I was driving in my 92 Civic VX when my car lost all power. Luckily, I was able to pull to the side of the freeway. I tried starting it for five minutes not knowing what was wrong. I got the car towed to my house. That was in January.

Today, I decided to work on my 92 Civic VX. I suspected my timing belt broke, but I discovered the timing belt intact, but the teeth torn up in various places on the belt. The water pump was seized.

I found out that the VX has an interference engine.

I'm going to put the car together with a new water pump and timing belt. What is the possibility that I will have no issues?

I need to smog my car next month so I am hoping to get this car up and running asap.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Its not a very high compression engine, so that's working in your favor. However, it IS an interference engine just like all civic engines, so there is always that chance. It really depends on the RPMs at the time of the break, and how much the Car Gods like you.

 

looks like what happened to my b18, the teeth ripped off at the crank. but it ripped when trying to start the car not while driving.

id say that to tell if you bent valves or wrecked your pistons would be to pull the head while you have the timing belt off

 

Not a good indicator, sadly. I had a friend who's timing belt went on his b20 CRV and I shone a flashlight down in the cylinders and thin layer of carbon on them was undisturbed. Changed the timing belt and 2 weeks later he started getting a misfire in cylinder 3, did a dry and wet compression test and it turned out to be one of the valves. Same with a buddy with a D17 civic, exact same thing. Ran great after the timing belt, then started misfiring after a week or so.

 

As a general rule if the timing belt broke at idle you'll have bent valves, if it broke at a moderate to high RPM they tend to come out ok. I have no idea why they seem to bend valves more often at idle

I broke a timing belt on a D15B7 once, probably at around 2500RPM, didn't bend valves.

Btw, I would strongly suggest a genuine Honda waterpump, well worth the extra money.

 

Guess I got lucky then

 

Thanks all for your reply. It was on the freeway when it died.
If the initial seizer of the water pump didn't bend the values, would starting the car (or trying to start it) bend the valves?

I honestly didn't know what happened when it happened, but when I pulled off the side of the road I tried starting the car for 3-5 minutes.

I hope that act of starting the car while the camshaft is in place doesn't bend the valves.
Opinions?
Gary

 

It really shouldn't once the timing belt is no longer holding the camshaft in time, the spring tension from the valvesprings rotates it until all the valves are closed. This usually happens almost instantaneously, the only problem is the "almost" part. But once the timing belt is gone, there should be no danger to cranking the engine.

 

I'd put a timing belt on there proper, and do a leak down test to check condition of valves before I went further.
My guess is that yes you do have a or some bent valves

 

I tried to start mine repeatedly while coasting, didn't bend valves. It really is something you can speculate all day about though, you wont know till you put a timing belt on it and try to start it, or pull the head.

 

Thanks for the info.
BTW, the pump that seized is a genuine Honda water pump (so was the timing belt).

I just put in a gates water pump and timing belt.
Their tensioner didn't fit my VX.

Gary

 

Yes, I do have bent valves.

I got the timing belt on and put the car together w/o the covers and the engine started on the first start! However, it ran like it had at least one bad cylinder. When the car warmed up it couldn't keep idle and died. Otherwise, the engine vibrated (it normally runs smooth).

Now, my choices are:

1. pull the head and try to find the bent valve
2. run a leak down test
3. buy a vx head from someone and slap it on.

What are my other choices?

What a bummer!
Gary

 

you could swap the engine, theres a jdm d15b version of your engine

 

Yes, your situation sucks- Not trying to be rude, but why bother with a leak down if you already know there's a 99.9% chance you have a bent valve?(obvious since there's now a misfire) You'll be able to tell the bent one when head comes off. The piston will have a little/big tap mark where it hit. There might even be a piece of aluminum on the valve which contacted.
Its always quicker to swap heads(if you have a spare). Please have the head resurfaced and prep the block as clean as possible. A friendly suggestion while the head is off(preventative maintenance). Change out the rear coolant tube o rings(one on each end of the tube) especially since the water pump is new.

 

best bet is to have the head refreshed with new valve seals, valve job. It might be a little more money but in the long run definitely the way to go: besides finding a vx head is very hard to do at least here in central tx.
Took me 2-3 years to find a vx engine and never seen a vx head for sale yet. And trust me you wants to keep your vx.

 

Has anyone ever clayed the motor to find out?
I had a del sol with a b7.
Downshifted from 4 to 3rd then hit N.
The car turn off. Costed over and try to start it back up. No go.
Got her home and found ut the cam lock up and broke the cam gear tooth.
Had an oil leak and was running dry.

Fix the gear, retq the cam, added oil and was back up and running.

 

I want to keep this vx stock (if I keep it - see below). I've done one too many engine swaps already.

You are not being rude at all. I debating now whether or not to just sell it or keep it.
I've had the car since ~2000 and my wife is pressuring me to get rid of it. So I
might NOT pull the head off and wouldn't mind knowing which cylinder has no compression.
But you are right, if I pull the head I'll be able to tell what's bent. I googled bent valves and
most of the pics I've seen of bent valves with the valves still in the head you can clearly see the contact point.

Yeah, I'm trying to come to terms on whether or not I want to keep it.
Gary

 

Alright, with much regret, I've decided to sell the Civic VX. I have 9 cars and my wife wants to see it go. I rather keep it and I would if it made sense, but I moved from a place that has a 1,000 sq ft garage to a 1 car garage. That one car garage I use as storage. My neighbor across the street have complained about my cars .

 

Anyone know the ramification of selling a car without the seller smogging it?
If the buyer agrees, can he come back and get me to smog it even if we signed an
agreement that the buyer will take responsibility? The law clearly states the
seller is responsible and I don't want to get taken to court f the new owner changes his
mind.

 

Change registration to non-op, then no need to smog when you sell it.

 

Not sure if I missed this, but how did it seized up in the first place? Has the maintenance been done on it in time? OEM parts or aftermarket autozone/pep boy/advance/oreally/ebay parts?

 

Will that work in CA? To xfer title you have to smog the car. I guess the new owner can keep the bill of sale and then xfer it when done months down the line.

Gary

 

OEM Honda timing belt and water pump.
The water pump seized up. I had about 95k on the new water pump.

I just put a gates water pump and belt in.

Gary

 

Check out the DMV website to be sure, but from what I read, you register non-op than sell the car. The new owner has to take the title/bill of sale to DMV to register it non-op in their name or have a current smog certificate to register it in their name.

Either way, if you non-op it under your name, no smog needed on you end. You just need to make sure you fill out the transfer of ownership portion on the title and submit it to the DMV in the specified time.

 

tlarimer: thanks for the info.

Just in case any of you are curious, where is what the vx sounds like:


#4 cylinder has the bent valve.

If you wonder how I removed the crank pulley bolt, check out this video:


Gary