Car died going 50+ down the road and I hear a ping noise from the engine bay. Get it towed yesterday, and today my mechanic says that the timing belt has snapped and he's going to throw a new one on to see if it will turn over at all. Since the j32a3 is an interference engine, at a minimum I'm looking at bent valves, and I'm not sure what else. What are my options here? Pay him to pull the engine apart and troubleshoot and fix everything stepwise? Buy and drop in a new engine? Not sure what will be best/most cost effective. Thanks for the help.

 

Wow. You don't hear about the timing belt on J V6's failing very often. How many miles did you have on it?

The labor involved in fixing an engine is likely going to be more than the cost of the engine itself. That J32 is cheap. There are a ton of those engines around. The majority of cost will be labor. I'd ask his opinion. But it also depends on the extent of the damage. New (used) heads would also probably be cheaper than tearing the existing heads apart and replacing everything. The heads would have to come off anyway to replace valves.

Best of luck.

 

depending on what mechanic finds;
A) resurface heads, drop in new valves.
B) buy used heads
C) buy used engine.

heads can be found for $350 or less
I have bought used engine for $650.

my mechanic charged me $650 for engine install.
I was back on the road for $1300 + cost of fluids..

 

In one of the many threads we've had here since I joined last spring regarding when to perform the Timing Belt service (i.e. the old 7-Year or 105,000 mile conundrum), one individual insisted the 7-Year interval was not valid for the 3G TL and then wrote, "When was the last time you heard of a Timing Belt breaking on a J-Series engine?"

Well here you have it folks; the only question outstanding from the OP is how many miles/years were on the belt which failed.

 

Going to check my records when I'm home tomorrow and update you, but I'm pretty damn sure I got a timing belt change at the dealer 2 years ago at 159k miles the same time I did my motor mounts. ~180k miles now. So would it be worth him throwing a belt on and seeing what happens first, or going straight to opening it up and investigating? Will start looking around for engines in the meantime I suppose.

 

I seriously doubt your engine is 100%; even if the belt failed at idle, bent valves are almost guaranteed.

 

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market is where I sourced my $650 engine. it had 100,000+ mileage on it, but I didn't care. I changed the oil and it is performing beautifully!! one wouldn't know that it's not my original engine

 

So once the car died driving, did you try to restart it? I imagine it would have made repeated banging noises.

 

If it was changed, it's a freak of nature or more likely something else was a contributing factor for it to snap at only 21K. If it was changed, next question I'd have would be if they also changed the tensioner and pulleys. If a belt snapped at 21K, there had to be something else wrong.

On the other hand, if it snapped at 180K, well, it did it's job...and much more.... and lesson learned.

 

I doubt the majority of the Acura TLs are getting the timing belt done at this age because it's fairly expensive. If there is a big problem, we'll see a lot of threads coming up in the next 10 years.

If anything, this just points out that if someone posts another thread where a timing belt snaps there isn't going to be much we can conclude from it. 1 instance of something isn't necessarily proof of anything. Could be some other factor involved that we don't know about.

 

Ok, update. Had timing belt done 2 years ago, about 20k miles ago. Just got off the phone with my mechanic who says they cant even throw a new belt on because the camshaft wont turn. Said teeth were stripped off of the belt, it didn't snap. What would cause that? Bent valves and looking at new heads. Going to have to buy a motor and have them put it in it looks like, he'll only charge $500 to put it in, so that's nice. Won't be in time to drive outta here for Thanksgiving though. Happy holidays I guess.

 

Found my receipt from the acura dealership confirming the timing job.

 

Low probability question so don't shoot me.

• Did you happen to run the engine low on oil?

 

Camshaft not turning? I don't know enough about valvetrains to diagnose why that might be, but it can't be good. Maybe a valve damaged a rocker arm and caused it to seize. Or maybe a valve was bent upward, causing it to jam against the top of the cylinder.

 

Nope, sure didn't. Still had something like 50% oil life too. Checked it before the tow came. Had coolant as well.

 

I was one of those that doubted the possibility of the timing belt breaking very soon after the change interval. I agree that age could be an issue though, moreso than mileage I think.

In this case, it sounds like the belt wasn't the culprit.

 

Agreed.

 

Thread from last year with a similar issue....

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...rocket-949798/

 

OP, thanks for the update. Which camshaft won't turn? Beginning to sound like a frozen cam journal as in the above linked post. Sub'd for the final verdict....

 

A mi me paso lo mismo acá en México pero lo revise el carro y los árboles giraban sin problema, se compro una banda nueva , se puso a tiempo y coloco y listo mi 2010 arranco sin problema

 

I know this is an old thread, but I have a 2008 with 111K on it. I just did the timing belt, tensioners, water pump for like a grand. It's my sons car and I dont need his car dead on the side of the road. Car has been reliable and is a great car for a college kid. My goal is to get another 100K and 5-8 years out of it.

 

Take care of the car and it will take care of you and/or your son.

 

i've had my 2006 TL for 11 and a half years now...I plan to hold it for another 10-12 years.

like NBP04TLME said; take care of the car and it will last forever.

 

I'm just shy of 12 years on my 08 TL Type S. The mechanic I used before I moved, used to call it a future classic

 

it is!! it's such a pretty car!!!!

I just got done refreshing it a bit... new lower control arm bushings, wheel bearings, brake pads and fresh brake fluid. still drives like a dream!