Bent valve on 1996 Honda Accord

[DutchBrad]

Hello all:

My mechanic has a 1996 Honda Accord 4 cylinder 4 door for sale. 216k miles, it broke a timing belt and has a bent valve. Apparently this is pretty common when this happens based on my research. He replaced the timing belt hoping there were no bent valves. It has the diesel like clunk below 1500 rpm. Smooths out and runs very well over 1500 rpm. I have a mechanic buddy that I am going to ask if he can help me fix the car. Local calls to other mechanics gave me quotes of $800-1000 for the car to be fixed. Most would send the head to a machine shop. The mechanic selling the car has an offer for $1900 to buy the car if he fixed it. He cannot get the car in to be fixed for 2 weeks. He is asking $900 for the car as is, but said his bottom dollar is $700. The car has smoke smell and also burn marks in the seats and center console. The car body is pretty straight, has a small ding and dent in the rear. It looks decent. The car has newer front suspension parts, the trans shifts fine, brakes are newer. I am looking for a car for my teenage son, he starts driving this fall. I can do a fair amount of maintenance, but I consider this heavy maintenance and have no experience. I would love to learn how to do heavier maintenance like this, versus having a shop do it.

Should I consider buying or run? These cars seem to last a LONG time. Opinions please.....

 

[CharBaby]

Yes, they do last a long time! How long depends on the cars history of maintenance. Replace the head or have it fixed if you buy the car. Bent valves aren't good!

This isn't a job for the untrained but, at least it's a 4 cyl in this case so, meaning le$$ money to repair/replace the head(singular).

The bad thing is...it will cost as much to repair as the car cost! Meaning, the whole cost of the car(after repair) could near $2,000. Is it worth it???

At that mileage, other repairs will crop up! Are you ready for that?

Hope this heled some!

 

[MarkM66]

I replaced the head on my '01 Honda Civic a few years back. I would think your car would be about the same. It's time consuming, but not that difficult if you've worked on cars before.

I bought a rebuilt head from Advanced Auto, about $400, been running great.

 

[fdcg27]

I would run away as fast as I could unless you want to do the work as a project.
This isn't a low mileage keeper and doesn't sound like it's very clean.
Probably not worth what you'll have in it by the time it's bought and fixed.
A broken timing belt is usually the kiss of death for an old Honda.
If only the owner had spent a couple of hundred bucks and had it replaced before it let go.

 

[Quest]

umm...if this accord is owned by your mech, I'd shy away and say no instead.

There's no such thing called "bent valves are common affair on these engines..." (interference engine design is the appropriate technical term BTW), citing that all timing belt engines are designed and operated with a specific timing belt replacement interval in mind. If the owner simply let that change lapsed and crashed valves, then all fault is on the owner (if in this case it's your mech that owns this car, then fault is on him).

Also: simply replacing a t-belt on these engines is just a 1/2 ash job, for I would do all 3 with factory OE parts: water pump (OE honda only), tensioner (OE honda), t-belt.

Again, my suspicion (tell me if this is indeed the case or not) is that if your mech is the owner of this honda and let it crush valves due to t-belt snaps, fault is on him.

Even if he's not the original owner of the honda accord but bought it as some sort of project car, and only to realise that the valves are crushed(bent) due to t-belt issue, and replaced only the t-belt and nothing more but to then offload it to you for cheep, I would seriously question this mech's technical knowledge and integrity (come-on! It's an interference engine! there's a boadload of work that needs to be done when that happened...)

My take on this subject. I do own Hondas and I don't care about those that have been neglected and then replaired.

Q.

 

[jmb106]

Originally Posted By: DutchBrad
Hello all:

My mechanic has a 1996 Honda Accord 4 cylinder 4 door for sale. 216k miles, it broke a timing belt and has a bent valve. Apparently this is pretty common when this happens based on my research. He replaced the timing belt hoping there were no bent valves. It has the diesel like clunk below 1500 rpm. Smooths out and runs very well over 1500 rpm. I have a mechanic buddy that I am going to ask if he can help me fix the car. Local calls to other mechanics gave me quotes of $800-1000 for the car to be fixed. Most would send the head to a machine shop. The mechanic selling the car has an offer for $1900 to buy the car if he fixed it. He cannot get the car in to be fixed for 2 weeks. He is asking $900 for the car as is, but said his bottom dollar is $700. The car has smoke smell and also burn marks in the seats and center console. The car body is pretty straight, has a small ding and dent in the rear. It looks decent. The car has newer front suspension parts, the trans shifts fine, brakes are newer. I am looking for a car for my teenage son, he starts driving this fall. I can do a fair amount of maintenance, but I consider this heavy maintenance and have no experience. I would love to learn how to do heavier maintenance like this, versus having a shop do it.

Should I consider buying or run? These cars seem to last a LONG time. Opinions please.....



Great car, i own 3 of this generation Replace the head or have it fixed the engine will out last the body. Otherwise they are some of the most reliable cars i have ever owned parts are cheap and easy to work on. I would offer him the $700 and find another mechanic to fix it as he should be ashamed at not changing the T-belt before it broke! Not much of a mechanic IMO!
Joe

 

[berniedd]

Incompetent mechanic. He neglects the timing belt change, obviously gambling it wouldn't [censored] out on him. The unforgiveable thing here is he wants to run the engine with known bent valves! This will only increase the damage already done and quite likely do more collateral damage on other parts. Pass this one up, unless you're sure you want to learn something by doing the job yourself. Your mechanic buddy should have the tools (esp a torque wrench, I think those Honda cyl head bolts torque down to 60 ft-lbs) needed, you can borrow them if he can't find time to help you out himself.

