So my kid friend got this accord for $600, was running pretty good for a couple weeks, getting ready to get into some maintenance on it, then he was driving home from work Friday (15-20 minute drive) and starting to accelerate from 35 to 45 suddenly the engine power cut out and the car died. Now it will not start again.

The starter sounds to me like it is spinning but not engaging the flywheel. If it just quit starting I'd have guessed bad starter immediately because it sounds very wrong. But I don't see how that would cause the car to die on the road.

It appears to be getting fuel (plugs are damp with fuel after cranking). It has 6 individual coils so I can't imagine a single coil would present like this nor that all would go out at once.

We did find that the main cable off the negative battery post was badly corroded and fraying and replaced that last night but no luck. I couldn't locate any other bad looking grounds but I'm not familiar with the v6 and don't know if I was missing one. Anyone know where I can locate a chart of the ground cables?

I was told by another friend that it could be a faulty signal from the ignition switch, is there a way to test it? And is there a way to test the main relay to rule it out?

If it was my car the next thing I'd do would be to pull the starter and get it bench tested just to rule it out. I'll find out today if he's going to do that or what.

 

The odds of the car having an issue and it also having an issue with the starter at the same exact time is really big. I would say start with checking to make sure the timing belt didn't break. If it's good then check mechanical timing. If it's good then check for spark using a spark tester.

 

That really sounds like a timing belt (unfortunately).

When the timing belt breaks (or strips teeth), because there is no compression, the engine will turn over very fast, and might sound as if the starter isn't engaging. There are youtube videos of people turning over cars with broken timing belts if you want to compare the sound.

 

Good thought on checking videos. Must not have used good search terms cuz I only found a couple (lol) but it did sound a lot like that. Bummer. He said he was supposed to have someone looking at it for him yesterday evening but I didn't hear back. I'll see what he says today. If I still need to get in there myself, is it possible to remove the upper timing cover to take a look on the v6 without taking off a bunch of other stuff?

 

His mechanic confirmed timing belt is broken. What are the chances of the valves being ok? Is it worth investigating?

 

that's just crazy, the odds of the timing belt just happening to break within a few miles of you buying it is just nuts and really sad to hear

it's very likely atleast one valve got hit, you need to just put a new belt on it and compression test to see