Hello,

New to the Forum and looking for some help. Mom's car apparently has a bad timing chain 2003 Accord 4 cyl, according to the dealer with the codes its throwing and very rough idle, /poor running. Has had a history of burning oil internally. No oil spots on the garage floor and is always asking for oil.

According to the dealer the chain can go bad from low oil pressure. I read online the chain tensioner is tensioned by oil pressure.

Dealer wanted $1500 to change the chain. The oil burning issue would still need to be addressed. Maybe the PCV or vtec solenoid?

I am in the Los Angeles area and called around. Engine prices from $700 to $1600. Install extra.

I am pretty competent mechanically. I would prefer not to do an engine swap myself. I also read the timing chain can take like 8 hours.

Do the timing chain myself and chase the oil problem?

Have a shop throw in a good used Japanese engine? If so any recommendations?

Any Recommended shop in Orange County for the timing chain work or engine replacement?

 

Hello-

I had the exact same issue on my 2007, and I ended up just putting in a new/used engine with about 50K on it. Cost me about $1800 installed. That was about 6 months ago, so far so good.

 

The timing chain streching should cause a timing phase code. Im not sure of the number. Normally what causes the chain to strech is running low on oil too much the chain gets hot and then stretches. It's really up to you how much you want to spend. Personally if I was burning oil at like a quart per 1000 miles I'd replace the engine. They arnt hard to pull.

Most likely going back a bit your oil consumption would be down to bad rings if you have no external leak. 8 hours of labor for a chain sounds about right too. If you do replace the chain make sure they replace all three timing chain guides.

 

Mine never threw any codes before the chain got loose and jumped time. Low oil pressure affects the tensioner, and mine was consuming oil pretty badly. No burning or leaks- internally consuming somehow. I heard Honda knew about this issue and did a recall on some model years with the 4 cyl. I don't think mine was covered, but it should have been. It was the same issue.

 

We have talked about that in my shop a bit about the older 4 cyl burning oil too. Only thing we have ever come up with is honda decided they are too old to warranty.

The code I was thinking of was dtc p0341 CMP sensor A and CKP sensor incorrect phase detected

 

If the timing jumped and the fun P0341 never showed up........something really went wrong in the engine.

So OP, no codes ever showed up and the timing chain jumped to the point it took out valves....................

 

My car did the same thing. I went and spent $500 in a new chain, guide, tensioner, water pump. All from Honda and after all the work I found out the it jumped enough to bend all intake valves. So I went ahead and got a new engine with 86k miles. My car had 155k miles. Now I have a problem with my transmission not working right.