mjb9369

Hi,

New to forums here. I got my grammas 99 accord lx. One day I went to start it in thw morning and no start. Cranked it a couple of times but nuthin. Didn't know what was going on so I took it to a mechanic. He said timing belt looks broken cause there's no cam movement. Thinking there must be damage too costly I just had the car towed back to my house.

I can probably fix it all myself but want to make sure that the timing belt is brken before I go buying parts. The top timing belt looks really nice. So, if anything it must be the lower belt. Is there anyway to check if the bottom is broken without going and removing the crank pulley? The distributor rotor rotates when cranked. Does this mean the lower belt is also ok?

oh, its a 99 and has a little over 80k miles.

holmesnmanny

just take off the valve cover and look if the belt is broke, it's as easy as that, and if you're having a problem doing that then you're not ready to attempt a timing belt change

mjb9369

Hi,

Yeah, I already did that. The main top belt looks fine (as I indicated). But that doesn't tell me wether the bottom belt is ok or not. That's why I asked if there is a way without pulling the bottom cover. Which part is hard to understand?

holmesnmanny

Probably the part where you think the bottom belt is a timing belt.

jollyhonda

If the rotor is turning, the timing belt is not broken. You should he able to see the timing alignment marks on the crank pulley and timing cover. Turn the motor over until the marks line up and check to see if the camshaft timing marks line up. There will be a dot on the cam gear and a marm on the head it lines up with.
Something random to check...check for spark, and if you have spark, make sure that the rotor is still securely mounted on the distributor shaft. Back a few years ago I had a civic that mysteriously died. Timing belt was intact, cam timing was spot on...had spark, had fuel....no runny. Pulled the distributor cap off and a random screw fell out...and the rotor was definitely not pointing the correct direction...turns out the screw backed off, fell out and the rotor turned on the distributor shaft, and it was wedged on pretty tight. Maybe a place to check.

mjb9369

Hmm, I will pull off the rotor and see if something is funky there. Thanks

mjb9369

Hey Jollyhonda, is it possible that the lower timing balancer belt be broken and the rotor still turn?

Thanks

angrysmileyface

There are 2 belts. The only belt that matters is the one that spins the cam from the crank and drives the water pump. As long as this belt is 100% intact, tensioned properly, and not frozen or jammed the problem exists elsewhere, unless the timing is off or 180 out

user456101

Here's my 2 cents plus. If you know how to turn the crank and see if the engine spins freely, you can do that first. I just replaced a timing belt in a 2000 Accord SE (4-cyl). I don't want to sound like I am being disrespectful, but I am not sure if you know that the belts that you can see when you open the hood are not the timing belt/s. They are the power steering belt and the alternator/AC/oil pump belts. I highly recommend that you watch Briansmobile1 YouTube video on changing a timing belt on a honda accord , or NutzaboutBolts YouTube video. There are two belts under the cover. One I think of as the actual timing belt which keeps the crankshaft in time with the overhead camshaft. The other is the balancer belt. The balancer belt does... I know it keeps the engine running more smoothly, but other than that I don't know. If you get to the point of doing the timing belt, and you want to know the very best way to set up the balancer belt (the instructions for which are usually pretty minimal) then watch the YouTube video by M Wiley Blackburn "2000 Accord balancer belt installation". Most people will agree that the Gates timing belt kit is a good way to go, and you can get it on Amazon, although if you read the comments on Amazon that the water pump that is included is prone to failure and that you should "throw it away" and get an Aisin made water pump, which you can also get on Amazon. All of it together is less than $200. And, if you didn't know it, on Amazon, you can put in your make and model and year and filter results for parts that will fit your vehicle. I bought the gates kit and the Aisin pump and put it in a few days ago and the car is running like a dream. The bad news is that Accords of this generation are "interference" type engines, and if your timing belt broke the pistons may have rammed into the valves and ruined the engine, but as EricTheCarGuy says, might as well try to replace the belt first. His YouTube video is "What to do when your timing belt breaks"

user456101

You have a sixth generation accord, by the way, which were built between 1998-2002 model years, so any videos on any of those year's honda accords should be identical to what you have. The only question is - is yours a 6 cylinder or 4-cylinder. The basics will be the same but the engines are configured quite a bit differently on the 4-cylinder than the 6-cylinder. Most of the videos are for the 4 cylinder.

mjb9369

Thanks for your input. Yeah I've changed my steering pump before. I also changed out my distributor too. I've done other small stuff like the egr valve etc. So yeah, I took the valve cover off and cranked it to see if the cam was turning. So, the main timing belt looks ok. So, the bottom belt may be broken but I can crank it and not have a fear of major engine damage. So, I think I'm gonna have a house-call mechanic that the local honda parts department recomended and have him figure out whats going on.

holmesnmanny

If your timing belt is broke the absolute worst thing you can do to your engine is to turn the crank.

But clearly you don't want quality advice so I'll tell you to feel free to turn the crank.