[font="Tahoma"]I was recently driving my 92 Honda Civic with the 1.5L D15B7 engine with around 200K on it. I was headed south on Minnesota Highway 169 when my engine suddenly stopped, the RPM's dropped to zero and I pulled over to the shoulder from 65 mph. As I was approaching a complete stop I put the car into second gear to try and roll start it, to no avail. I called AAA and had it towed to my house. Initially my friends and I thought it was a bad ignition coil because there was no spark going to any of the plugs. However, upon further invetigating, we discovered that the timing belt has broke. I cursed quite a bit initially, but now I am down to business. I need to know what the "probables" of what happened are, and if its worth repairing, or to just replace the engine or what. If anyone knows of any kinds of tests or anything I could perform to understand how bad the damage is, I would greatly appreciate it! [

 

your only bet right now would be to replace the timing belt and have your fingers crosseed... cause there is a possibility that you could have bent valves,or worse.... if that is the case then you looking to either rebuilding, or a new engine.

 

A cautious Honda owner replaces their timing belt every 60-70k miles. It's actually amazing that your car made it to 200k!! It's a fix that'll run you several hundred dollars. That being the case, you've got a 13 year old car with 200k on it and several hundred dollars could wind up being 50% of the value of the car.
However, you're in luck! You own a Honda and can, for the cost of replacing your timing belt, likely squeeze another 100k miles out of your car if it's in relatively good condition (recent engine problems not withstanding).
There's not much you can do to "test" to diagnose your car. The timing belt is broken so you car won't even start. I wouldn't count on there being any terribly serious damage done to the engine either. Timing belt loss is a pretty notorious problem among older Hondas. This defect really hogs the spotlight because its one of the vanishingly small number of probelms to look out for with this brand of car. Plenty of Hondas have survived similar incidents and I'd be optimistic if I were you. Good luck!

 

how hard is it to do? I need to get my timing belt changed, and replace the front engine oil seal. I dunno if I should do it myself or take it to the shop.

 

i would get another 16 valve head and a new timing belt.... going 65mph and your timing belt brakes it would be a miracle if it didnt bend any valves, sh*t i was going 2mph and my timing belt snapped and bent some valves in the number 1 cylinder

 

if the belt is broken, and the seal is going out, just drop in a newer motor with a brand new belt and water pump on it. itll end up being a few extra bucks, but you wont have a 200k mile motor in there. you could get a d16z6 vtec motor in there pretty easily, and enjoy a bit more power and the newer engine.