Hello;

I had a new timing belt put on my 2000 Honda Accord LX about 500 miles (two weeks) ago.

I was driving down the Interstate yesterday and the engine just stopped.

I coasted to a stop. I tried to re-start the engine. The starter strained and would only turn the engine very slowly.

I had AAA haul the car to the shop. It is there this morning. They have not yet called to tell me what is wrong with the engine.

I think that it might be the timing belt. If it is the timing belt that broke:

Question 1a. What could have caused the timing belt to break? 1b. Could it have been improperly installed or would it not ran at all had it been improperly installed?

The engine was making a clattering noise like the valves needed to be adjusted. I had just let the shop manager listen to it.

The shop manager said that it may be loose valves or there may have been an issue with the rocker arms. I was going to bring it in today for a valve adjustment.

Question 2. If the camshaft or one of the rocker arms broke would that also cause the new timing belt to break?

Thanks.

 

Well partner could be many reasons why the belt broke? but to give you a straight answer,Yes it could have been installed incorrectly? i wouldnt put it pass them?
Dont get me wrong there is some very good mechanics out their,its just hard finding 1! But you came to the rite place!cause i just happen to be 1 of those mechanics!not to mention our other members of course!
But i would do the same thing as you did?TAKE IT BACK!and let them fix it rite this time and every time a timing belt is installed the valves must be adjusted no if's or buts about it.
And tell that manager what i said about the valves! he should have known that?
good luck keep us posted

 

Thanks my1st.honda93 for responding to my question.

I just came from the shop this afternoon. It's the Honda dealership.

They said that the camshaft was broken.

I asked them to let me see the camshaft. I wanted to make SURE that it was not the timing belt.

They said due to insurance reasons they could not let a customer back into the shop.

I insisted. The service man went back into the shop. They rolled the car out into the parking lot.

I looked and the timing belt was intact. It was not broken. It still looked kind of new.

The mechanic lifted the valve cover off the engine. He had the service person turn the starter. The valve rocker arms were going up and down. I couldn't see where the camshaft was broken.

Anyway, they didn't lie to me about the timing belt. I was relieved at that.

The clattering noise I mentioned in my first post, which was coming from under the valve cover area according to the shop manager yesterday, I now don't think was loose valves.

The question is - did they bugger something up when they changed the timing belt 500 miles ago?! At this point I don't think there is any way of knowing.

Anyway, they said that they could get a used cylinder head. The cost is going to be about $1300 or $1400. This all has had me flustered but maybe this time they'll get it fixed right.

(There's something else only semi-related to this post/issue. One of my siblings used to own this same car. At 75,000 miles the engine started smoking.

A mechanic was supposed to have rebuilt the engine. The auto dealer today said that the engine block has markings on it like it had been bought from a junk yard. The crooked mechanic before sold us a junkyard engine instead of a rebuilt one. There's no telling how many miles this engine has on it.)

Thanks again for responding to my problem.

 

WOW! I know exactly what your going through and im sorry for you!this is why i do not and will not let car dealers ever work on my cars!If they really knew what the hell they where doing in the 1st.place they would have or should have noticed that defect in the cam when they put the timing belt or the so called mechanic who worked on your car screwed up but believe me when i say they will never tell you it was there fault!they will loose money!!!
And anytime a timing belt is replaced it is procedure to check all valves and make sure there gagged to specs!
I know this cause i used to work as a mechanic for toyota but they had enough of me telling them that they do cheese *** work!
They would get upset with me cause every car i worked on wouldnt come back?only because i did my job rite the 1st.time!
Sad but true thats how those companies make there money for customers like you that dont know this will take your car back again and again and again!and they charge thousands of dollars to do the kinda f@$& up work that they do
well good luck partner i wish you the best

 

I'm wondering something...

If the camshaft was broken, how come it spins & operates the rockers & valves? If it's beginning to crack, maybe they should show you the crack. If it had fractured all the way through, it wouldn't be turning.

 

Exactly.

I have been wondering the same thing. Hindsight is 20-20. Just on the spur of the moment like that it was kind of hard to think of all the questions to ask.

My primary concern was the timing belt. I thought they may have been fibbing about it. The timing belt was not broken. It appeared to be tight.

The mechanic raised the hood, lifted the valve cover, and had the service manager turn the starter on. They weren't trying to hide anything.

I wished that I had have asked them now why the rocker arms were moving up and down. The cam shaft could have been sheared at the end.

They're going to have it ready in two days. I am going to make a point to ask them about the rocker arms.

I may call them tomorrow and ask them to keep the broken cam and show it to me.

