Camshaft snapped off at pully on Accord

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KWW - 22 Nov 2005 21:45 GMT

My daughter's '93 Accord's camshaft pully was sitting there loose with the
timing belt around it. It had sheared off near the back side of the pully.

We had purchased the car used and found that the previous owner had not
cared for it well. When I'd first gone to adjust the valve lash I found the
whole area filled with grit and charred oil. Cleaned it out (not removing
head... should have though...) and the car has run fairly well aside from a
few maintenance items like the front pully coming apart, etc.

So, would overheating or oil starvation in the past have lead to this sort
of thing, or what causes it?

Does the Accord's 4 cylinder engine have clearance or, since the valves did
not move, should I expect bent valves?

The manual had talked about getting a rebuilt head. Would that be better
than trying to scare one up at the junk yard? If so, anyone have a
suggestion on where to pick up a good, reliable rebuilt head (with
camshaft)?
TIA!

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KWW

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jim beam - 23 Nov 2005 03:49 GMT

> My daughter's '93 Accord's camshaft pully was sitting there loose with the
> timing belt around it. It had sheared off near the back side of the pully.

the cam sheared or the pulley sheared? or the bolt?

> We had purchased the car used and found that the previous owner had not
> cared for it well. When I'd first gone to adjust the valve lash I found the
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> So, would overheating or oil starvation in the past have lead to this sort
> of thing, or what causes it?

either a bolt problem or the timing belt too tight.

> Does the Accord's 4 cylinder engine have clearance or, since the valves did
> not move, should I expect bent valves?

yes. check for and valves with much too big lash clearance - those are
the bent ones.

> The manual had talked about getting a rebuilt head. Would that be better
> than trying to scare one up at the junk yard? If so, anyone have a
> suggestion on where to pick up a good, reliable rebuilt head (with
> camshaft)?
> TIA!

it's easy enough to rebuild the head yourself. if you have bent valves,
it's cheaper to replace them than buy a recon head. if the cam's
broken, that's cheap from a junk yard. same for the pulley wheel.

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KWW - 23 Nov 2005 13:40 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

The camshaft sheered right at the pully. May have been because the camshaft
seized up but the pully kept turning.

Since the car has 156k miles on it, and the PO did not take care of the
engine very well, two different mechanics suggested I just swapping out the
engine for a "Japanese" replacement engine (used engine, imported from
Japan, where they are required to replace them every so often... engines
have less than 40 k miles on them, and are tested before shipping over...)
($550)

On the other hand, I wonder how good an idea (and how cheap) it would be to
look in a local scrap yard for either the entire head or entire engine from
a wrecked Accord.

Signature

KWW

>> My daughter's '93 Accord's camshaft pully was sitting there loose with
>> the timing belt around it. It had sheared off near the back side of the
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> it's cheaper to replace them than buy a recon head. if the cam's broken,
> that's cheap from a junk yard. same for the pulley wheel.

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jim beam - 23 Nov 2005 15:03 GMT

> Thanks for the reply.
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> look in a local scrap yard for either the entire head or entire engine from
> a wrecked Accord.

if you're not doing the work yourself, replacement is the most cost
effective solution. it's your call on how to proceed.

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