Hey folks. In need of an answer pretty much by tomorrow. My BB6(98 SH, 176k miles) crapped out on me in the middle of an intersection. I was stopping, battery and oil lights came on and she died right there. When I tried to start, the starter spun but wouldn't the motor didn't turn over. Battery is good as far as I know, but I did see a little corrosion when trying to jump it. I'm thinking it's the gear that engages the starter, but that doesn't explain why it stalled. What do you folks think? If it's the starter, I'm going to just pull it off in the snow and replace it, if I'm looking at a timing belt(opinion of the tow guy), I'll have to find a garage in the Louisville area to fix her. Let me know what you all think.
one sure fire way to check if t belt is gone is to remove oil fill cap on valve cover and ask for someone to turn the engine over. if the cams spin, its not the tbelt. if they dont, your screwed.
if your car has over ~90k miles and on its original tbelt, then most likely it is your tbelt. in fact a few threads ago someone stalled their lude at idle and the tbelt snapped so same thing could have happened to you.
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David
01 SSM SH
93 d15 auto del slo gone and FORGOTTENexcept for a few memories....
Last edited by dontbuyprelude; 02-17-2010 at 03:05 AM.
Reason: incomplete
one sure fire way to check if t belt is gone is to remove oil fill cap on valve cover and ask for someone to turn the engine over. if the cams spin, its not the tbelt. if they dont, your screwed.
Dude ur fukd fukd if your cams spin. If it's the power steering belts only then your lucky if you hear a whine in your powersteering system now you need to flush it and remove the air from it btw.
Called the dealer, described the problem, and the first thing he said was the timing belt. Now that there's light out, none of the visible belts are broken, and I can't find anyone right now to come by and crank it while I watch the cam. I doubt they're turning, because the motor isn't turning over at all.
dont crank on it u can mess ur valves up just pop ur valve cover off its like i dunno 8 bolts then ull see if u gota belt or not thats the simplest way to see if it is the belt cause i had the same prob about 2 months ago died in an intersection too lol
it dont make sense that a broken timing belt would cause the engine to not be able to turn. if i understand him correctly hes saying his starter spins freely without any effect on the engine. when you turn the key, all you need to turn the engine is a working starter to turn the flywheel. hypothetically, you could remove the head along with the timing belt and still have the engine turn as long as the starter has power and is making its connection with the flywheel teeth. the only thing im not accounting for is possible internal damage from the timing belt snapping. even then ive never heard of a seized engine as a result.
assuming you could be mistaken and youre engine actually is turning, DO NOT try to turn the engine if you think the timing belt is broken. you could end up with a problem like bent valves from the piston smacking into them. that would be very bad. like smirf said, its not hard to take the cam cover off and see if the timing belt is broken.
Well, I popped the valve cover off, and the belt isn't broken. It's a little loose, and has tracked away from the motor a little, but it's still on. After having another Honda guy look at/listen to it, we're thinking the teeth are gone from the belt towards the bottom. Teeth are still good on the cams, but obviously we can't see the bottom end. He called a buddy who works at a dealership and told him what's going on, and he's suggesting the belt as well, and that all of my valves sound like they're open, most likely meaning... ugh. Valve damage. And possible piston damage. I'm planning to test the valves before we pull the head- pour in some gas and watch for it to collect, right?
I don't have anywhere to take it apart right now, so we're waiting for the weekend. I'll try to remember to take/post pics when I have it taken apart. ALSO: the pistons, from what we can tell, do not move when we've popped the ignition.
Bad news. The t-belt is smooth at the bottom. On a little closer inspection, the cams are off about 90-100 degrees. That said... lol, who's got my valves/head for sale?
ETA: On the bright side, next time someone doubts a Honda, tell them you know of a guy who had one run on the original t-belt for 176k miles with not even a stutter. I can't believe I didn't get it changed on principle when I bought it.
After putting the new belt, new hydraulic tensioner, replacing the other old belts, new gaskets, it still won't start. Timing is set right, and after manually advancing the motor a few rounds, I swear I can hear compression on the cylinders. Starter is still turning, but now everything turns with it.
If I couldn't hear the compression hissing on the cylinders, I'd think I was sure the valves are definitely shot. I guess it could still be. Ideas?
did you try to start the car much once it originally cut off cuz the flat spot on your belt looks bad. if you tried to start the engine much while the old worn belt was still on you couldve easily damaged some valves.
if it seems like you still have compression, you still might in one or two cylinders but not the others so maybe thats why it wont start. you could always get a compression test to be sure without taking the head off but i think youd be wasting money cuz it seems almost surely what the problem is (at least from your discription of your problem on this forum)
Finally back, almost a month later, and I'll update again in case anyone ever goes through this after I'm done. Stuff like this should be doc'd.
commandokock: I'd tried to start it a few times before I knew what the problem was. That's a mistake I'll never make again. I'm assuming that's where I got my lovely valve damage.
Compression check was showing low to no compression on a couple of cylinders. Valve job/head replacement time. Priced out valves, priced a head, and the head was about half the price of the valves alone.
The head I got was in very good shape, pulled from a running car, valves were good, already machined because the guy intended to drop it on an H23 and he couldn't figure it out. I was in over my head with a head swap, took it to a buddy, and he did the swap. She's running again. CEL was on after the swap, but I assumed that was left over from when the t-belt went, still took it straight to get checked out.
CEL had 5 codes- P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, and the dreaded P1399. If you're keeping score at home, that's misfire on cylinders 1-4 and a random misfire. Pulled the plugs, they were shot, put new plugs in, and it was instantly running better.
Still wasn't right though- did the plug wires, dizzy cap, rotor, still no difference. Finally remembered you have to wipe the codes before it'll show what's really going on. Got a friend to hook me up at AZ and wipe the codes, came back with only one this time- P0304. Pulled the plug on 4, it was saturated with fuel, burnt, and I crapped my pants right then and there. Compression check shows spec compression on 1-3, 0 compression on 4. Hoping beyond all hope homeboy just has the valves adjusted wrong on #4. I'll post again when it's done.
ETA: Remember how I mentioned 176k miles on a t-belt as a testament to Honda? Try the fact that I can't even tell a loss of power with a cylinder misfire. This is a damn strong car.
Pardon my language, but come on. Apparently there was a bent valve on the used head I bought. I've run out of money and time to fix it. Took it to Honda last night, said my goodbyes, and traded it for a Civic. I'll miss my Prelude, but I sure won't miss ordering parts from Big H as soon as something goes wrong.
All that said: word of advice if any newbs pick up a high mileage car of any sort, much less a Lude- go over that thing with a fine toothed comb. If you've got *any* question about the condition of something on the car, REPLACE IT. Don't wind up like me.
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if you hear a whine in your powersteering system now you need to flush it and remove the air from it btw.
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