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In March 2014, i had my timing belt changed, shortly after i could feel an random vibration/tugging sensation as i drove coming to a stop or idleing. I asked my mechanic if my timing belt needed readjusting since something just didn’t feel right. He said it couldn’t be the timing and what i felt was just the age of the car.
Last month my car threw a check engine that said i had a misfire in cylinder 2, bought wires and distributor cap and cleared the misfire from the cars computer. I wondered about the timing and was told that it couldn’t be a timing issue because they knew how to put a timing belt on.
Two weeks ago, engine stalled after start…..mechanic cleaned throttle body. Car didn’t stall anymore, but occasional vibration/jerking cont. I asked my mechanic if i would hurt anything if i cleaned the iac valve, he said no. Well after cleaning my cars idle became very low at times and felt like it was ready to stall.
Took car to my mechanic, had him put new iac valve on, with no improvement. He did call me and said i needed a new distributor (it was making rattling noise) and that could be causing the vibrations, low idling and the earlier misfire. Bought a new distributor and noise continued…….i told him to check the timing belt he checked it and found it to be loose.
Went to honda and had their master mechanic check it out, he suggested new pcv valve, but said it felt like symptoms of engine misfire where valves seats recede into cylinders causing misfire and worst case i would need a new cylinder head ($900-1200).
Next day had cylinder 5 misfire, mechanics employee said my engine was misfiring, maybe blown gasket worse case cylinder head replacement.
so……..as it stands now
1.car starts/run with more of a constant shaking
2.car starts fine when engine cold, low idle
3.car starts fine when engine hot, idle is good, increases with load
4.if car let to cool down for a few minutes and restarted, initial drop in idle is seen until car bought up to temp
5.if i turn wheel slightly and let it bounce back, idle drops, no drop with a/c or brakingmaybe driving a car with loose timing belt for 7 months killed my car…discovered power steering pump runs off belt from cam and if engine misfires, can cause idle drop sometimes while turn the wheel.
any ideas??
Mebius 🙁
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Well you’re at the right place to get some great help. Eric and others know much about Hondas. So just for clarification…the car was running fine until just after this procedure was performed? Then likely, the vibration symptom is tied to this performed repair. One thing that comes to my mind, is that the balancer is off (driven by the timing belt). Tell us the nature of the vibration. Is it always discernible? Does it vary with speed or increase of rpm’s? Does it go away? Honestly, the two symptoms described, the vibration and idle issue may not be related.
I might be wrong but I do not think, Honda does balancing shafts on their engines. Mitsubishi – sure.
OP, when timing belt was done, did “your mechanic” replace tensioner mechanism same time? Tensioner and tensioner pulley?
Rule of thumb is to always go to the last job done. Though you do not have to be of huge wits to do a timing belt on a Honda 4 banger.If memory serves, that’s a DOHC B series engine. I know for a fact that if you don’t get the timing belt tension correct, it can cause the engine to run rough. In addition, if the cooling system was not properly purged of air this can also cause issues. Since these problems didn’t seem to show up until after you did the repairs, I would say the issue was caused during the timing belt replacement. It’s too bad it’s been so long since that work was done. That said, I’ve written extensively about these issues here. You may find useful information there that can help.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-idle-problems
Keep us posted.
Initially i felt a tugging sensation in my seat,a jerking….after timing belt was replaced in March. Last month was when i wanted something done and they cleaned throttle body…and it did nothing….then i cleaned a big chunk of black stuff off my iac valve and the tugging/vibration continued, along with the drop in rpms.
Back at the mechanic, he said i needed distributor, didn’t help anything, forced him to check the timing belt he put on in March, and he discovered a loose belt tensioner….asked him if they should come loose, he said no…..and he tightened it.
Got my car back today, said he checked the valves and electronics and everything came up good…didn’t need cylinder head……..as i gave him my credit card, he said he never had this happen to a car before. Said he had a fuel treatment additive and maybe when i cleaned the carbon from the iacv some traveled to the fuel injectors thru the manifold. He charged me $25.00 for the fuel additive, and didn’t charge me anything for his time checking out my car for the last 2 days.
Said to just drive it and hopefully computer will relearn idle.
And that’s where i am at today….
Since i live in Sandusky OHIO, maybe i’ll make an appointment with Eric (i believe he is in Ohio too)lol
Sounds like a positive result. It’s good to be armed with knowledge, hence you insisting that the mechanic check on the timing issue. So, how is it running now after the tensioner fix and fuel treatment?
Too early to tell…………30 miles on the car since adding this $30 cleaner.
Went to class yesterday (6 mile drive) and i didn’t notice any problems………
With the computer adjusting for everything…including timing belt adjustment, i hope it will fix itself.
If i scraped black chunks of carbon off the iac valve, wonder if i would need an intake manifold cleaning. Already got throttble body cleaned. Can’t imagine there isn’t chunks of carbon in the air channels.
Looking at seafoam upper engine cleaner, goes thru throttle body, if the gas cleaner doesn’t work.
This wouldn’t really be practical unless you had the intake removed for some other job. Older Hondas often have the EGR passages clogged with carbon on the intake side (back) of engine. It’s a bit of a pain to access this because of location. If the car is performing fine and not throwing any related trouble codes, I’d suggest you not mess with it. On an old GM of mine, I actually created some issues after going after the carbon. Small chunks kept finding their way to the a EGR valve and getting stuck in the pintle. It took a while for that to stop. Eric made a video about using water to clean carbon versus Seafoam, etc., should you decide to do this.
That does sound like a result. I’m glad you didn’t replace the distributor, that would be a step backwards in my opinion.
As for the fuel additive, I doubt it will do much but it can’t hurt. Getting the timing belt tension correct on that engine can be tricky. I have a method that I use that usually works. In fact I’ve fixed quite a few B series engine problems just by tightening up the timing belt.
Keep us posted if things change.
quick update
idle still irregular, stalls after warm startup………….had another mechanic check engine, said spark plug in #1 cylinder black, indicated probable burned valve. $2300 to fix head….can’t guarentee problem will be fixed. Car’s only worth $2300 (blue book)and have put over $1000 into it last month with no improvement. Trading it in and buying new car today. 100% problem will be fixed.
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