Engine & Internal Chat about beefing up your engine's insides here.

repair, replace, or run?

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  #1  
Old 05-09-2007 | 09:07 AM
whogotz's Avatar
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Default repair, replace, or run?

I just bought a 94 accord lx. 158k miles. Does not look to have been well maintained.
Mechanic is telling me that the balance shaft was frozen, ruined the second timing belt. He was able to get the shaft unfrozen but is concerned that it will freeze up again down the line.

Several seals are leaking too.

Would it make more sense to just replace that second belt and take my chances? Have him repair everything (including a new shaft). Replace the entire engine? Or slap a band aid on it and run?
 
  #2  
Old 05-09-2007 | 06:16 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

depending on what you paid for it and how good of condition the body/interior is in would determine for me the value of working on it....
 
  #3  
Old 05-09-2007 | 10:06 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

ORIGINAL: whogotz
I just bought a 94 accord lx. 158k miles. Does not look to have been well maintained.
Mechanic is telling me that the balance shaft was frozen, ruined the second timing belt. He was able to get the shaft unfrozen but is concerned that it will freeze up again down the line.

Several seals are leaking too.

Would it make more sense to just replace that second belt and take my chances? Have him repair everything (including a new shaft). Replace the entire engine? Or slap a band aid on it and run?
Just wondering - were you told all of this by a technician at a Honda dealership?
 
  #4  
Old 05-10-2007 | 11:29 AM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

nope. private mechanic. for now i am taking the short route. was just quoted to do an engine swap (new timing belts, water pump, seals, etc.) for less than 1500.

going the short route for now, replacing the belt, should be able to get what i paid for it (2k). and if not, in a few months i will do the engine swap and have a car thats ready to give me at least 70k more miles.
 
  #5  
Old 05-10-2007 | 01:45 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

take the balance shaft out... balance ur engine and then u can start to build it balance shafts are the factorys cheap *** way to get the engine from vibrating instead of balancing out the rotational assymbaly... if ur a mech... a good mech u can balance it urself... if not get a machine shop to... but all u need to do is tear the engine down... get ur rebuild kit... set ur piston and the new rings on a VERY acurate scale... see what they weigh... Find the lightest one... and take the rest of the pistons down from there to match the first one... then do the same with ur rods (this time weight them with the wrist pin instead of the rings) again find the lightest and take the rest down... now the next part is hard... u have to balance ur crank shaft... that REQUIRES a machine shop... they have a machine thats sorta like a wheel balancer except its for crank shafts and then they can also knife edge it and make it all perdy... it will give u faster smoother reves and it can bring new life to ur old engine... (if ur going to do this and ur factory pistons/rods/block looks worn... u should get new pistons and rods and possibly bore ur block out... )
 
  #6  
Old 05-10-2007 | 03:45 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

If one or both balance shafts froze up, it would be the balance-shaft belt that would break, not the timing belt. Also, I can not imagine how, or why, a balance shaft would "freeze" into position.

If I were you, I'd get the car examined by someone you are sure knows your car's engine inside and out, and whom you absolutely trust.

Getting your engine back into proper running condition might very well be far cheaper than you think.
 
  #7  
Old 05-10-2007 | 05:08 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

does the f22 have a seperate chain for the balance shaft?

if the balance shaft warps a little... it can seize

 
  #8  
Old 05-10-2007 | 06:14 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

ORIGINAL: legionofone

does the f22 have a seperate chain for the balance shaft?

if the balance shaft warps a little... it can seize
It has two belts.
 
  #9  
Old 05-11-2007 | 01:20 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

ORIGINAL: Tony1M

If one or both balance shafts froze up, it would be the balance-shaft belt that would break, not the timing belt. Also, I can not imagine how, or why, a balance shaft would "freeze" into position.

If I were you, I'd get the car examined by someone you are sure knows your car's engine inside and out, and whom you absolutely trust.

Getting your engine back into proper running condition might very well be far cheaper than you think.
That was my intial thought too.... I didn't want to sound dumb but I've never heard of a balance shaft siezing up. If it warped somehow then heat or something had to have been applied and that would have damaged far more than just the balance shaft....
 
  #10  
Old 05-11-2007 | 02:01 PM
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Default RE: repair, replace, or run?

Yes, unlike a cam shaft, or a crank shaft, those balnance shafts have absolutely no "load" on them during normal operation. They just sit therespinning for their entire lives and that's it.Why would they suddenly warp?- I ask myself.

The front balance shaftseal is the one notorious for popping out andleaking oil like a kitchen faucet, and the rear one is underneatha gear housing that is full of oil during normal operation, so both those shafts get plenty of oil, Ifind it very hard to believe that either shaftwould just stop turning.

Even if the oil in the engine was never changed, or somehow all the oil passages on the enginebecame plugged, passages other than the ones feedingthe balance shafts would also be plugged. In that case, I would fully expect that those balance shafts would be the LAST things on the engine sieze, and almost certainly not the first.

Like I said, if I owned this car, I'd be getting a second opinion - preferably from a Honda technician.
 



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