Its a Honda civic LX 1989 sedan. Original motor, it used to run fine it just idled a little low, so i was driving one day and the timing belt broke while i was driving, so i bought a new distributor since they where gonna change the timing belt, so they changed the timing belt and it rides rough and idles rough , when the guy tries to move the distributor it doesn't affect how it idles, so did they install the timing belt correctly? they got it to run but it runs like crap now, i also put on a new battery and starter, does that have to do with riding so bad? maybe the timing belt was put in their wrong since the distributor doesn't affect what it does when the try adjusting it, the guy seemed offended when I told him maybe he didn't put in the timing belt right, its a Place called Fullerton Automotive, their charging me 75$ to figure out whats wrong with it, but before it broke it was riding so good, i would take care of it and change the oil and tune it up all the time, i would drive it to LA and west covina with no problems. So what do you guys think?

 

Timing belt breaking while driving = possible valve to piston contact. I would at least do a compression test first.

If compression checks out just fine, I would then begin to think that the mechanical timing is off. Meaning the shop didn't install it correctly. Does it backfire or "pop" when decelerating in gear?

If you can access the timing belt/cam gear, try to rotate the crank (with hand tools of course) and set it to TDC. There should be markings on the crank to show this. Once lined up, check the cam gear and see where the TDC "marker" is. My guess is that the car's timing is "retarded", rather than advanced.

 

...i would pull the timing cover and make sure crank and cam gears are top dead ctr...the cam has arrows pointing horrizonally,crank has arrow pointing up,mine has the pully key at t.d.c....they should be clearly marked.check the crank shaft sensor...i was reading and someone wrote that there are 2 crank sensors in this year that will affect your timing.personally im not sure.check your manual...haines,chilton.
like cvcrcr said,given how this all happened they should have done a compression check just to make sure you didnt screw your valves....or motor in general up.it doesnt always damage your engine,...but that would be pure luck if it didnt.