Go with a remanufactured engine?????

[Vikas]

That is exactly why I am asking the question. The job of the timing belt tensioner in a Honda engine is to exert correct pressure on the tensioner idler pulley which in terms keeps the correct belt tension. Once it applies the pressure, even if it seizes, the pressure would remain on the belt.

I can understand tensioner getting lose but that is a far cry from being "seized".

 

[fdcg27]

Let's say that the tensioner pulley did seize.
How many seconds would the timing belt last?

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Let's say that the tensioner pulley did seize.
How many seconds would the timing belt last?


It would probably start squeeling or smoking at least and you'd have a good couple of miles at moderate RPM before it shredded I'd think. Hard to imagine that the driver wouldn't notice something is terribly wrong and pull over. Perhaps it was a botched belt job and the tensioner thing is a red herring?


EDIT: the above applies to a smooth steel tensioner on the smooth side of a timing belt

 

[kenpoed]

It ran smoothly and at 75 mph it lost all compression. When the shop took it apart the tensioner was stuck, the belt came off and was frayed but not broken.

The shop that performed the timing belt change confirmed the tensioner was not replaced.

The only issue the car had was ticking for 5 minuted after cold start up.after a valve adjustment and two Honda techs, the consensus was the sound was a cold fuel injector

 

[fdcg27]

The usual term is "[censored] take-out".
I bought one once for an '86 Civic Wagon, an otherwise nice car that I bought very cheaply knowing that it had either a cracked head or a bad head gasket, probably the result of serious overheating casued by maybe a blown hose.
Repacement seemed the cheapest option, since these guys aren't very rebuildable.
I bought the used JDM engine pretty cheaply delivered to my door.
It was claimed to have ~35K and came with a compression test strip as well as a new timing belt and water pump to be installed before the engine was run if you wanted to maintain the warranty.
The engine showed a lot of sludge under the valve cover, as though it had been run all of its life with no oil changes and on short trips.
I installed it and ran it for about 40K before I sold the car.
It cleaned up nicely on 3K OCIs of early 'nineties conventional 10w40 and it never used oil so I guess the rings were free.

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: kenpoed
It ran smoothly and at 75 mph it lost all compression. When the shop took it apart the tensioner was stuck, the belt came off and was frayed but not broken.

The shop that performed the timing belt change confirmed the tensioner was not replaced.

The only issue the car had was ticking for 5 minuted after cold start up.after a valve adjustment and two Honda techs, the consensus was the sound was a cold fuel injector



Is the shop trying to feed you a load?
Okay, to confirm a few things; You have an 05 Accord V6, and the timing belt shredded in service. If I understand correctly, teeth were skipped or shredded throwing valve timing off and bending valves in both heads, but not broken, just shredded.
Here is your tensioner and idler.

If one were to seize, how would the toothed-side of belt sustain damage, yet the backing, of which the tensioner rides on, is left intact??

UNLESS- the tensioner was LOOSE, ie not maintaining tension and caused the belt to skip teeth.

Since the tensioner spins, being 'seized' suggests it no longer spins due to seized bearings. The only way it would make sense is if the culprit is the tensioner spring: a little spring loaded "shock absorber" that is filled with extremely viscous fluid. It is designed to expand very slowly when belt slack is present, and is not designed to go back in, but it will if it has been damaged and the engine is shut down with tension left against it.

They get damaged when someone does a TB job and FORCES the shaft of the tensioner spring back in too fast, causing hydraulic damage to the inside. I learned that many years ago, and since then have never had a tensioner spring fail, because you HAVE TO take your time compressing them.



I'd be wary of a botched job.

 

[The Critic]

^ I don't think that picture is correct. The J series V6 uses a hydraulic tensioner that looks like a cylinder. It is not uncommon to find those to be "damp" during the 105k service.

 

[jrustles]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
^ I don't think that picture is correct. The J series V6 uses a hydraulic tensioner that looks like a cylinder. It is not uncommon to find those to be "damp" during the 105k service.


Thanks. The picture is correct, but it doesn't include the tensioner spring. I thought of that just after submitting

 

[1 FMF]

what was the actual damage to the engine? maybe i missed it in the thread but what prevents you from rebuilding your current engine? what is the definition of "fried" ?

 

[Vikas]

There are bunch of thing which can be inferred from what OP had been able to disclose.

It seems that the shop which did the timing belt job also did the postmortem. They told him that "tensioner seized". I had already suggested that there is something not kosher with that claim.

The picture does not show the hydraulic (or spring loaded) tensioner. It is showing the tensioner pulley and the idler pulley only.