I am just kind of flustered over the whole thing.

 

What was the very first step that the dealership took after you brought the car with the failed engine to them?

Did they do the very easy job of removing the valve cover and discover the "broken camshaft" (that you say was still operating the valves), or did they first take all the trouble to remove the timing covers to look at the timing belt that they had just installed, and THEN remove the valve cover and discover the broken camshaft?

If they discovered the broken camshaft right off the bat, why did they then remove the timing/balancer belt covers --- so that you could so easily see that the timing belt that they had installed was still intact? I'm not saying that they did this, but if the belt they had installed was brokent, to cover there a$$es, why couldn't they just put a new belt on there to show you?

The coincidence of the replacement of the timing belt, the noise thereafter, and the susequent complete failure of "something" while driving down the highway would be too much for me to accept as unrelated events.

In short, my friend, there is a very good chance that you are going to pay for a mistake, or mistakes, made by that Honda dealership's employee.

The fact that we, as customers who are paying good money for work to be done correctly, cannot be present to witness for ourselves, as the engine is taken apart, what caused a major failure such a short time after a job as relevant as a timing-belt change has been finished, is completely unacceptable.

Why? Because the dealership's incentive is to come to the conclusion that nothing they did was incorrect or improper.

I know that camshafts wear over time, but an outright catastrophic failure a short time after a timing belt job? I would be more than skeptical. I wouldn't believe it unless I were myself present at the forensic disassembly and could see the broken camshaft myself. And if I did in fact see a broken camshaft, I would accept the astonishing coincidence.

The fact that the same dealership is now again working on the car is not good because that dealership can now completely "cover up" any mistake(s) that they may have made, if they did in fact make any.

Therefore, if the dealership was at fault, it is now going to be difficult ito get compensation.

You say that after the timing belt job you heard lound noise from the engine. Was this lound noise present before the timing belt job?

You also say that you took the car to the shop manager about the noise and that after he listened to the engine he told you that they would adjust the valves at a later time. But the failure took place before that time, correct? So the shop manager failed to diagnose the seriousness of the sounds he was hearing, especially so soon after a timing belt job that should have concluded only after a valve adjustment had been performed. Was a valve adjustment performed? Does it state that on your record of the job?

Regardless, by the subsequent catastrophic engine failure, his judgement -- his allowing the vehicle to continue to be driven -- has been proven to be faulty.

It doesn't take long to remove a valve cover and determine what's causing noise underneath. That's exactly what he should have recommended after hearing the bad noise for himself either at that moment, or "leave it here and we'll have a look as soon as we can".

Do you have any record of taking the car into the dealer to have the shop manager listen to the noise and a record of the later appointment to get the valves adjusted? If you do, this, along with the original record of the timing belt job, can be ammunition in a legal proceeding, which I believe may very well be warranted in this unusual case.

I have endured this experience myself, albeit not as costly a case. This is precisely why I perform all vehicle maintenance that I am capable of.

Sorry this has happened to you.

 

Tony;

Thank you for responding to my problem. I appreciate the input.

I am going to have to get a loan from my credit union to pay for the repairs.

I'm thinking about talking to a lawyer. I don't think they did anything on purpose. If they did make a mistake it was just because of incompetence. But it's been a costly mistake, though.

Thanks again.

 

Well, if it's their mistake then it should be costly to them, not to you. I mean, they are a Honda dealer, and you'd expect the larger Honda corporation doesn't want to get that kind of reputation.

 

Then it's even more of a sad story.

If you cannot afford to even talk to an lawyer, you may want to walk into the dealership and discuss your experience with the manager of the place. As you walk into the dealership to talk to the local manager, you can ask the receptionist at the front of the dealership to please give you the name of the owner(s) of the dealership.

As you explain your situation to the manager, be polite, but be thorough in your explanation of the details of your experience, particularly emphasizing your bringing in the noisy vehicle after the timing belt job, but before the failure on the highway.

If the local manager does not offer you at least some compensation such as "we'll split the cost of the additional work with you", before your conversation ends, tell him that you intend to send a detailed complaint via registered mail to the owner(s) of the dealership, whose name you can now state, while asking the manager if that person is indeed the right person to contact. You can ask him if he'd like you to mail a copy of the complaint to him.

Then write the letter and send it via registered mail to the owner. State in the letter that if you are not satisfied by his response that you will contact both Honda USA and the local Better Business Bureau.

The above are inexpensive steps that may save you a pile of dough in the end.

Again, sorry for all your trouble. Honda Accords are good cars but they need good maintenance, just like any other car.