I've got a 2000 accord LX w/160K on it. I brough it into a local shop to have the timing belt (and another little belt - water pump?) replaced. They did the work, and I picked up the car. The next day, I heard a loud thumping when the car was started. Brough it back and the shop said a rod bearing had gone out. I had it towed to a dealer and they confirmed that actually, 2 rod bearings were shot.

so.........I boughta used engine and had a friend install it. When he removed the timing belt cover on the original engine, he noticed that the bracket holding an idler pulley (for the smaller of the two belts) had been broken (presumably when the belt was being removed) and brazed back together. Also, the idler pulley for the smaller belt looked "burned" - bluish/blackish.

I have a sneaking feelig that the shop that replaced the belts screwed up and somehow affected the oil pump. How is the oil pump driven? By the smaller belt? Or by a counter shaft that is driven by that belt? I think it's very coincidental that I had the timing belt replaced and the NEXT DAY I have two fried rod bearings.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much,

Jim

 

SAVE ALL OF THE PARTS THE SHOP WORKED ON! DO NOT THROW ANYTHING AWAY! That shop definitely screwed up the job and they should have paid for the replacement of your engine. Did you tell them what happened?

 

i havent approached them yet - i wanted to understand exactly how this could have happened. i still have all the parts.

 

Hondas are interference engines and if the timing belt broke or slipped a tooth, it can cause catastrophic damage to the engine (i.e. bent valves, etc..) The dealer you took it to....was it a Honda dealer? Did they say if the timing belt was intact when they disassembled the toasted engine?

 

no - it didn't cause any top end damage like that. the belt was in fine shape. i have to think that somehow, thier timing belt replacement (along with that other little belt they replaced) interfered with the oil pump running properly and caused the oil pressure to go to zero.

 

4-cylinder engine??? I don't know if the V-6 was available in LX or ???

If it's 4-cyl, the oil pump is driven directly by the crankshaft. But I'm not sure exactly how... Perhaps the steel key for the sprocket & crank pulley is supposed to extend back & drive the oilpump too? Did they get that messed up?

 

yeah, it's a 4-cyl. i don't know ifthe shaft/keygot messed up or not.

if i knew how the oil pump was powered, andalso if it ispossible that a timing belt replacment could affect the pump, i couldpretty much assume that it's the shop's fault.

just seems a little coincidental to me that would happen 1 day after getting the belt replaced....

 

UHMMM .. i smell a fish or 2 ..
no offense but you made a big mistake to replace the engine on your own ,, you should have had the dealer tell you exactly what they thought went wrong and then take it to the other shop and have them fork out the money to fix it ..
bearings are not going to go bad unless there is oil starvation ..
so maybe they were badly worn to start with and it is a coincidence ( i doubt it ) ,, or they started and ran the car with no oil ..
But if your car had no knocking and was running ok before you took it to the shop,, I smell a big fish

 

thanks for the feedback - i have every intention of going to this shop and explaining the situation to them, then sueing them in small claims court if they will not reimburse me for the cost of the engine replacement. But, i would like to know if a timing belt replacement could affect the oil pump, becuase i would like to present them with concrete proof of thier mistake....

 

I'm not sure how the oil pump is driven on an Accord, because the shop manual isn't very specific on that.

I would suggest that you check that the oil pan isn't dented in. The engine has to be jacked up (supported) when changing a timing belt, because an motor mount is removed. You should used a piece of wood to prevent denting the oil pan. The oil pickup could have been pinched off or broken off and cause the engine to be starved of oil too.