i was driving down one of the steeper hills in my area and i noticed my motor stopped running when the tach hit 0. i was in 4th gear doing 40 MPH, and probably continued on in gear like that for 1/2 mile because of the lack of braking ability. when i go to start the car the starter flies and the motor doesnt turn, so i am assuming its the timing belt. since i run the 2.2 (believe its F22) should i start looking for a new motor or is it possible for the valves to be salvaged after all the abuse? as a side note i tried several gears when i was moving down the hill to see if the motor would turn.

 

The chances are high that the valves were damaged by the pistons if the timing belt is the problem. Which you could get another motor or do some intensive engine repair. However do not jump the gun.

This could be an electrical problem. Have you checked the ignition system? Or is there any fuel-related problems that you have noted recently? If you have already checked these..When was the last time you have changed the belt? It is recommended that the belt be replaced every 60-75k miles. Personally, mine has so far made it 110k+... Although I'm probably pushing my luck.

 

i got the car with 259k on it it has 294k now, no clue on previous maintenance. as far as fuel goes, there has been a small leak somewhere in the line that i have not been able to find, but it is somewhere near the tank. the electrical is fine except for the rear plate lights, which i had to run on a toggle.
the ignition seems to work fine, as it started the car right before the motor stopped running, and the starter still goes to try to start the car. the motor doesn't turn while trying to start the car tho.
Further inspection of the fuel lines resulted in finding a rusted out HP fuel line. fixed that but still no go on the turn over.

 

Personally I would check myself if it were broken. Although with fwd cars this means removing just about everything except the engine... I read a way to check if the timing belt is intact or not which may be a little less of a headache:

Open the hood of the car and locate your engine. Remove the distributor cap, which looks similar to the top of a factory building with a number of short chimney-like protrusions coming from the top. The number of protrusions depends on how many cylinders the engine has. After removing it, crank the engine. If the rotor of the engine moves, your timing chain is intact. If it does not, your timing chain is broken.

How to Tell If Your Timing Chain Is Broke? | eHow

 

thank you. i will have time on thursday to check this out. also, i heard that SOHC have a lesser chance of valve bending than DOHC. any truth to that?

 

Honda DOHC & SOHC are both interference, but SOHC has "less". Normally that doesn't save you, but who knows. If the valves were OK then I think you'd notice the starter working against some compression.

 

got into the motor last night, had a few friends help me with the process. the valves are all ok (miraculously) and i found that the balance shaft belt needed replacing too and i'm also going to replace the water pump. i figured that now would be the time to put the exhaust on too. (old exhaust is a saaaad saaaad panda)