Blew my Timing Belt at Full Throttle!

X-Toy

X-Toy

Registered Member
Joined
13 January 2004
Messages
61
Location
Irvine, CA.
So Thursday I gave a friend a spin in the car and two corners from where we started I was opening her up and Whap! Speedometer, tach, power went right to zero. It sounded like I hit something. We got out to check out the engine. No oil leak, a little smell of burnt oil, little brownish fibers all over the engine bay. Needless to say, there was a little 1/2 inch wide by 8 inch long of shredded timing belt remnent left on a pully.

Flatted the car to Niguel Motors where Ramon started to take it apart. As of Fri. close, he put a new belt on, hand cranked it smoothly (good, no seized barring), and found no compression in the cylinders!

So far, valves are probably bent! He'll open up the head on Mon. to asses the rest of the damage. I've got my fingers crossed that the piston heads are ok so I won't have to tear open the bottom end!

My question is, does anyone have a recomendation on having head work done? I live in Irvine, California (SoCal). Some of my friends tell me that since I've most likely going to have the head worked on, I should have a port and polish job done which could give some more horse power. As you can see, I'm trying to find some positives in the sea of negatives I've fallen into.

By the way, my car is a '91 and had only 45k on it when this happened. I'm the second owner since '94, and I think the car previously sat unused for a couple of years before I took over. Maybe that's why the belt went kablewy prematurely.

Any advice and recomendations would be really appreciated. I've got very little experience with these matters. I posted this thread on the Tech & DIY section, so my opologies if this is a no-no. I just thought my local NSXers would be able to help..

Peter
 
X-Toy said:
So Thursday I gave a friend a spin in the car and two corners from where we started I was opening her up and Whap! Speedometer, tach, power went right to zero. It sounded like I hit something. We got out to check out the engine. No oil leak, a little smell of burnt oil, little brownish fibers all over the engine bay. Needless to say, there was a little 1/2 inch wide by 8 inch long of shredded timing belt remnent left on a pully.

Flatted the car to Niguel Motors where Ramon started to take it apart. As of Fri. close, he put a new belt on, hand cranked it smoothly (good, no seized barring), and found no compression in the cylinders!

So far, valves are probably bent! He'll open up the head on Mon. to asses the rest of the damage. I've got my fingers crossed that the piston heads are ok so I won't have to tear open the bottom end!

My question is, does anyone have a recomendation on having head work done? I live in Irvine, California (SoCal). Some of my friends tell me that since I've most likely going to have the head worked on, I should have a port and polish job done which could give some more horse power. As you can see, I'm trying to find some positives in the sea of negatives I've fallen into.

By the way, my car is a '91 and had only 45k on it when this happened. I'm the second owner since '94, and I think the car previously sat unused for a couple of years before I took over. Maybe that's why the belt went kablewy prematurely.

Any advice and recomendations would be really appreciated. I've got very little experience with these matters. I posted this thread on the Tech & DIY section, so my opologies if this is a no-no. I just thought my local NSXers would be able to help..

Peter
Click to expand...
Holy cow. This is the first time I've read about a timing belt breaking in an NSX.

Sorry to hear about it. Hope you get it fixed and back on the road.

Wow. A great warning to others.
 
You should talk to Jon Martin at Cerritos Acura to find out about anything to do with the car. He would know where to get headwork done.
 
Fifteen years on a timing belt is not known as premature. Sounds like you didn't think it would happen to you when it did. Autowave in Huntington Beach does great work. Ask for Shane.

Danny RED SR 71
REPEAL V.C. 22351
:smile: :biggrin: :wink: :eek:
 
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Long time no hear. Sorry about your disaster :frown: :frown:.
 
Acura NsX Pilot said:
I thought it was 60K or 6 years :confused:
Click to expand...

FAQ says 90K or 6 years.

I think this is the first one I have heard about blowing also. You might want to pick up a used motor instead of fixing the old one depending on how bad it is.
 
Oh no Peter. Sorry that it happened to you. Gil was just asking me, on Thursday's karting school, how you were doing.

On the positive side, may be it is time to get the 3.8 upgrade. Turn that prestine NSX into a monster NA NSX.

Best of luck getting it back on the road. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
 
Thanks Guys for your support and condolences.

I used to have the car serviced at NSX Modified years ago and based on my vague recollection, I could swear I paid to have the timing belt done when I had some other major services addressed at 30k miles. I've got no proof of that recollection, but I have found since that a lot services and things that I paid for were never done. My current mechanic has found all sorts of stuff that would make you sick (different clutch plates installed, half a bank of spark plugs mismatched, bolts missing and threads stripped, and the list goes on). Not to point fingers or blame anyone, I'm the owner of this car and ultimately, I'm responsible for it's maintence sound driveability. Lesson learned. If anyone else paid to have their timing belt done at NSX Modified, I'd recomend they have it confirmed by a trust worthy mechanic, just in case.

At this point, I'm tired of second guessing myself (I've been doing it all weekend).

Thanks ediddyNSX for the Cerritos Acura contact and Dyee for the Autowave guy. I'll be checking out the motor on Mon. (tomorrow) and call those contacts based on what I find. I'll let you all know what happens next. If anyone else has some ideas, I'm open.

