So, while driving my Prelude last week, the timing belt broke. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary except for one thing. . . I had the timing belt and water pump replaced about 17,000 miles ago (in addition to a having the cylinder head rebuilt). . .

According to my dealer, nothing seized up (i.e., everything else works properly). Therefore, this shouldn't have happened. . . I think the dealer over tightened the belt when it was installed or the belt was defective. . .

Any insights. . .

Regardless of how it happened, it looks like I'm going to be fighting with my dealer over repair costs/liability (especially since the intake valves were bent in the process). . .

 

or they never changed it.

 

Bad tensioner?

 

Very strange at 17,000 miles!
Was "your dealer" a Honda dealer - assuming the answer is yes then I would also assume the belt was a HONDA OEM so quality is usually very high but nothing is perfect. I guess it could be part quality - or lack of quality.
I do know major over revving will cause a belt to "stretch" but still the 17,000 miles is very odd.
I would think you would only have a minor fight with the dealer because they did the work. If you feel you are getting no where with the Service Manager at that dealer, before you loose it and go over the edge, go home and make some phone calls and locate the district or regional service rep. Tell him your story in a calm and polite way and they will have more authority/power to get things going in your direction.
Good luck and keep us posted!
I'm really sorry to hear about the bent valves!

 

Whatever the case, the belt breaking so soon is the fault of whomever installed it.

The timing belt broke on my friend's CRX after about the same number of miles, due to the dealer installing a pair of washers incorrectly on the crank pulley, causing them to cut into the belt as it turned. It wasn't apparent why the belt was all chewed up until I got in there and took things apart.

How the belt looked when it came off should tell the story of why it broke. But again, it's their fault, make them fix it for you!

Good luck!

Jason

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jzr
[B]Whatever the case, the belt breaking so soon is the fault of whomever installed it.

The timing belt broke on my friend's CRX after about the same number of miles, due to the dealer installing a pair of washers incorrectly on the crank pulley, causing them to cut into the belt as it turned.

 

Get the belt and describe the damage to us.
Then we can figure it out.

If the dealer had installed the belt too tight, it
would have been very noisy.

 

You haven't said anything about how this affected your engine, so I assume everything is OK and you just need a new timing belt. If so, count yourself lucky. I'd have expected major damage to the valves and pistons (unless the Prelude has a freewheeling engine, which most modern cars don't).

 

ICEMAN,

At what mileage did you get the belt changed in the Prelude?? I'm about to hit 75,000 on mine and am planning on changing the belt. I was going to do it at 60,000 but my mechanic told me that the newer cars could go till 75K.

I had a friend that had his belt snap on his BMW and it caused a lot of damage. It cost him almost $3,000 to fix it.

I hope you win the fight with your dealership. 17,000 miles is way to early for a belt to snap.

 

Mark, I have a 91 Prelude and change mine at around 60k. Yes, I think the book says 90k, but a good friend of mine is a Honda tech and insist that service be done every 60k.

The first time he told me this I was broke and mostly didn't listen. My belt snapped at 93k. I was lucky and avoided any major engine damage, but learned my lesson.