Ok as some of you know i have been having idling problems. I was driving to work today, not beating on it.......and i go over train tracks slowly, and then i hear *SNAP*. Car dies.



yea so got er towed home, and put a paperclip in spark plug 1, and held it close to metal......no spark. I think my timing belt snapped. S*IT!.........i wasnt stepping on the gas thou so i am hoping the valves arent bent...........oh man..........anyone got a SOCH VTEC head for sale? Im so pissed. I gotta drive around in my S-10 till its fixed.

Oh man that sucks!

Damn, good luck. I hope its a simple fix, but I dunno how that'll turn out.

im taking it to the stealership. My dad is a CPA and he used to work there for like 15 years, so he knows the GM of Service. Hopefully i can get a break of some sort on the labor. Do the valves automaticly get bent when the SOHC belt snaps? Or do u have to be stepping on the gas? I always coast over the tracks, and as soon as i hit em, it died. Am i safe?

You'll probably be better off with a new head...

what makes you say that? I always thought they are bent or not bent..........so the head will be fine or shot......nothing inbetween

Hell, whle you at it, this will give you the excuse to swap out that slowmatic.

Well I didn't mean "new" new head...you will most likely have bent valves no matter how easy you were on it. May be you could take this as an opportunity to do some upgrades on the head...

i dont get what you mean. I always thought that the snap either bent all the valves or none..........remmy this isnt a good time for the swap.....thats getting done in spring by a different shop. I do not have the parts yet either.

I'll just let myself shut up...I'm obviousle confusing myself and you. May be in the morning I'll make more sense...

no its cool man i want input. I just remember hearing that when a SOHC timing belt snaps youre either screwed and u need a new head, or its fine and u dont need a new one. I never heard of something inbetween. I just hope the head is fine. I dont have money for this **** right now

Back in ukraine we had the belt snap on a mercedes step-van...I-6 only 4 bent valves...don't know why...don't know if it applies to our engines...

why did it snap? was the belt in bad shape already or did you not notice?

ORIGINAL: pcupo12
Do the valves automaticly get bent when the SOHC belt snaps?


No, the valves don't automatically get bent. Sometimes you can be lucky (very rare) and you can just replace the timing belt.

That sux. This remind me that I need to get mine replace cuz im 21,000miles over and it could break anytime soon.

ORIGINAL: pcupo12

no its cool man i want input. I just remember hearing that when a SOHC timing belt snaps youre either screwed and u need a new head, or its fine and u dont need a new one. I never heard of something inbetween. I just hope the head is fine. I dont have money for this **** right now


You wouldn't need a new head... just two to four valves most likely. It usually won't bend more than one or two cylinders' woth if it bends any.

When the valve bends, its because it has hit the piston. So i'm wondering if it is possible that there is damage to the piston? I'm thinking no b/c the pison is prolly made out of stronger stuff than the valves. I don't get how the whole head is shot because of a bent valve.

Ok, do you know it's the timing belt or are you just thinking worst case here?

Like AOD said, it's bent becasue it hits the piston. Not good; for the valve (obviously) or for the piston. Good news is that it's not a given that any of it is damaged. I have seen/heard of timing belts breaking and just replacing the belt to get back on the road.

I will have an extra head here in a week or so. You may have to clean it up, but I can hook you up. Let me know if it comes to that.

ORIGINAL: AgentofDarkness

When the valve bends, its because it has hit the piston. So i'm wondering if it is possible that there is damage to the piston? I'm thinking no b/c the pison is prolly made out of stronger stuff than the valves. I don't get how the whole head is shot because of a bent valve.


Disclaimer: The following post is based on the speculation that it is actually a broken timing belt.

It's possible to damage the pistons, but very unlikely (and almost impossible on a Civic). When my brother first bought his GSX (for $400), the harmonic balancer belt had snapped and taken the TB with it. Two of the pistons had huge valve divots in them.

On a Civic, it's about a 50-50 chance of having bent valves or not. I'm assuming you didn't try to crank the car after the fact, so I can tentatively say you're going to be ok... if that's reassuring at all.:D

i did a mini-me swap about half a year ago and i was slowing down for the dip in this road as i was turning to go up this big ass hill i was in 1st gear going 8 miles an hour and all of a sudden "SNAP" clunk clunk clunk, so i pulled over and the timing belt was totaly snapped and laying at the bottom.

So me and my dad towed the car back home and took the head off and found that one of valves in the number one cylinder barely kissed the top of the piston and all of the carbon built up on the valve was gone and it was shinny. It didn't do a single thing to the piston but we just swaped out the old head and put on some new gaskets and we were off and running within a few hours.

but i know how you feel and it gets pretty frustrating.


ended up selling the v-tec head for 20 bucks

ORIGINAL: Street Sniper

Ok, do you know it's the timing belt or are you just thinking worst case here?





What else could it be? The car is trying to start....u hear the common "Honda" starting noise.......however there is NO spark........and i definetly felt something snap.......everything else is the same under there........so i was thinking either snapped Timing belt, or fuel pump is shot............i put a paperclip on the end of the spark plug wire and held it 1/4 inch from a solid ground on the car, and no spart @ All........so thats why im leaning towards timing belt..........i really hope its the fuel pump thou........id get a nice walbro 255lph...............and even if its NOT the timing belt........that **** is going to get replaced.

are there any better ways to see if im getting a spark? How can i test the fuel pump??

Go outside right now and turn it over with the oil cap off and see if you can see the rockers a' rockin. (You will obviously need someone else) and dont' post again until you have done this Mr Pessimism.

When you turn the key without starting it, can you hear the fuel pump engaging? If not, loosen the fuel filter service nut and turn it on and look for gas, Homie.

well kappa i tried to start it but i didnt sit on the starter........why what would that do? Nothing would be moving right? If the belts snapped its snapped and nothing would move when i try to start it? I wasnt sure why it stopped so of course im going to try to start it.

