I have A 1999 Honda Civic EX that I had the 105K tuneup done at 104,500 miles. I am now at 117,000 miles and brought my car in for servicing (to a shop different then the shop that did my 105,000) and was told that the mechanic notice a wire dangling down that indicated the timing belt was put on incorrectly. They also noticed upon further inspection the crank sensor wires were damaged (see attached) because they were rubbing against the timing belt ?

However, the big shock was the mechanic said upon removal of the timing cover the technician noted that there was a gouge in the crankshaft that also damaged the harmonic balancer. The estimate to repair would be 4,500. The mechanic indicated that this issue occurred probably at the 105,000 tuneup.

Note when I initially had the 105,000 within 2 weeks of the 105,000 tune-up I lost power steering. When I brought it back to Honda they said they goofed something up during the 105,000 tuneup and the crankshaft pulley came loose and belts fell off...They assured me at the time that no damage was done and put the belts back on..

Note the 105,000 Honda Service shop has been quite cordial to this point and has agreed to take a look at my issue, but I am wondering if I can connect the dots. Thus, my question is is the crankshaft removed during the 105,000 tuneup.

 

Did this service include Timing belt change at 105k??, if yes, then the crank pulley would need to be remove.

 

Yes the timing belt service was done at 105K

 

The mechanic is telling me that there is a crack in the crankshaft keyhole ? What does this mean ? It appears they might fix this issue as it probably started as in issues when the dealer messed up the 105 K servicing. Why were they so confident that the 105K servicing issue created my problem

 

Here is the px of the damaged crankshaft

 

ooo.. damn..

Technically you can still drive it, but belt may not spin correctly, because you don't have the pin to keep the crank pulley in place (spining at same rate as the motor).

$4500 is too much, rather change out the motor and install another one would be faster and cheaper.

If you handy or you know someone willing to mod for you, you can dremel out another slot at the opposite side, basically make a slit on the pulley and on the shaft and install sometype of pin to keep it in place. Keep in mind that if you do it, your crank will slightly is off balance, if it's not already, but i think it should be Ok.

Anyone else want to chime in on this?

 

Considering the crank pulley came loose 2 weeks after the timing belt Honda should fix this for you, that's likely when the damage was done to the key hole. It is possible they just tightened the crank pulley back up and didn't pull it of and take a look although a thorough mechanic would do that. Even if they removed the pulley it would be hard to tell if the metal had hairline fractures and broken later. Once that bolt is loose the key becomes the only thing keeping the crank pulley in the same position and would receive forces it wasn't designed for.

Did you find any metal shavings or anything in the lower timing cover?

If Honda denies any fault I don't see a problem with the dremel idea, it wouldn't be all that hard, it would throw timing marks off so you'd have to mark a new TDC. Either do that or buy a salvaged motor, replacing the crank shaft is big work.

 

Clearly this started because the bolt was not properly tightened during the timing belt change. When it came loose the pulley started to wobble and tear up the shaft and the bore of the pulley.

Get a good used pulley, put the key in somewhere and secure with the bolt properly tightened, which is to say, really tight. The main purpose of the key is to keep the timing marks properly calibrated. You will need to make new marks to set the timing.

The timing belt pulley has its own key and that seems to still be OK.