Hi All,

I was driving down the highway in my 2002 Civic with D17A2 engine, 5spd manual trans, at 60 MPH, it runs great, 161K miles, new timing belt and water pump at 150K miles. Suddenly the engine went "thunk", and it died. I had it towed to my home, put my code reader on it, and it said "Crankshaft Position Sensor". No big deal, I thought, since I had changed it with the new timing belt. I pulled off the front tire, and saw considerably more damage. The lower timing belt cover was blown out, timing belt shredded, and CPS in pieces. I pulled off the rocker arm cover, and the camshft seems "frozen". Is this one of the engines that is destroyed when the timing belt is "lost"? Does anyone have a guess as to what happened inside this engine?

 

I've only seen it happen like this- not long after the belt was changed- when the bolt(s) for the crank sensor were not tight enough. they worked loose and the sensor got caught in the belt.

Usually when the belt lets go for another reason, the sensor may get scuffed, but is usually still in place.

 

You will have to pull off the heads or scope inside the cylinder to know if it's messed

 

Thanks for your reply, hondamark35. That makes sense.

 

Thank you Fineedge. I've been busy, but head is coming off today.

 

I pulled the head off, and it looks like I may have gotten lucky?? There is no damage to the cylinder walls, and only minor dings to the piston landings. There are obviously bent valve stems on number 1 and 4, freezing the cam shaft in place. Do you think the head is salvageable, or should I just go to a remanufactured head? Should I worry about the minor piston damage?

 

I pulled the cylinder head off, and it looks like I may have gotten "lucky". There is no damage to the cylinder walls, just minor dings to the piston landings. There are obvious damaged valves on the #1 and #4 cylinders, the bent valve stems freezing the camshaft in place. Do you think this head is salvageable, or should I go with a remanufactured head? Do I need to bother with the dings on the piston landings?

 

Looks like you shoukld take the head into get surfaced. Have em look at the valves. That is your best option and cheapest.

 

Thanks, I hope I can find a decent machine shop. It will be interesting to see what they'll charge, compared to a remanufactured head.

 

Looks like every valve touched a piston. Meaning every valve is probably bent.

 

And ditch those spark plugs! Those things are hot garbage. Get the factory NGK plug. Just don't buy the plugs from Amazon or eBay, they are nearly all counterfeit.

 

Thanks for your replies, Ryan.

After working on the engine whenever I had time, the engine is back together. You were right, the valves were all bent, and the machine shop did a nice job on the cylinder head. New timing belt, crank position sensor (I only use genuine Honda parts in critical areas), belt tensioner, etc.

When I tried to start the engine, it ran for a second, then shut off. I ran my code reader, and it gave the P0335 and P0336 error codes. So I replaced the CPS again. Now the engine barely tries to start, and I'm still getting the P0336 error code, but not the P0335 code. I don't know what to try next. Does anyone have any suggestions?