You could take off your dizzy cover and have someone crank the motor and see if it spins. If it doesn't spin, then the timing belt is snapped.

If you're cranking it with a broken TB, you're pretty much 100% positively screwed. The starter will still be spinning the bottom end, but the valves will just be sitting there waiting to get hit by a piston... bad news.

So just don't crank it. If you want to check the TB, take the top timing cover off.

great................i just figured its a natural reaction to try to start ur car if it dies............so would it be more cost effective to get new valves or a new head? What would vlaves cost?

Well, valves are more cost effective (since you can buy them in sets of 4 or 8) but the labor is going to be significantly more. So if you know how to do a valve job, have at it. Otherwise, start shopping for a new head.

And starting your car after it dies is kind of an automatic reaction, I know, so I didn't really expect you to know not to crank it. But now you do for future reference. :D

yea............well so are there any chances the valves ARENT bent? Or not possible now. Oh and judging by my symptoms do u think anything else could be wrong?

Do you have stock pistons and a stock head gasket? There's a chance you could be the luckiest person in the world in that your valves may all have stopped as level as possible, meaning the pistons could still be able to clear them. The first thing you need to do is take of your top timing cover to verify that it is a broken TB (try pulling it out while you're at it). Then, if it is, replace it and start conpression testing. Don't try and diagnose other symptoms before you get the major stuff taken care of though. One thing at a time.:)

Im taking it to the dealership......i dont have enough knowlegdge to do this stuff........but im just sayin do u think it could be something other than the T belt? Just doesnt seem possible.

Sounds like a perfect case of a broken TB to me. I really think you should consider having a look at it yourself before you take it in, AT LEAST to diagnose it. That'll save you a couple hours' worth of labor (i.e. $$$) that they would normally take to poke around under the hood. Then you could just take it in and say, "Replace my timing belt, bitch. And do a compression test while you're at it."

"Replace my timing belt, bitch. And do a compression test while you're at it."



Some thing about that just made me crack up.

local://upfiles/1537/D5E1898E7B924963BBFE6F65C714E8BE.jpg

And starting your car after it dies is kind of an automatic reaction, I know, so I didn't really expect you to know not to crank it. But now you do for future reference.thats why when my car died a couple of weeks ago, i towed it to Leviiis house and pulled the oil pan and valve cover off. i wanted to make sure it wasnt TB or a snapped rod or something. turned out it was just a bad ICM (of course) but it died all of a sudden under hard acceleration, so it seemed mechanical, not electrical. oh, and when you crnaked on it, did it seem like it was turning over really easily? like, more so than normal?

yea it was turning over pretty easily.

ORIGINAL: Kappa22
Well, valves are more cost effective (since you can buy them in sets of 4 or 8) but the labor is going to be significantly more. So if you know how to do a valve job, have at it. Otherwise, start shopping for a new head.


Why put used valves in a new head?

I'm talking about putting new valves in the head he has now (if they're bent). It's cheaper to buy replacement valves and seals if you can do the work yourself, but if you're paying someone else to do it, a whole new head would be cheaper.

yea well sniper said i could have the extra head hes got. Or i mite splurge and spend 750 on a FULL RACE ported and polished head. Adding that to my turbo it should be good for 50 more poines.

well the car goes into the dealership on monday night, theyll look @ it on tuesday and let me know whats up. I sure hope i dont need a head.

These are a few pics i snagged while my car was on the flatbed. Man it sucks.



local://upfiles/2201/2C4157BCE5AB4C55A56CB7AD11521EBA.jpg

local://upfiles/2201/7EDE44336BBC4135A54726FFB186FC88.jpg

thats a weird spot to mount your front license plate

Not to block the IC may be?

ORIGINAL: Kolhoznik

Not to block the IC may be?



weeeeeeee got a winner

LOL, why not drill holes in the plate? ....j/k...

ORIGINAL: pcupo12

yea............well so are there any chances the valves ARENT bent? Or not possible now. Oh and judging by my symptoms do u think anything else could be wrong?


Yeah, when/if the belt snapped only the valves that were open would be messed up, the ones that were closed would still be fine because they wouldn't have any way of being opened to get whacked by a piston.



yea it was turning over pretty easily.



I think he was getting at, it would turn over easier if it didn't have to spin the cam.[&:]

I think he was getting at, it would turn over easier if it didn't have to spin the cam. right. i noticed that it cranked like crazy when i snapped the belt in my Escort GT.

ORIGINAL: Kolhoznik

LOL, why not drill holes in the plate? ....j/k...


they would probably write you a ticket for distroying government property LOLLLLLL:D:D

ummmm....I collect licence plates....is that a crime??? I even have some of those saying "emergency" and "municipal" on them....I wonder whether that ambulance and a cop got a ticket for driving without a plate....

im wondering why oh why dont you open the timing cover to check if its snapped or not instead of asking everyone if its possibbly snapped taking off the cover is easy and you wont screw up anything and best off all youll see the cam gear and the belt on it if its not broken

honestly i dont really have the time to do it, besides its going to the dealership to get fixed regardless the problem, i have a 150$ credit there.

If the pistons are fly cut , the valves will clear
if not , power on or not if the engine rotates the
valves will hit the pistons. I don't have to tell you what that means

I sure do, new valves 3000miles ago, i promise you she is cherry, off a 97 ex

ORIGINAL: leco516

If the pistons are fly cut , the valves will clear
if not , power on or not if the engine rotates the
valves will hit the pistons. I don't have to tell you what that means


It's not a broken TB...

sounds like bad coil[sm=yeahsmile.gif]

just throw a belt on it &see what happends-----got nothin to lose --

[:@]