Thank you, fellows, for all the many good comments a couple weeks ago about my Accord V6 timing belt failure. I have TWO important pieces of information for those who want to know.
First, I sold the car to a mechanic who wanted to re-build the engine and keep the car for his wife since my Accord was so clean and well-maintained. After a week he messaged me and told me that while the accepted common knowledge is that a broken t-belt on an interference engine usually means bent valves, he recalled a Honda mechanic saying once that the SOHC 3.0 V6s usually **DO NOT** bend valves despite being an interference design.
This mechanic who bought my car put a new t-belt on this week along with a replacement of the part that caused the failure (discussed below), and . . . that engine fired up and ran as smoothly as the day the car was first purchased! Now remember that I was at 2,000 RPMs and going up a hill when the belt turned loose. I just knew the engine was done. That's why I sold the car so quickly. So you all can imagine how much of a dumb*ss I feel like now.
OK, here's what failed. It was essentially a parts failure rather than a technician error, although some may disagree. The pre-installed nut on the tension roller/pulley worked itself loose allowing the belt to flop off. The mechanic who did the job a few months ago told me today that he seldom checks that nut because it's always tight from the parts factory. Well, in this case it wasn't apparently. I have certainly learned an expensive lesson, even with what I believed to be OEM parts.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/10/full-72631-37647-honda_koyo_oem_tension_roller_pulley.jpg "[Linked Image]")
First, I sold the car to a mechanic who wanted to re-build the engine and keep the car for his wife since my Accord was so clean and well-maintained. After a week he messaged me and told me that while the accepted common knowledge is that a broken t-belt on an interference engine usually means bent valves, he recalled a Honda mechanic saying once that the SOHC 3.0 V6s usually **DO NOT** bend valves despite being an interference design.
This mechanic who bought my car put a new t-belt on this week along with a replacement of the part that caused the failure (discussed below), and . . . that engine fired up and ran as smoothly as the day the car was first purchased! Now remember that I was at 2,000 RPMs and going up a hill when the belt turned loose. I just knew the engine was done. That's why I sold the car so quickly. So you all can imagine how much of a dumb*ss I feel like now.
OK, here's what failed. It was essentially a parts failure rather than a technician error, although some may disagree. The pre-installed nut on the tension roller/pulley worked itself loose allowing the belt to flop off. The mechanic who did the job a few months ago told me today that he seldom checks that nut because it's always tight from the parts factory. Well, in this case it wasn't apparently. I have certainly learned an expensive lesson, even with what I believed to be OEM parts.
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