Ohmster

I have a 1995 Honda Civic EX 1.6 Liter AT with 145K miles on it. Blew a head gasket, mechanic replaced it and sent out the head to get it done. Bottom engine case bolt holes stripped, had to find a lower engine case and put my crank and pistons in it. Engine ran so good that tranny lasted 5 minutes and so we put in a junkyard tranny, now I have a great running car, yay!

2 months later, big bolt on harmonic balance pulley broke, pull was dangling, towed it to shop. Crank got chewed up on end where keyway is, timing cover had holes where new timing belt wore through, big pulley hole now too big and not round. Needed about 5 parts. Mechanic put in a junkyard crankshaft but did not cut crankshaft, check it with any calipers or plastigauge or anything, he just put it in the engine right where the old one came out. Now the engine has a loud knock. Can't hear it at idle hardly but go to 2K RPM and it is loud. I made him shut it off. He wants to replace the engine, thinks it is a bad engine. That costs a lot of money and I just paid for all of this less than 2 months ago. He will put in another engine free if I can pay like $350 if he can find one for that price.

I think that engine is good but he messed up by not having replacement, used crank cut or at least checked. I think that if he takes out the crank and sends it out and has it cut, we can put over-sized bearings in the car and it will be just fine.

How do you replace a well used crankshaft in a Civic motor with another well used crankshaft? Don't you have to machine it or cut it or measure it or do something other than just "throw it in" and torque it down? Am I right, can this motor be saved? It ran great before big pulley fell off and crankshaft was replaced with no special care given to the replacement shaft. Please advise, what is the right way to replace a damaged crankshaft in a 150K mile engine with another used crankshaft? I really need this help bad. Thanks guys.

93egSLEEPER

you need to summarize that book and give us some main points to work with. i dont think many people on here can read that much at once. i know i got distracted 10 times... espn

Ohmster

I knew it once I saw all that text. Roger that. Editing now. Thnx!

Former User

My 2 cents -- So far, your engine has had a blown head gasket (and likely overheated), a destroyed crankshaft, and an improperly installed replacement crankshaft that caused severe engine knocking. The engine is cursed. Seriously, cut your losses and take your mechanic's advice by buying another engine.

Ohmster

Thanks for your tip Ron.

Former User

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