couple of Pale Ale beers to thank my neighbor, who was the hero of the day, proceeded to drink the cold ones with sense of satisfaction.

Now, don't think that it will be as difficult for you as it was for me, but if you do this on your own, make sure that you got an impact wrench capable of putting lots of ft-lbs. Believe me, you will need it.

I will finish the installation tomorrow, I'll keep you posted.

[Immeraufdemhund]

how long would it take a person, normally, to replace a timing belt. Is it harder on a 88 prelude? (I think it has a b20 motor)

[AZ89Accord]

My guess, if you have the right tools and if the Crank shaft pulley's bolt comes off easy, I will say about 6 hrs. Fine tuning details included.

On your 88 Prelude is a little more time consuming because ( I'm now quoting Chilton's for Prelude /Accord 1984-1995 Repair Manual) you may need to drain the engine coolant, move the actuator ( if you have cruise control) out of the way.

Remove the splash shield.

Loosen the power steering pump and remove the belt, and move the power steering pump out of the way, with the hoses attached.

Same with the alternator and the ac compressor, which you need to support with stiff wire.

So anyway, you may want to take the whole day to do this job, again, get a hold of an impact wrench. I know some guys had used different techniques to remove this bolt; this bolt is one of the tightest on the car.

Also if you can, get a hold of a repair manual for your car, it is extremely helpful.

Hope this helps!

[GreenMachine]

That was funny ass story..cause it sounded all lot like when I was trying to get mine off too. Damn those things are on there. In my case the engine was out, but after a couple hours of trying many different methods, most including a 5ft breaker bar, and destroying 2 3/4 drive ratchets. I realized that there was a sticker on the belt cover saying that it was replaced 20,000 km ago. :lol

well hope it all turned out good

[ACCORD EX]

isn't the b20 prelude DOHC ??
if so it 's much more difficult , you have to cams to adjust !

MIKE

[AZmike]

How did the timing belt look? Are those teeth at the bottom missing as predicted?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Damn that just sucks, I hate it when shit hits the fan.

[AZ89Accord]

Yes they were Mike, there were about 4 inches of stripped teeth
at the bottom of the belt that I could not see with the top cover off. I finished the job today, took it for a test drive and it sounds normal. Hope it stays that way, thanks again for your input!

This forum kicks ass!

[Bobs89LXi]

You are VERY lucky. Usually when the timing belt goes, the engine tends to self-destruct.

[AZ89Accord]

But the belt didn't BREAK...it was stripped of teeth for about four inches and when that happens it is my understanding that the engine will be ok. I'm gald that the teeth on the belt stripped and the car just died instead of the belt breaking and the engine crashing!!!

[custom88]

I recently did a timing belt on a 2nd gen accord (it's Basically the same thing) it took me four hours and the reason why that bolt was so hard for you to get off is because you needed to have someone hold a screw driver in the front hole of the bell housing on the ring gear of the fly wheel, once tht is in place and someone is holding it tightly you can just break the bolt loose with a breaker bar. When you go to put that back together make sure that the bolt is on super tight otherwise it will wobly loose oh and replace the set key that is in there to, reusing the old one doesnt work out that well.

[AZ89Accord]

We used a strap wrench around the crankshaft pulley. Actually we used two because the first one broke we were holding the pulley so tightly. I don't think that bolt was going to come off without a very powerful impact wrench...which is what we finally got it off with. There were three strong guys usign all their strength on that bolt and it didn't budge at all! I thought there must be some lock tight on it, but no! Anyway thanks for the advice on the set key...