car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Its an 89 Honda Civic Dx.
Was driving home and the timing belt broke, I was in 2nd or 3rd gear when it happened.
It was a friend who replaced the timing belt and water pump, we've also replaced the spark plugs, fuel pump and filter. The car still won't start, and i'm going to talk to a mechanic today. any ideas? could the valves be bent?

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Timing probably off during reinstall.. check timing again (TDC) is it align correctly.

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

What droopy said. Pretty sure timing is off. did you change fuel pump plugs and filter after you found out it wasn't starting? or all at the same time?

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

recheck timing


when you installed and timed the belt. after it was all tight did you rotate the crank 2 times through all the strokes? and then realign iit at tdc and check the marks?

i dont believe this engine is a contact engine but i could be wrong. it could also be bent valves.. but you can tell by sound.

does it turn over slow or super fast?


do a compression test. but first re check timing.

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

your timming is off

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

This^

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Put crank at TDC. There are marks on cam sprockets that need to be in correct position. Get a manual or look on-line. You may have to do more than one revolution of crank as cam rotates one-half as fast as crank. It will be obvious.

You may be 180 degrees off on camshaft (or 360 off crank -same diff). When a plug sparks, the valves should both be closed for that cylinder. If you're off on cam timing, the valves will be in wrong position when cylinder is sparked and motor cannot possibly run.

And YES - IT IS AN "INTERFERENCE" MOTOR. There will be damaged valves unless you are very lucky.

By all means, at least get a Chilton's manual down at Autozone.

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Sorry for the wrong info bud!
before jumping to conclusions just set timing once more... if tht dont do it. do a comp test

let us know the results

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

turns out it was a bent valve, the timing was fine. I decided to go ahead and get it fixed

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Triple check the marks on the cam and crank at TDC when reassembling..

That's pretty much the only way you can bend a valve.

Good luck.

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Well i got it back from the shop yesterday and everything seemed to be going good. but then after about 30 minutes of driving the check engine light turns on. when i pulled over i noticed there was white steam coming up from the engine, the car wasn't over heating before i pulled over.

I didn't see any coolant leaking

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

Can you pinpoint where on the engine the steam is coming from? The coolant will flash as soon as it hits atmosphere. And if it's on an upper point on the engine, the coolant has merely leaked down below the leakpoint and thus you won't see any liquid leaking.

I would top off coolant, start car, watch closely and see where problem first developes.

Also check oil level and check for water in oil (will look milky). If coolant is somehow leaking at head gasket and into coolant chamber, then you will have a real probelm to address (probably head gasket). I've seen this happen before.

Good luck and keep posting progress.

Warren

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

I really hope it's not the head gasket, but the repair shop did replace the head.
it doesn't look like it's holding oil at all, but i don't see a leak

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

i would say the steam is actually burning oil,grease.etc From the shop. check what dtc came on

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

The smell of the steam will be a tell-all (coolant vs. oil - very distinctive odors).

Re: car will crank but wont start after replacing timing belt
 

If you had a shop replace the head then take it back to them to have the job redone if you have a problem,but make sure that you don't just have oil and grease burning off from them doing the job.