Thanks again,

Peter
 
Hi Everyone,

Now for the update. The car is at Cerritos Acura under the eye of John Martin and his crew. I had it flat bedded from Niguel Motors in Laguna Hills to Cerritos with the help of Cdub's plus membership AAA card at no charge! Thanks again Chris! John Martin has been great in my time of saddness. He spent two hours talking to me about the systematic ways to fix, and if wanted, inhance the power output of the car. Yummy food for thought.

After talking it over my options, the crew at Cerritos took the intake manifold off and found no bits and pieces, good. The head came off and the valves are bent, but not too bad. The piston heads show where they struck the valves, but aren't gaulled or damaged, really good! All surfaces are clean and flat and the head looks great! It's now going to head over to a recommended shop that John has worked with and has extensive experience doing NSX heads. New Lighter valves (larger intake valves), retainers, springs and port work will be applied. Cam gears for precise tuning and custom John Martin designed cam shafts will be installed. Why the over kill you ask.

First, my head has to fixed or else it's just a heavy aluminum paper weight. Second, it's a way of getting me back on the road in about two weeks. Third, everything that's being done to the top half is the same work required for the 3.3L and 3.8L!

Now I'm not committing to either yet, but now, I have options. I can leave it the way it will be fixed and run what I brung, or I can save up and get all the required parts for the displacement upgrades as funds become available and then have the work done at my financial pace.

I've said it before that I believe things happen for a reason. Even though it sucks that my belt broke, I have been very fortunate to recieve a lot of support and education from my friends in and out of the NSX community! Maybe my car was meant to have bionic heart and it took the belt breakage to start the process, I don't know, but I feel better today than the day I broke my car.

Thanks again for the support and I'll let you all know how the car feels when I get it back and what I decide to do next!

Peter
 
X-Toy said:
Hi Everyone,

Now for the update. The car is at Cerritos Acura under the eye of John Martin and his crew. I had it flat bedded from Niguel Motors in Laguna Hills to Cerritos with the help of Cdub's plus membership AAA card at no charge! Thanks again Chris! John Martin has been great in my time of saddness. He spent two hours talking to me about the systematic ways to fix, and if wanted, inhance the power output of the car. Yummy food for thought.

After talking it over my options, the crew at Cerritos took the intake manifold off and found no bits and pieces, good. The head came off and the valves are bent, but not too bad. The piston heads show where they struck the valves, but aren't gaulled or damaged, really good! All surfaces are clean and flat and the head looks great! It's now going to head over to a recommended shop that John has worked with and has extensive experience doing NSX heads. New Lighter valves (larger intake valves), retainers, springs and port work will be applied. Cam gears for precise tuning and custom John Martin designed cam shafts will be installed. Why the over kill you ask.

First, my head has to fixed or else it's just a heavy aluminum paper weight. Second, it's a way of getting me back on the road in about two weeks. Third, everything that's being done to the top half is the same work required for the 3.3L and 3.8L!

Now I'm not committing to either yet, but now, I have options. I can leave it the way it will be fixed and run what I brung, or I can save up and get all the required parts for the displacement upgrades as funds become available and then have the work done at my financial pace.

I've said it before that I believe things happen for a reason. Even though it sucks that my belt broke, I have been very fortunate to recieve a lot of support and education from my friends in and out of the NSX community! Maybe my car was meant to have bionic heart and it took the belt breakage to start the process, I don't know, but I feel better today than the day I broke my car.

Thanks again for the support and I'll let you all know how the car feels when I get it back and what I decide to do next!

Peter
Click to expand...
Peter -

James showed me your car when I dropped mine off last Sat. I'm really sorry that you're having to go through this but think Jon Martin is a very good guy to have taking care of you at this point. I hope that you guys can get her back on the road sooner rather than later.

Good luck.
 
Peter, I'm glad that you have a positive attitude towards such unexpected event. We ought to throw your car a welcome home party when she is back from Jon's.

I hope you get her back when the driving is good. :smile: Well, it is good all year round, but the canyon drive is coming in a couple of months.
 
Peter, Sorry to hear about this but sounds like you've got a good perspective on it all! Let me know if you need help getting any OEM parts.

Good luck getting it all back together...BTW, if it were me, I'd go for the 3.8!

Mike
 
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Joel said:
Ahhh....the dreaded "NSX Modified" that leaves a bad taste in the mouth upon its utterance.
Click to expand...

why so?:confused:
 
The Kid said:
why so?:confused:
Click to expand...
They claimed they did repairs on people's cars and didn't. They did some repairs wrong (like replacing the snap ring without replacing the tranny case). When they closed up shop and vanished in the wind, they still had some customer cars and didn't contact them. Stuff like that...
 
There is plenty of money to be made honestly in the automotive service industry...It makes me sooooooo angry:mad: when I see people get taken advantage of and the industry I work in gets another black eye:frown:
 
All I can say is sorry to hear about your problem and post pics!
Especially post pics of the timing belt shred if you still have it.
Bent valves would be nice, pistons touched, and so on.
This would help explain to new owners the importance of that belt replace.
Hum, better check my kms!
Trev
I like the way your going, should be interesting to see the change in performace once your done.
Keep us informed my friend.
 

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