90 civic timing belt = blown valves?

several months ago my timing belt on my 90 civic broke and i coasted to
a stop on the side of the highway. i took it to the shop and they said
that it wasnt even worth replacing the belt cause this year/make was
known to blow valves when the timing belt breaks.

anyone know anything about this? if so, this is a real bummer and i
need to start searching for another car. thanks.

-aj

 

wrote in

For all practical purposes, ***ALL*** Hondas are prone to this. Just about
ALL Hondas are "interference" engines.
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#interference

Ya gotta change that belt!!

It is not a given that the valves are bent or broken, just a lot more
likely that they are. Two years ago a guy I know had the belt break at
highway speed on his 1994 CR-V. The valves were fine.

To check: Remove the cam cover and spark plugs. Turn the cams by hand until
the cam lobes for a particular cylinder are pointing straight up to the
sky. Screw an air line adapter into the spark plug hole, and feed air into
the cylinder. Listen at the intake and exhaust for leakage. All the
cylinders should sound the same. If they do, your valves are fine. You'll
get billed an hour or two for labor for this, so you have to decide if it's
worth it.

 

The engine is what's termed an interference engine. If the timing belt
breaks, the pistons can collide with one or more valves, which is hard
on both valves and pistons. The only way to find out is to pull the
head and look. On rare occasions there is no damage, but usually some
valves will be bent and need to be replaced. Most of the cost is in
the labour.

What shape is the car in otherwise? Any chance you can do the work
yourself?

 

I'll second Tegger comments, my belt broke, ( at only 60k kms, cheap canuck
tyre brand belt, or maybe it was their workmanship) anyways Had the car
towed to a mechanic, said the same thing, aint worth it. I asked him to
check it, and I would pay the labour.
He phoned a coupl eof hours later and said he was ordering the new belt as
the valves were fine.
I was lucky, hopefully you are too.

Dan

 

have someone do a leakdown test. it's difficult with no timing
belt but not impossible, i've done many. at least you'll know if it's
worth it. or have someone slap a belt on and see what happens, most
of the time people get lucky and don't bend the valves.
Chip

 

he can also try checking the valve clearances while he's got the cover
off. any bent valve gives a huge lash clearance - useful if no air is
handy.

 

It is a possibility that you bent valves, but it is possible you did not.
My father had the belt go on his car, which is also an interference engine,
and he did not bend anything. He got lucky and we just replaced the belt.
A competent mechanic can check the valves to see if they are bent before
they tell you to get a new car.

 

wow, these responses are greatly appreciated! what an awesome group!
after reading your guys posts i think im going to just take it in and
see if they can check it out for me. the car itself is pretty high
miles - 170k or so but im on a tight budget at the moment and
absolutely cant afford to get rid of a car that only needs a timing
belt.

i havent checked the boards cause i figured it'd be awhile before i got
any responses, guess i was wrong. alright, once again thanks for all
the responses!

-aj