Was driving to work yesterday, rolling about 75 on cruise control, car suddenly died and I rolled to a stop on the shoulder. Tried cranking it a couple of times, sounded weird/ no compression, so I figured the timing belt had broken.

Pulled it back to the house, removed the valve cover and upper timing cover and found a cleanly broken Gates timing belt I put on about 120K miles ago.

That's what I get for trying to stretch the recommended interval. I'm at 348,500 now on this Accord, and was planning on changing at 350K. Timing belt was previously changed at 65K (due to age), and 220K. I knew it was past due and should have done it before now.

So, I pulled valve cover, rockers, exhaust manifold, and have removed the 12MM nuts holding the intake manifold on. Removed distributor and unhooked sensor and coolant hoses. Then I tried getting the head bolts out, and managed to round off two of them when the socket worked up under extreme torque with a cheater bar. I've ordered some spiral sockets in the hopes I can get the last two out, but in the meantime, I wait.

This is the first time I've gone this far into an Accord engine. I rebuild several Honda ATV engines down to the crank every year (hobby) and between youtube, the FSM, and forums I've found there isn't much I can't do.

That said, anything further I need to do to get the head off, once I get those last two head bolts out? The intake seems to be pretty firm, so wasn't sure if I need to undo more fasteners to get that loose, or if I can work the head up and out with things as they are.

Plan is to pull the head, and assuming I don't see any cylinder/ piston damage, probably take the head to Memphis and have the it reworked. I've ground valves on ATV engines, but think for a 16 valve (vs two) I'd rather let a pro do the valves and make sure the head is flat.

Anything else I should look at doing while I'm in there? Dad bought this Accord new in 1994. I had a 93 EX coupe from new until 2008ish. I sold it with 360K on it only because Dad gave me this 94 when it got hard for him to get in and out of it. I think the wife was hoping I was finally going to give up the 94 and get something newer, and when she came home to me working on it, she was a little disappointed!

 

You won't be able to see it but sometimes the rings get damaged with a valve to piston collision.

 

Any way to check short of tearing the whole engine down and removing the rods from the crank/ pulling the pistons out? I rebuild Honda ATV engines constantly, so I'm not new to engines, just haven't torn into an Accord engine before. Other than a chuck of something coming apart and getting caught between the cylinder wall and piston, how would a ring get damaged by a valve hitting a piston?

 

When I did the used cars at a Honda dealer on occasion I would see on a broken timing belt job after repairing the head have a high loss of oil. I found out this was from a damaged oil control ring. There was never any sign of an issue such as smoke. If the pistons are still in good shape you will need to repair the head and see what happens down the road. I would guess the valve slams the piston into the cylinder wall.

 

Finally got the last (stripped) head bolt out, got the head off. No marks on pistons or valves. There is carbon on valves and the tops of the pistons, but no marks showing impacts. Honestly I might have been able to slap a new timing belt on this one and been fine, but since I have the head pulled I'm going to have the valves lapped, new stem seals, and have it checked out. I've done valves myself on a lot of 2 valve Honda ATV heads, but this one I'm going to send to a shop or order a reman head.

I have no idea what a head job on one of these Accords should cost (ballpark). Anyone have one done at your friendly neighborhood head shop, and if so, what did it run? I know it will differ greatly depending on location.

 

Welp, ordered a reman head on ebay, about $425. The only head shop in my area was going to be $250 labor plus parts for a valve job, and by the time I made the 2.5 hour round trip twice and paid for gas and whatever parts needed (I would assume several valves and seals at a minimum) the savings wasn't worth the hassle.

Ordered an Aisan timing belt kit from Zoro of all places. Had a coupon and with that and free shipping they were cheaper than Rockauto. Wasn't ordering on ebay or amazon for fear of getting fake parts.

Gotta order a gasket kit, and wait on parts!

 

Let us know how it turns out.

 

Since I had other vehicles to drive, this turned into a LOOONG project.

Got everything back together a few weeks ago, and cranked it up to discover a massive oil leak. It seems the re-manufactured head I bought didn't have the cam seal installed! I had to pull the cam gear back off, install that seal, and then re-time the thing again to make sure nothing had moved when I pulled it apart to install the cam seal.



So, no leaks now, and it fired right up.....and died. Threw a code 15 which is "Ignition Output Signal"



So basically it fires right up, runs for a second, and then dies. Then you have to cycle the key off, then back on and the situation will repeat itself.



Car has been sitting for about a year, and the battery had gone completely dead on it (battery was 6 years old), and I know that when we left my parents' 2008 Honda Odyssey sitting with a dead battery it killed the gauge cluster, which also controlled the AC unit, so while it would run, the AC wouldn't work. I bought a used cluster for the Odyseey on ebay and it's been fine since. Point being, apparently leaving Honda automobiles with a dead battery for extended amounts of time can cause damage to electrical components.



Now to the question. Someone on a Honda Accord FB page suggested I put the key in the "ON" position and leave it that way for a half hour, then try it. I did that, and it runs, and stays running! The problem is, it's still throwing the code 15, and if I don't turn the key on and let it sit a while, I still get the "run for one second and dies" symptom.



So, why would leaving the key on for a half hour allow the car to start and stay running? It's almost like power applied to the faulty component for an extended amount of time allows it to work. It looks like it's USUALLY an ignition control module OR the ECU. Getting new OEM will pretty much be impossible, so I'm going to have to source used parts or go aftermarket, and I don't want to start throwing parts at it quite yet.

 

Got new capacitors for the ECU, soldered them onto the board as a couple of the old ones were leaking.

Plugged ECU back in and it fired up and runs great, no codes.

Waiting on a power steering pump belt which should be here today and I'll have it back together and hopefully back on the road tomorrow.

 

I've put about 300 miles on it so far, no issues. Oil level has not moved and is clean and clear. Next up, brakes. I'm on my 4th set of brake pads with the original rotors at 350K miles. The rotors are pretty thin now and it's time to replace.