mbolen23

Question to you guys.

About a week ago my check engine light came on, a few days after that when I made it to work my car was driving and operating fine! (may have had a little lag in the start of the vehicle but that was it) When I got off of work that night my car would not start, it would only spin when I tried to start the car. After checking the code for the check engine light I came up with P0341 code, that would be for camshaft position sensor A, after a long and many trips to the auto part store I recieved the wrong part as they thought there was only one sensor for both cams in the vehicle. Last night I got the correct one! Placed the part in the vehicle and replaced my battery (5 year old battery) now my car is turning over but wont crank, we are a step closer but not there yet. I will add that when pulling one of the sensors out I accidentally unclipped my fuel line that goes into the engine. I put it back on as quick as I could, could this be causing the vehicle to not start? or could it be something else? Please understand I have recieved a lot of help through this forum but this is my first time posting and I am not very vehicle literate.

ezone

P0341......I bet the timing chain is stretched or it's jumped time. If it won't run, I'd bet it jumped time. Hope it hasn't damaged any valves.

Put the original sensor back in LOL... it's probably fine.

mbolen23

If it jumped time or even if the chain is stretched how hard will it be to tell? Can I do this without having to drop the engine or too much damage? Any real way to test out the timing? I have watched a few tutorials on changing the timing chain, they seemed to do it with no problem! HOWEVER I do not think I have nearly enough room under my hood in order to do this without pulling out the engine...... :/

ezone

I might do some more checking before doing anything drastic.
Compression test?

Chain stretch can be determined by measuring the length of the chain auto-tensioner.

To see if it jumped time you would have to pull the valve cover to find the cam timing marks.

Got service manual?
Chain replacement can be done without pulling the engine. It's certainly not gravy, but it's doable.

mbolen23

I have had two mechanics from work look at it and they both say there is hardly enough room at all to do any work to the chain, we were thinking about doing a compression test before anything is done.


I was presented with the option of one of the mechanics will do the work for 300$ and will fix whatever is wrong including dropping the engine.


I was also presented with buying a rebuilt motor from two different Honda civic SI models I think he said it will be a 2.4lt engine and he will give that to me for 240$


I think if I am not mistaken If worse case scenario the parts to fix the timing and replace the chain and tensioner will be around 170$ but not sure.


I am posting this because I am not mechanical savvy but would like to know which option I should go with! and what would be a good price to sell my engine for assuming all is wrong is the tensioner and the chain? I have two people at work willing to buy it!


I am not sure what to do or which path to go with. I am leaning more towards going with the "new to me" motor especially if it has less miles than mine has since it will only be about 80$ more out of pocket.


Any suggestions or thoughts on this? ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!


Thanks in advance!

ezone

Where do you work?

I can tell your mechanics are not familiar with these cars. What do they work on? Heavy trucks?

It ain't easy, but it's doable.
It's easy if the engine is out of the car, but that's a whole lot more work.

Good....but be aware that good looking test numbers won't mean anything is perfect, it would only mean the valves are probably not bent. Cams can be pretty far out of time and still give compression readings.


Those prices are waaaay too freekin low. Especially since nobody knows what's really wrong with it yet.
No way.
Add another zero to the price. And your engine is a 2.0, not a 2.4.

I'd say just walk away from these guys and pay someone that knows the cars well and knows exactly what they are doing.




Find out what's wrong first.

JUST a chain and a tensioner at dealer list price is 200. Not including labor.
If it bent valves it's gonna be a lot higher than that.


Of course people want to buy it. It's a chance to get a car for dirt cheap that just needs a little work. And money.

The dollar figures you are tossing around here (or your friends are telling you) are not realistic IMO. A decent used engine for an 06 Si is worth an easy $2000 or more.



"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better." -John Ruskin