I have a 2001 Honda Accord with a 4cyl automatic engine. My car quit on me at the light and I pushed it off the road into a parking lot. I tried to crank it back up but couldn't. As I checked under the hood I noticed the timing belt cover was cracked open. I recently had a timing belt put on in January as preventative maintenance along with some other work after I originally bought the car to drive to work. It only has about 140k miles on it. My mechanic says that the timing gear backed off the cam or something to that affect. And now my valves are bent on my heads. A light bulb went off wondering if something that was not done right when I had the timing belt replaced. Any input?

 

Yeah...I would definitely say something was not done correctly. After a couple months I would go back and make your mechanic miserable, but you may not have any luck.

 

That is strange that the cam sprocket would loosen/back off. The only reason that bolt would back off is if the oil seal on the camshaft was replaced and the bolt was not properly re torqued after sprocket removal/installation. Or someone used the cam sprocket bolt(lazy) as a way to rotate the engine rather than the crank bolt. These engines rotate counterclockwise, if someone used the cam bolt to turn the engine it would then cause the bolt to loosen and have your eventual failure.

I would speak to the mechanic/shop, be calm and reasonable, and try to find out why(after 140Kmiles) the cam bolt would 'back out'. If the mechanic/shop is worth their salt they will back up their work and get you back on the road with minimal cost to you. IMO whoever last touched a given component 'owns' it. If it fails within a short time frame, or in an unusual way, then I would look at the installer for fault unless it is obviously a defect in the component. Personally I think someone goofed up, used the cam shaft sprocket bolt as a means to turn over the engine and accidentally loosened the bolt, or the cam sprocket was removed/installed but the bolt was never properly re-tightened to spec.