Hello there.....I have a small big problem with my Honda Civic 2001
I've been reading a lot of forums online, and I'm still a bit confused. To explain a little,
I never had any problems with my car. Never ! For maintenance purposes I went to change my timing belt at a garage . I bought the belt, tensioner (very expensive thing btw) waterpump and some seals that I don't remember there name.
After that replacement......the car had a weird roaring noise.....but I let my dad ( who has some car knowledge )check it for me....he says the belt is ok, not too tight, not too lose. But he's not sure about the noise. The car races ok.
So anyway, I stopped caring about the noise. But after a while the car started to lose power, check engine light comes on...and no matter how much you give gas, it would run like an old lady, and sounding like a 3 cylinder car. I have to turn off the engine, let the car cool off a bit, and start again, so I can reach home. ( and I hate that process )
As I looked for info online, the most probable culprit would be the Camshaft sensor or as they call it, the TDC....or it can also be the crankshaft sensor. I read that the TDC could have got oxidate during timing belt replacement or something like that.....or that there might be oil in it, so I had my dad check it for me. He took it out and showed it to me. It look like a pretty new thing. No dirt, no oil no nothing.
I'm afraid to buy a new TDC sensor, while it might be the crankshaft sensor, or the other way around. I can buy them both to be sure the problem gets fixed, but then I'd have to bring my car again to a garage, because my dad says he cannot take off the timing belt, because he's unfamiliar with some timing thing for those car...and in order to change the crankshaft sensor, you will have to take the timing belt off
I can also scan it, to get a more exact indication of the problem, but I heard so many weird stories about scanning cars......that I don't want to waste money on that.
I don't have money to throw away. I hardly have money to put gas in my car.
So I would appreciate if there's any Honda Civic experts here that would advice me what to do.
I'm hoping it might be the TDC sensor, since that would be cheaper for me to replace, since I can let my dad change it.
Does replacing the crankshaft would require some tampering with the timing belt. Is this correct ? And must I replace the timing belt ONCE AGAIN, to change the crankshaft sensor, ??Please say NO. Any advices please ? Any expert here perhaps can tell me exactly what to change to fix the problem ??

 

Whenever the check engine light comes on, that means the ECU has stored a trouble code for you. The code is usually a helpful clue to the source of the problem. Use an OBDII scanner to read out the code(s) and see what they are.

It's quite possible to damage the crank position sensor during a timing belt change, or leave the wires loose and out so they get caught in the pulley, but that will typically completely stop the engine from running.