Timing Belt
 

Hey i have a 97 honda accobe the problem rd the car does not want to start they say it might the timing belt, but i dont know could it be the problem. if the belt did snap can someone tell me an average price of repairs mechanic and do it yourself prices. any advice would grately appreciated

RE: Timing Belt
 

island man,
if the timing belt went you have more that car won't start problems on your hands
your engines internals are going to be damaged i think that the real bad news.

who is they? , did a shop look at it already?

RE: Timing Belt
 

A mechanic said that the timing belt was messed up, i cant see for myself cause im in a different state and my wife has the car. Lets say that the timing belt did snap how much expenses would i be looking at to repair the car, is it something i can do myself or is it a mechanics job. Before the car was overheating really bad, im also thinking that the car overheated to the point that it just shut off and doesnt want to start, it could be a list off things but if the timing belt did die what am i looking at. thanks for your replie and help.

RE: Timing Belt
 

if your timimg belt went while running then your engines internal will probably have some damage.

only a qualified mechanic will be able to diagnose and tell you the extent of the damage.

this happended to me many years ago on a pontiac n grand am i owned, back then it cost be

$500 for a new top end on the engine. so better get it to a good shop my man

RE: Timing Belt
 

hey dinzer thanks for all your advice, one more thing lets say it has internal damage but i replace the timing belt myself would it still be able to atleast drive, like would it be driveable so i could carry it to a mechanic.

RE: Timing Belt
 

island man,
no way, get that thing towed to a shop and have it looked at don't even try to start it. it won't i think ,but even if it did, you will mess it up some more!!!

if your timing belt went while the car was running, damage will probably have occured.

let me know how it turned out

RE: Timing Belt
 

yeah if the problem is the timing belt then the engine will likely not start. i would take it to the shop and get it inspected. it will probably cost about 250-300 for a timing belt kit and about 350 for the labor. post back on how everything went good luck with it.

RE: Timing Belt
 

island man, you gots problems son.

no one has really answered your question so let me help out a little.

if you take it to a shop, it is going to cost 1600-2000

if you do it yourself, you should be able to find someone to rebuild the head for about 350 bucks

ebay has some nice timing belt kits for 25 bucks so hypothetically you could fix it for under 400 bucks but you better drop everything your doing for a very long time because this is the mother of all jobs.

big time advice here, if you take it to a shop and just have the timing belt fixed you are going to be seriously dissappointed with just how f ing badly the car runs. you have whats called a non-freewheeling interference type design. simply put, if the belt breaks your motor is ****ed.


and for everyone else, change your damn timing belts please, it is the only thing on your extremely well engineered car that has a definate life span to it.

imagine if you also had a lincoln town car like me, every damn part on the car was purposely built to break after a certain period of time. a great shop will do both timing belts, the h2o pump, all accessory belts for 350 bucks. even change out the seals for 20 bucks more. what a great way to know that your motor is good for 60 thousand miles.


lightshow

RE: Timing Belt
 

Ok here is the skinny. If you brought it to the dealership I work at the first thing we would look at is simple. Take the oil cap off and shine a flash light into the head while someone tries to start it. If there is no movement then the belt most likely broke. If that was the case we would suggest replacing the timing belt. We charge about 400-500 for parts and labor(t-belt, balancer belt, water pump,and drive belts) After that we would turn the motor over by hand to see if any valves are sticking into the cylinder. If is turns over by hand there is most likely no valve damage and then just start the engine. If the head is jacked up it will generally either not run or run very badly. The catch is that it will cost about as much to do this as it would to take the head of and have the valves inspected. In the 2 years that I have been working there we have had about 12-15 Hondas with broken timing belts and 1 broken cam and only 2 of them had head damage.

RE: Timing Belt
 

I don't know if they question was aleady answered or not, but here's something what i learned yesterday about timing belts and what would happen if it snapped. if the engine doesn't start but it cranks then it could also be the timing belt. hope this helped somewhat.