3.5L.Timing belt broke at 144K (oops).Tried to restart. Interference type engine? Told “Camshaft fozen” by Honda, yet they are Replacing belt, tensioner & H2O pump. What next if camshaft kaput? Cost?? Thankx
They shouldn’t replace anything until they’ve checked the condition of the valves, head, and pistons.
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Has it ocurred to you to ask the Honda dealer who is doing the work that question?
it Won’t run till belt is replaced. So, Is shop saying, let’s fix belt and see what happens?
Which is less expensive for an owner in the long run, replacing the belt, etc., or pulling the heads to check the valves and pistons?
Pull the heads? I’d pull the spark plugs, see what’s up with a borescope, maybe remove the valve covers, see if any valves are stuck open, etc.
Install the new timing belt, and do a leak down test on the cylinders to check if any valves are bent.
Tester
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Kaput is dependent on your definition. Sure you could get it fixed, an estimate can give you a ball park, A good mechanic will check it out and let you know the total repair cost rather than we will do tis first and see what is next. Timing chain broke in daughters saturn, oil feed failed, $1200 new heads, timing chain etc. $1200 for everything he said. Go for it I said, If he had said well I can do this and that, and if that does not work etc. I would have passed.
At a stop light Friday night 50 miles from home my 86 Riv stripped the timing gears. Had it towed to a shop and rented a car. Shop said the engine was shot but he’d buy the car because he had a Toro at home with a smashed body and good engine. I said naw and had a local guy tow it home. $150 in parts and by Sunday it was running great again. So whatta you do, spend money to tear it apart and look or spend money to put the belt on and try it. If they tear it apart and it looks good, you still have to spend money on a belt. Depends if you feel lucky I guess or if it happened going 80 mph.
It depends who does the work. You fixed your Riviera and loved it so much you would have spent more, I imagine, to get it back on the road.
Timing belt skipped a few teeth on car I bought. Seller could not start it. So, it had been cranked a bit. All the intake valves were bent. Your rig has broke belt. So, cranking it may only bend 1 cyl’s valves that might be out of phase. But, heads still has to come off to fix 2 valves or 12 valves.
I doubt the original poster is about to try and do some repairs on their own, so really the question is what to tell the shop that’s suggesting a timing belt and then test to see what’s up in the engine. I personally think that’s the most effective solution in this situation.