Hi all,
First post here, I hope I'm in the right spot. Unlike a ton of posts I've read here, my timing belt failed on my D16Y7 at 280k miles and rather than swapping or boosting, I'd like to replace it with another stock D16Y7 because this is my daily. For clarity, I am a machinist by trade and have the ability to properly rebuild and clearance an engine, although I do not have access to equipment such as honing or plating machines, I would be able to verify deck flatness and machine the block if necessary.

I've read the stickies about trusted OEM sources and began pricing out all the required rebuild parts to as close to OEM as possible. Once I had my price ballparked fairly well, I started checking the internet and wound up on Ebay looking at refurb D16Y7's. As it turns out, you can pick one up from what appears to be reputable sellers for $1800-2400 with shipping, core charges, and 2-3 year warranty included. This is very appealing because I will have roughly $1000 into quality parts and it's fair to say $1000 of my labor which is free but I like to be real with myself in terms of total cost.

My ultimate question is - has anyone on these forums used a refurb Ebay engine or any refurb for that matter that could share their experience and/or the seller they got it from?

 

That is a rip off for a y7.. your best bet would be to go and replace the head with a used one on your old block if it wasn't burning much for oil. Get a new distributor o-ring, head gasket, timing belt and head should cost about less than $300.. and you can do this leaving the old motor in the car with out removing it!
For another $2-250, you could buy a cylinder honing tool, oil pan gasket, bearings and new piston rings and re-ring the block when the head is off and crank still in untouched and be totally fine for a long time. Your rod bearings could be re-used aswell if in decent shape, If you wanted to- just take the bearing that's in the rod cap and swap it to be under the rod because the underside of the rod will have wear and the cap bearing should be nearly no sign of wear. Just DON'T swap from one rods bearing to another! They need to stay on the original rod.. Or replace with new oem the worn ones or just all. They are color coded so keep that in mind. Still much less than a refurbished motor. .

 

Thanks for the input, Max. I agree that $2000+ is a lot for a motor but it does come with a warranty which means that the manufacturer backs up their work.

You don't think the pistons were damaged? The belt snapped as I was cruising 55mph and then I cranked it over so I'm sure there's some not so good stuff under the head. As for honing it myself, I've been around many honing applications and it has made me realize that there is A LOT of science to it. The proper honing angle is huge and can really only be achieved with expensive honing equipment that feeds the stones at a very precise rate. I know this is a Honda and will tolerate more than most vehicles, but I am going for longevity if I rebuild it.

As I browsed the used car market in 1500-2000 range, I will only get another vehicle with 200-250k miles on it that it destined to break down. Everything in this car works like the heat and a/c which is really nice. The engine does have oil leaks in more than one location and does burn oil to the tune of 0.5 quart per tank. If I am going to re-ring the engine, I am going to pull the motor and do it on a stand rather than laying in my gravel driveway. If I am that deep, I am going to replace most of the critical components involved like bearings, maybe not the pistons but only if they're in spec and not grooved. Heck, I'll probably do the clutch and flywheel. I would really be kicking myself if a $20 part failed even 100k down the road and I had to pull the motor again. In my industry, I've seen many folks put bubble gum and duct tape on issues to just turn around and do it again many times over. With that, I've adopted the mentality of do the job once and do the job right - even if it requires spending a little more up front. But yes, $2000 for a motor is a pill to swallow.

 

I’ve had a Civic with a refurbished engine, although I bought it that way, but it drove good and had 276,000 miles on the car, so it did work good.
I’ve also had a different Civic where the timing belt came loose and all of the valves bent, and valve guides were damaged, but no damage was done to the pistons. I was going about the speed you were when it happened, and I heard a loud metal crunch sound as if I was smashing a bunch of soda cans at the same time.
You could go either route.
Since your pretty sure there is valve damage at least already, the approach to fixing the car could be to remove the cylinder head first, with the engine in the car. Take a look at the pistons and valves and go from there.
Also, for refurbished engines, you could try to locate a used lower mileage/good condition engine, or an actual refurbished engine with a warranty which would be nice to have. Shop around locally, not just online.
I had a salvage yard owner tell me he could replace my D16 for $1100 a few years ago, and that was including labor, but it would have just been a used engine…
Be careful with EBay since it’s virtual and there isn’t a location to go to if something goes wrong…
So I think any route you take will work and may be $1000 or so different in costs, but you have to factor in the time it takes also.

 

Honestly for your stock motor, you really don't need expensive equipment to do a good job for the honing. If your fairly competent, you can easily do this job with a $20 tri stone cylinder hone and save a lot and have some sense of pride for your work. My first ever motor I rebuilt years and years ago was a d16a6 that burnt nearly a liter every tank of gas. Smoked like crazy and was almost dead. Stupidly, I used a brake cylinder hone tool, Cheap head gasket and some hastings piston rings. Re used the bearings that looked not good at all so they got a very carefully 2000 grit wet sanding to polish them smooth. These motors can take a beating and still keep ticking. Sold the car to a friend for his work transportation and that motor still runs like a champ to this day, over 500,000km on it, perfect compression, zero leaks or issues. It only took me 2 days to do the job slowly picking at it. All you need is a good torque wrench and a keen eye to detail. You seriously could rebuild your motor with it in the car for under $500 doing all the parts, seals, gaskets and rings. The past few years on the side, I have also done 3 other motors like this but proper tools, not sanding bearings lol but replacing them and better parts all with success so its not that compIicated to do. I also build Real performance motors too so I know what to do.. I doubt your pistons are messed up, maybe have a ding or two but easily can clean them up. Just look through the spark plug holes with a good light or small inspection camera.
But that's all up to you. It is a easy job just cleanliness is key when the motor is open and decent parts are used.

 

You're really getting me to lean towards fixing it myself.... So the potential route could be to pull the head and get it freshened up as there's definitely bent valves in there. Or would you say get a refurbished head? Check the pistons, check the crank and journals, put some new seals and oem gaskets in the block and call it a day? What about the oil pump? The water pump only has 10k on it and is an aisin so I trust the quality there. Put a gates timing belt in and send her?

​​​​​​