Hey there I have run into a bit of a problem here with my 98 Honda Accord. The car wont start up and run. What it does is it will turn over but I wouldn't say its cranking over. What I mean is that it turns over in the sense that the starter works and turns the engine over but it does not sound at all like when the car would regularly turn over. To me this sounds like the car has a broken timing belt because that is the only time I have ever heard that sound on a motor before. The odd part of it is that I did check the motor today I looked through the hole on the timing cover ( I removed the rubber plug and you can see the cam gear) and had my buddy turn the engine over and the cam gear spins and this is for both cylinder heads the cam gear spins. I took off a couple of the 10 mm bolts holding the timing cover together on the top and managed to get a peek of the cam and belt. The belt is still in place on both of the cams on either side. So far as i can tell the belt did not break.

My biggest worry is bent valves I would hate to have to fix that but oh well if it comes to it so be it.


NOW the question is what is going on with the car??? Any ideas on what I can check.

Some things I will be doing on my next day off witch will be this next coming Thursday is
1 I will be taking the timing cover off to have a good look at whats going on in there.

2 I will be looking the dissy over and check the plugs and wires make sure they are all good.

3 I will take my multi-meter and start checking things out that way as well. Just to make sure relays and everything else is working.

 

Describing sounds is very hard in words.

Any recent work done to the car?

Check that the timing marks on the cam gears line up when at TDC.

From there you will need to figure out what is missing - spark or fuel

 

I get what you are saying about not being able to describe sounds in words. witch is why I stated that the sound its making is the same sound I have heard before on a Honda engine with a broken timing belt (Do you know what an engine sounds light when either the belt is broken OR the cam tooth breaks?) I have been through bout once on a civic and another time with a prelude H22 A4 Engine. This is my 1st J30 A engine. oddly enough when I uncovered the plug on the timing cover to get a look at the cam. I have my buddy crank the car over to see if the cam would spin and it did but also you can see the timing mark on there and like I said oddly enough its TDC.

This biggest thing I am having a hard time with is I cant understand why the car sounds like a broken timing belt but yet the belt is in place.

Your right though check spark and other components I will do so I just work 2nd shift so I don't have the time until my next day off but I will check the car as you suggest.

If anyone has any other thought I am all ears please feel free to comment.

 

Timing belt doesn't have to break clean off. If it jumps a sufficient number of teeth, you can still bend the valves.

Have you measured the compression?

 

Hey Jimblake thanks for your feed back you did kinda answer my question there. So I am thinking that it is very likely that the belt just jump teeth. I have not done the compression test yet I do have plans to look it over on my day off witch is this coming Thursday because I simply don't have the time because I work 2nd shift.

Okay so Jimblake are you suggesting that either

A. I put the belt back in time and then do a compression test? OR

B. just leave it as is and then do the compression test?

I am thinking that I should just put the belt on back in time ( New Belt ) and then check the compression.

Don't worry I did buy the whole timing kit ( Gates Brand ) I got a good deal on it here at a local parts store. So I will be replacing everything.

But for the time being I think I should just put the new belt on and check it and then go from there. The way I see it is if the compression checks out good on all 6 Cylinders I should be good to go. RIGHT??

If they don't all check out good then I am going to have to pull the heads off and replace valves new gaskets I might as well do new valve stem seals and springs and retainers get the heads resurfaced and just get everything 100% ready to go back together.

I will keep you guys posted and I will post pics when I can and I welcome any and all feed back thanks to everyone for taking the time to give me feedback on this.

 

I'm not sure which is best for your situation.

If the camshaft timing has jumped at all; you will not get good compression numbers as-is, regardless of bent valves or not. But simply by cranking the engine as-is you risk further damage.

If you can check out the timing belt & figure out how many teeth have skipped, that might answer your question. If more than xx teeth, it's pretty certain you have bent valves. Problems is I don't know how many teeth that actually is. Anywhere near 1/4 of the number on a camshaft sprocket.

If you don't think your plan "A" is too much work, try that. If compression is good on all 6, then you're lucky.

If they aren't good, then you have a big job ahead as you said. Inspect the valve guides and valve seats also for potential damage. I don't know whether springs & retainers are needed, but you'll have all of that dismantled anyway.