The end of my 93 Civic Coupe

The poor girl finally gave out yesterday morning on the way in to work.

The car suddenly lost power, and on downshifting to 4th (going
110km/hr) the power declined even more. Heard a noise from below
(catalytic area) and heard a pop, followed by a cloud of smoke out the
back end. As I pulled off to the shoulder, the check engine light came
on, and just as I shut off the car so did the oil light. Noticed a
"burning smell" and got out for a look.

Engine looked fine, but the catalytic convertor was Glowing red hot,
followed by the pipe behind and even a bit of the resonator further
back the exhaust.

Got towed to a shop, and their best "guess" was that the belt had
either broken or skipped.

Since she had 410,000km on her, she was laid to rest.

Does it sound like a timing belt failure (our tensioner failed to keep
the belt on)?

Scott

 

If the belt had failed or come off, there would be a total loss of power
NOT a reduction. There would be no power assistance to the steering.
The tacometer would instantly fall to zero (0).

I wonder if a piston ring broke up and a piece of it worked up through
the piston crown? That would have led to oil getting pumped up and
exhausted for combustion in the catalyst chamber etc..