I've seen poor quality aftermarket cam gears shred up a perfectly good timing belt before.

 

Something caused it! An OEM Honda belt will not just break. I shredded one when I changed it myself on and '84 civic. I left one of the 10mm timing belt cover fasteners loose inside the cover. After just a few miles I heard something rattling around in there. The belt was chewed up almost to the point of breaking. I was lucky.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tox
[B]

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.

 

Thanks for the feed back. . . I spoke with my dealer's service manager yesterday and I was told that they have not detected anything (out of the ordinary) that would cause the belt to break. . . In addition, he said the belt didn't show any signs of unusual wear (i.e., being chewed up).

That being said, in addition to the valves being bent, the cylinder head is also damaged. . . What really pisses me off is that my dealer changed the timing belt/water pump and rebuilt the cylinder head last year. . . Effectively, I was driving with a new engine. . .

Right now, the service manager is looking into options for fixing the damage. . . Unfortunately, I had all of this work done with 155K miles on the car. But, since the exterior was still in mint condition (and I needed a daily driver) the money spent seemed like a good idea. . .

Something tells me that I'm going to be fighting with my dealer on who will be picking up the cost of this repair. Specifically, my dealer warranties all repairs for 12 months or 12K. However, the argument is going to be that timing belts/major engine work should npt just self-destruct after 17K (regardless of their warranty). . .

I'll keep everyone posted. . .

 

MarkS2K,

I had the timing belt changed at approximately 80K and then again at 155K (they also rebuilt the cylinder head, replaced the head gasket, etc). . .

If I were you, I'd have the timing belt done ASAP. On my old accord, the belt actually snapped (at about 90K). . . Fortunately, no major damage was done, but I learned a valuable lesson. . .

 

Thanks ICEMAN. I'm planning on getting it changed when I take it in for the 75K service. I'm a few hundred miles away from it.

Good luck with the repairs. I actually take my car to an independent mechanic that specializes in Hondas since I'm way out of warranty on the Prelude. I find that they do a better job, since you know the mechanic that works on the car.

 

Actually, I used to take my accord to an independent honda/acura repair shop. . . A few years ago, the co-owner left the shop & became the service manager at my dealer. . . Subsequently, i still use the dealer for service. . .

 

S2000s have timing chains...so why is this in the S2000 Talk area?

 

I was pointed to this thread via Email... Great topic, great advice, NOTHING offensive about it, but I do think that any non-S2000 stuff needs to go in Off Topic. AFAIK. Of course I'll leave a redirect in here, though.