Noob to forum and Honda work, bare with me please.

99% sure it's a K20A3 engine with 130K miles.
When starting the engine cold I heard one metallic 'clack', after that it would run hesitantly no more than 8 sec. Nursed it @ 1mi out of the woods to cell service and it hasn't ran since.

Valve cover off, cam sprockets are @ 90^ out of alignment.
When turning engine by hand all appears normal except an occasional slack then pop in the timing chain.

No bore scope or inspection snake found nearby. One of my hurdles is I live 60 miles from a real town.

Is there a shade tree way to determine if the pistons/valves are damaged? TIA for any help.

 

I guess a worst case scenario follow up question is which is best for determining a Honda's value, KBB or Edmunds?

 

I managed to find a mechanic that does house calls and he brought a bore scope. A look down each hole proved boring, but that's a good thing. We could only see the top of each piston but things appeared normal, no debris/shavings strewn around the bore either.

 

search cam galling this may be your problem

 

Thanks man, I was beginning to get lonely in here. I can't even post in the Female body appreciation thread which sux! I looked for an intro thread but didn't find one so if I missed a forum etiquette thing, my bad.

I'll look up galling but 1st I'm gonna try and find the timing chain/crank/cam diagram, get things realigned and see if she'll start. After the bore scope showed an even layer of carbon on all the pistons with no scratches in it, I don't think I have a major engine malfunction.

If someone can point me in the diagrams direction, that would be much appreciated.

 

No galling on MY cam shafts.

Come on guys .... won't you help a fella Honda owner out?