1993 Honda Accord Timing Belt

Question

About 2 1/2 years ago we had the timing belt replaced on our 1993 Honda Accord--(10th Anniversary Edition. Last week the car became sluggish so I pulled over to the side of the road and shut it off. It would not start so I had it towed to our service station. After having looked at the car, our repair man says that the timing belt broke and in the process ruined some of the valves which also need to be replaced. We are looking at a potential repair bill of app. $2,000.00. My understanding is that timing belts should last for 50,000 to 60,000 miles and there is no way that we put that many miles on in 2 1/2 years. What may have happened? By the way about three weeks ago we had the fuel relay switch under the dashboard replaced because the car was giving me trouble starting especially on hot days. One particular day the D4 light was flashing and the car was driving sluggish. I told this to the repair man and they ran a diagnostic check and didn't find anything wrong.

Answer 1

As one of the guys said when ever you do a timing belt job it's all the other stuff like the tensioner and all the bearings and water pump have to be replaced for it to make it 60k miles or more. Your old mechanic cut corners and you paid the price. The D4 light means the transmission computer is going out usually it just stays in 3rd gear when that happens. I pulled one out of the junk yard and replaced it. I would definitely get a second opinion on the car. It might just be the relay. Or you could get a $50 compression tester and see for yourself. Or rent on for free from Auto Zone. E-mail me if you have more questions.

Answer 2

Exactly what the first guy said. Immediately when i read what your saying i thought of the timing belt tensioner. You need to get the tensioner done when you get your timing belt done, if you don't, you might as well just drive it around with an old timing belt. The tensioner is a critical part of a timing belt job. You'll probably just have to rebuild the engine this time, or find a used one, and on your next timing belt job, don't forget to do the tensioner! But there are some other things it could have been to, so be sure to find out why from your mechanic.

As far as the D4 light goes, thats usually a signal of a transmission problem. So you might want to get that checked out, might just be that you need to change your transmission fluid. If you haven't done so in a while, get it done when you do the rest of your repairs, as transmisison's can be very expensive to replace as well. Have it inspected for damage though, and check the fluid, if its black, change it immediately and hope that nothing was damaged.  

Answer 3

Honda 4cyl engines have a timing belt tensioner that has to be tightned by hand. If it gets over tightened it can wear out prematurely.

Answer 4

I'm in agreement with Tony C especially on the D4 light.  That year Honda is notorious for the computer that runs the transmission to go out.

We always change water pumps cam seals, crank seals, tensioners with T-Belts.  The other posters are acusing the mechanic.......THAT IS A NO NO GUYS......because you don't know that he actually did anything wrong. He may have tried to sell you a water pump with the timing belt and you may have declined.......then the water pump may have ceased and broke the belt.  (As an example)

On the other hand maybe everything was new.  You'll have to check your receipt.  You could have simply had a premature failure of one of the parts through no fault of the mechanic.  

Yeah mechanics make mistakes but this mind set that people jump to the conclusions that it's the mechanics fault 1st has got to stop.  (I'm not a mechanic by the way but I do run a shop.)  I hear it all the time.  We get the come back in and 99 times out of a 100, you find out a customer wouldn't do the full repair, a premature part failure, or some other scenario and then they want to blame the mechanic.