franciz3

my car: honda civic 2001 ex manual transmission stock.

Will try to keep this post as short as possible.

My car was working fine until it overheated on me about 3 blocks away from home ( i know... soo close ). I noticed a smoke in my hood coming from the driver side, instantly checked the temp gauge and it was definitely hot, but i didnt let it go in d red zone cuz i pulled over right away. When i pulled over i realized that my coolant was leaking. I got it towed at my mechanic frnd's house and it turned out my water pump broke. I bought the water pump/timing belt package from autozone, he installed it, got the car back, but......

When I was driving my car home, it wasnt driving normally. My idle was rough, sometimes my idle goes too low while in neutral and it stalls. It also struggles in the first gear.. overall it felt like my car lost power. I had couple of check engine light:

p1324 - knock sensor problem - I bought a new knock sensor, installed it, and code went away.

p1129 - MAP sensor problem - I bought a new map sensor, installed it, but code did NOT go away.

another weird symptom: my car sux in the highway now ! with the code p1129 I can only go 70mph... if I try to go past 70mph my car would shake and would decelarate back to 60mph by itself.

however if i erase the p1129 code (i have a odb reader), the idle is a lil better and I can go 80mph flat.... it will not shake and decelerate if i try to go past 80mph... it just stays at 80mph. very weird !!!

i am lost... i dunno what else to replace... please help me !!!


my 2 blame:

1. he messed up on installing my timing belt... maybe the timing was off. But i came back to the same guy who installed it and he did a "compression test".. he hooked up all 4 of my spark plug coils and checked the compresssion... he said its good.. he said if the timing is off my car would fail that test.

2. my theory of old car parts breaking left and right after one thing breaks. Maybe timing belt water pump replacement triggered something for other parts to break.... i dunno... im just guessing at this point... because my car was running fine up until this repair.

any ideas??? right now only code I have is p1129 which is map sensor... but i have already replaced it (twice actually... cuz i thot d first map sensor was faulty).

also... i have p0300 p0301 p0302 p0303 p0304 missfire codes that pops up every now and then..... I have been erasing codes cuz like i said... with out p1129 code... my car runs a lil bit better.

ezone

I'd say pull the upper timing cover and verify cam timing (timing belt setup) is correct.


Also, overheating can cause engine damage like head gasket failure.

mikey1

what is his definition of "good"??

what is his definition of "fail"??


if your timing was off a tooth (which it sounds like it is) your compression would still be pretty damn good, might be a bit lower, but certainly not anywhere near zero

franciz3

fortunately i caught the car smoking as soon as d water pump broke. smoke was coming from burning coolant. and i pulled over right away. i didnt really get it to the point that it completely overheated. temp gauge rise'd a lil bit but thats about it.

I am currently googling/youtubin how to verify my timing belt setup without taking out the top timing cover.. cuz i hav to take out alot of stuff on top just to take off that cover.. and Im tryna not mess it up even more.

ty for the reply

i sorta just believed him... cuz he's a friend. but now that i thot about it.. maybe he's just tryna cover his ***. this is why i'm tryna solve it myself now without going to him.

as I said earlier on my other reply.. I am currently trying to google/youtube on how to confirm the timing belt setup. ty for the reply.


quick question tho: will my car throw a p1129 (map sensor error) if my timing belt setup is wrong?

mikey1

thats impossible,

you need to remove the top cover to see the cam marks

ezone

It's a lot quicker if you remove the cover so you can put eyes on it.

franciz3

ty both for replying. and yes it seems impossible without taking out the top cover.

now i was watching a couple youtube video on how to take off the top cover...

first video tells me to take off the valve cover and power steering... but i saw another video that i dont have to take off the valve cover.. just take out the power steering out of the way.

can i take off the timing belt cover without taking out the valve cover?

my valve cover gasket is brand new ( when i got the timing belt installed )... i kinda dont wanna mess that up too... and if i dont have to.. why take it off u know?

ezone

The valve cover MUST be raised because it 'traps' the top lip of the upper timing cover.

I don't actually remove the valve cover all the way off of the engine unless I have to replace the gasket. I DO unbolt it and raise (pry) it up far enough to free the timing cover.

mikey1

like ezone said, you need to raise the cover enough to get the top timing cover off, i would say maybe 1/4-1/2 inch, you dont have to actually remove the valve cover completely....loosen it, yes

franciz3

thank you both again for replying. sorry for late reply. got busy during the weekend. So i guess the video i was watching without the valve cover removed... forgot to mention that he at least loosen'd it up to release the cover. I'm thinking of doing this sometimes this week when it stops raining... just to see if the teeth are really out.

so what i saw from searching online is... if the "up" marker is on top (12oclock).. d left and right marker should be at 3 oclock and 9 oclock position... that's what i'll be looking for.. right??

I am actually hoping they are not aligned properly... so I can take a picture and blame it on the guy that installed it...

If the teeth are off.. do i need to take out the whole thing to realign it? or i can do it from just the top?

ezone

Not quite. "UP" just needs to be right side up.

When the crankshaft pulley is set at the TDC mark (single notch)---Those two marks on the cam gear need to line up with the top surface of the cylinder head.