 

[mene]

Originally Posted By: DutchBrad
Hello all:

My mechanic has a 1996 Honda Accord 4 cylinder 4 door for sale. 216k miles, it broke a timing belt and has a bent valve. Apparently this is pretty common when this happens based on my research. He replaced the timing belt hoping there were no bent valves. It has the diesel like clunk below 1500 rpm. Smooths out and runs very well over 1500 rpm. I have a mechanic buddy that I am going to ask if he can help me fix the car. Local calls to other mechanics gave me quotes of $800-1000 for the car to be fixed. Most would send the head to a machine shop. The mechanic selling the car has an offer for $1900 to buy the car if he fixed it. He cannot get the car in to be fixed for 2 weeks. He is asking $900 for the car as is, but said his bottom dollar is $700. The car has smoke smell and also burn marks in the seats and center console. The car body is pretty straight, has a small ding and dent in the rear. It looks decent. The car has newer front suspension parts, the trans shifts fine, brakes are newer. I am looking for a car for my teenage son, he starts driving this fall. I can do a fair amount of maintenance, but I consider this heavy maintenance and have no experience. I would love to learn how to do heavier maintenance like this, versus having a shop do it.

Should I consider buying or run? These cars seem to last a LONG time. Opinions please.....


I'm no Honda expert but.... if the interference is with the pistons and not in between the valves one or more valves could have hit a piston or pistons, imagine the damage to them when a hardened steel shaft with a sharpened crown hits a thin walled aluminum piston and bends, How much damage do the piston or pistons have received?, and it could have been more than 1 cylinder, just one is the worse and it is masking the others leaking too, so if you have to redo the head and change pistons you should replace rings of course and doing all that and not replacing the con. bearings is stupid at best and the crank bearings are right there and no that much more expense. soo... I hope you see what I see. Ask yourself a question, Why does the mechanic is even offering the car for sale fixed or not if he has put so much already in it? it is because he knows, he will probably replace the head with a used one from a junkyard and sell the car quick, the next owner will have to put up with the repairs since he will sell it without any warranty I guess.

 

[rjundi]

I'd pay $900 for the working version of the car.

That is nuts for something broken and 216k miles and you need to further fix. Also there may be more damage than bent valve(s).

This old horse needs to be walked to its hole shot and buried.

 

[Doog]

run Forrest run

 

[toneydoc]

Interference engines will cause damage to the valve train and likely damaged several valves and or pistons and valve guides etc.

LET IT GO to somebody else unless you want to rework the engine valve train, etc

 

[yonyon]

I have to agree that the broken timing belt means it hasn't been maintained properly. You have to look it over and judge as well as you can whether the whole car is like that or if maybe the owner just skipped that one thing.

If the car is otherwise good condition and you think it will be safe and reliable then why not go for it? One big problem to repair is better than dozens of little problems. A 4-cyl Accord should be a fine first car.

If you buy it and save some money by removing and installing the head yourself I think that you'll find that part of the job is really pretty easy repair work, there's just a lot of it so it takes a while. A basic brake service can be much more difficult than this.

I do have a few suggestions that may or may not be helpful: Pull out the O2 sensors and put pipe plugs in their place before you pull the head off so they don't get poisoned. Put the sensors back in after you've run the repaired engine for a good fifteen minutes or so. See if the radiator looks old. If it does, consider replacing it before it gets a nice big crack along the top and you have to pull the head off again. Take plenty of pictures because you won't be doing it all in one day so there will probably be something that you can't remember exactly where it goes.

 

[bigt61]

Spend good money and jump through hoops for a 216k mile, 18 year old car....what's wrong with this picture? Spend more money and buy something that runs and was cared for. Even if it's a Ford or Chevy.

 

[fdcg27]

We had one of this generation, a '97 LX 5 spd coupe.
Paid 6K at six years and 64K, sold it at 207K and it's still moving along with its new owner.
The car still runs and drives well.
The air still works and so does the dealer installed CD changer in the trunk.
These are solid and reliable cars.

 

[Chris142]

Id dump one of those used japanese engines in it. But its not worth paying to have it done.

 

[Mud]

Yes that model is known to be dependable.
No that particular vehicle has no good record of being taken care of.
Pass.

 

[hattaresguy]

Pass, take the $2k and go find a good clean Buick or Saturn. Honda's are priced like they are made out of gold but its still a shot 18 year old car with spaceship mileage.

 

[pottymouth]

In my experience, when a mechanic tries to sell an "easy fix" project it is far from easy. I'd wager he knows of or at least suspects bigger problems in this car.

Also, I avoid smoker cars like the plauge. The smell always seems to come back no matter what the cleaning ritual you use. You think you have it beat then get in the car on a hot summer day and it's like licking an ashtray.

 

[Tdbo]

To summarize in one word: pass.

 

[DutchBrad]

I talked to my mechanic buddy. He is going to look at the car tomorrow with me after work tomorrow. We will decide more then. The mechanic that has the car now has it because the timing belt broke and the original owner gave him the car. He did not own the car prior to the timing belt getting snapped. I asked him why he did not fix the bent valve, he said he could not put more money into the car and get any value out of it. He said it would be a good project for someone that wants to do it themselves. My mechanic buddy and I talked this morning about putting a used engine in the car, putting the new timing belt set from the current engine on the used engine. My buddy said used engines go for around $500 - about the same money as having a machine shop work on the car. We will see what happens. It sounds like the car gets around $350-400 for scrap price at the local junk yard, so maybe I drive it as is and when it implodes in a year/two I roll it over to the junk yard. We will know more tomorrow. I will know more then and update everyone.