SenseiRick... word of advice... American Honda Motors and dealers do monitor this site. I've heard and seen it happen locally, printed out copies of various posts from various people and being used against them in denying warranty claims. I think you should do less talking (typing) on here and find a solution to your problem.

 

looks like someone mis-shifted. I don't see how you could blow your engine any other way

 

The valves CANNOT smash into the spark plugs. A piston , yes, but not the valves.

 

They can after they are broken off.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mav
[B]SenseiRick... word of advice...

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SenseiRick
[B]



If I had shifted into 2nd instead of 4th the reaction would have been immediate and I would have felt the rapid rise in Rpm's before I left the clutch.

this all happened 4-5 seconds after I dropped fourth and was accelerating.

 

I did let off the gas right after the pop - and depressed the clutch and brake, it was my first reaction!

 

The engine could not overrev if you were in gear driving normally without shifting. The timing chain braking would not cause the engine to overrev. It would cause the valves to get out of sinc and severe damage however the damage pattern would be different then an overrev. Has the dealer torn the engine down yet?

 

It seems to me that you need to get a forensic analysis done on this engine to find out why it died.

SenseiRick, your insistence on stating that your "engine over-revved" is not helping build your case here. You desperately need to make the distinction between what your RPM gauge did and what your engine did. The point is that your crank shaft rpm is directly tied to the RPM gauge via the timing chain. If the timing chain broke first then one can easily say that the rpm GAUGE "went wild" while the engine seized.

But, if you mean that you heard or felt your "engine over-rev" then that says to me that the timing chain wasn't the first thing to fail.

You need to understand the distinction I'm trying to make because it indicates what was first to fail.

There are two pieces of info in your story I see pointing to a timing chain failure.
One is the pop you heard just before all hell broke loose.
Two is the RPM gauge "going wild", if indeed that is what you mean to say in your description.

The one piece of info in your story working against you and pointing to a miss shift is that this happened right after changing gears.

As GeorgeP mentions, the damage pattern should be different between the two modes of failure.

 

Well, if the timing chain broke and you were at 4k RPM's, and the valves etc, hit the piston, why would the rod bend/break? I'd hope it was strong enough to withstand hitting the valves. I've seen other cases where the valves were struck and nothing happened to the rods.

You'd think the only way this could happen is if the pistons hit the actual head or hit an incredibly high RPM.

I understand if the timing chain broke, the RPM's of the engine would jump up due to less friction, weight, etc, but would it jump high enough to bend a rod BEFORE it seized up?

Blake