I took my 2002 Honda Civic EX into my local mechanic to have the timing belt and water pump replaced: The timing belt because the motor has 116K on it and the water pump because I always do that with the timing belt.

Anyway, I call the guy and he says the work is done and he is just buttoning things up, so I can pick up my car, so I head over to the garage about two hours later and when I get there my car still has the hood up with two mechanic's heads buried in it. I ask the owner what's up and he says, “I don't know. It started right up and purred like a kitten for a couple of seconds and then shut down and would re-start. So they take off the cover and check the belt tension and it's good. They yank the left front tire and remove some stuff for access and the owner of the shop starts to hand turn the crank to check the marks and says, “Well I wonder how many valves I owe you?”. He tells me that “the belt jumped about three teeth”.

Okay so how does a belt jump three teeth? I thought all you had to do was remove one belt, check to make sure the marks line up and replace. What could they have done wrong?

Here's my dilemma: If there is damage, short of replacing the whole head, how do I know if the “repair” is not some “patch it together as cheaply as possible because we're paying for it and get it out of the shop” bubble gum and chicken wire job that will get me down the road a couple thousand miles and then self destruct?

What do I need to ask this guy? Should I take it to a Honda garage for an inspection of the work? I have heard horror stories of timing belts going in Honda's taking out the whole head and sometimes pistons and this guy is talking like a couple of valves will fix it. Won't the holes that the valve's run through be widened out if the valves were bent thereby ruining the head?

Man this sucks.

 

if im correct, you just need to replace the valves which isnt too big of a job but it gets expensive. just have another mechanic go over it when its done... id rather pay the 15 bux for piece of mind rather than drive it and the "fix" just break.

 

Just a quick update. All cylinders pressure tested at 170 PSI across the board.

The mechanic stated that he called a Honda garage and the service dept. told him that they have been replacing the idler pulley assembly with this procedure because there has been problem with them slipping after belt changes.

 

so is the mechanic gonna pay for it or sticking you with it?

 

Sounds like there's no damage after all, the engine has good compression after putting it back on time. Another NEW belt should be installed because the skipping could have damaged the teeth on the first one.

 

You mean the tensioner? The idler pulley is part of the A/C drive belt system