00crv

my moms crv stopped running the other day. She took it to a shop and they told her it was the timing belt (it has 143xxx on it and has not been done). We towed it to my house and i started pulling it apart. I did not have much time tonight to work on it but got the valve cover taken off and when i was trying to move it to tdc only the crank spins, the belt also vibrates slightly as the crank spins.The belt still seems to have plenty of tension.
I have searched a bit but have only found this problem when people have redone their timing and forgot to put the woodruff key back in.
How likely is it that the key was sheared off while she was driving? or what other reasons could this be?
Sorry if this question has already been asked, its very late and I dont have anymore time to search.
Any help is greatly appreciated

Frozen E

Sounds to me like one of two things. The first one you already mentioned. Unlikely, but it COULD happen.
The other is that a portion of the timing belt has all its teeth shaved off and is sitting down there on the crank right now.

Both will require you to take the timing belt covers off.

What was the car doing when this happened? If it was cruising at highway speeds there's a damn good chance that you had piston to valve contact and that there's internal damage. Marred up pistons and bent/broken valves. If this is the case, at the very minimum the top end will need to be rebuilt.

LDForget

what this guy said ^^

not likely the wooddrift key has sheered off, more likely that some teeth are stripped. Either way, gotta take those covers off. If theres been valve->piston contact, look around town for your best JDM importer. It'll be a lot cheaper to get a JDM b20, which usually only have 40-60,000 km on them, than to get that head rebuilt and put new pistons in the block. Practice on that engine, because you should change the timing belt and water pump on the JDM one anyways.

00crv

I was expecting valve piston contact as she was on the highway when this happened. if the piston hit the valve what is the liklihood the piston is trash? or could it be fine and just the valve bent?
i live in a pretty small town in az, i would be pretty surprised to find a jdm importer here. does anybody know any in phoenix? Also are there any tricks to getting the crank pulley off? if it is anything like the motor mount bolts its gonna be a long day.

Frozen E

hmotorsonline.com

Crank pulley....If you have access to an impact wrench it's a piece of cake. Pull the driver's side wheel off. You might have to pull off a cover over the crank pulley. Put the car in gear and zip the crank bolt off.

LDForget

impact is gonna be your friend. if need be, remove a spark plug and stick some thick nylon rope inside. rotate the engine until its tight, then use a breaker bar. Its reverse thread if i remember correctly.

Frozen E

Nope, it's not.

LDForget

My mistake.