There i was just 60 miles away from celebrating 100,000 miles when all of a sudden things take a turn for the worse. A loud banging and a sudden loss of power next thing i know I’m on the hard shoulder and the engine won’t turn over.

The car uses very little oil and this had been topped up at the weekend after returning from a 3000 mile round trip to Italy where it drank less than 0.25L.

My suspicion is that the timing chain has snapped resulting in the valves and pistons getting a little bit closer than Honda intended! At the moment this is only a guess as I am yet to get this dropped off at a garage for inspection. I was planning to take this to ABP motorsport in Crewe but after reading some reviews i think I might try to get it to TDI-north if possible.

My question is, does anyone have a rough estimate how much the repair work could add up to?? I know it’s hard to say but considering the engine has done nearly 100k how bad has it got to be before it’s not financially viable to fix this and better to get a replacement engine?


Any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

 

get a replacement

 

After doing some research on here it seems that a replacement is pretty much the only way to go. Unfortunatly im now faced with the problem of the car being worth about the same as a replacement engine.

Exactly waht i didnt want espcially 2 days before i was planning to take it to le mans!

 

Sorry to hear about your bad news Matt. Abp are goodish but they are expensive and I don't trust them 100%. I do reccommend votex in congleton. They can do an engine change for you. They are reliable and also charge good prices.

 

Sorry to hear the bad news.

People say lots of good things about Garage R who is a trader on here. Might be worth giving him a call as he can supply and fit an engine for you.

Bharat

 

Perhaps the damage isn't as bad as you think, you might be able to get away with rebuilding the cylinder head without touching the bottom end.

It's a big "might" though... if the valves had damaged the pistons or a the bored then yes, a new engine might be the way forward.

I recently had Garage R fit a new engine in my car after a bent rod and was very impressed with his work.

 

i just replaced mine myslef

cost wise:
replacement engine £1840
spark plugs/oil/oil filter £130
anti-freeze £15

so i done mine for less then £2k myself

 

The timing chain broke on mine, and all that happened was sudden loss of power. It would turn over fine. That doesn't mean that isn't what's happened to yours, but it does sound different. Take the rocker cover off the top ( 5 bolts ) and have a look.

Mine was £2300 for the engine, £350 for Honda to "diagnose" the fault, another £400 getting the new engine fitted, and about £200 in parts, so >£3K. Obviously step 2 was a bit stupid, but as it hadn't gone bang or anything I had no reason to think it was an engine failure.

I don't know what I'd do if it happened again. As you say, when it's more than the car's worth, it's a difficult decision.

 

maybe a lesson to us all to replace the timing chains at some points?

I thought the whole benefit of them was so they didn't snap like cam belts?

What sort of mileage should one replace them?

 

Just changed mine at 100k miles. Given it's going to cost you at least £1,000, as it's a 6 1/2 hour job, a new(er) engine may make more sense.

I'd replaced the TCT once to cure the rattling, but it returned within a year/8,000 miles. Apparently the sprocket was the most worn item, and the chain had probably stretched a bit too.