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I bought a high-milage 2001 Civic with a manual transmission a few months ago as my commuter vehicle. It has been running great, averaging 35+ mpg, until . . . I started it, put it in reverse, accidentally stalled the engine, and I haven't been able to start it since. I can hear the fuel pump run when I turn the key on. The local parts store tested my starter and said it was good. I believe I have spark (it seems to try to fire). Two questions: 1) I'm wondering, is it possible that by stalling it, I caused it to jump timing? 2) I'm not used to small engines, my other vehicle is a Suburban with a 454. When cranking my Civic, but it doesn't start, it sounds weird to me. I can't really describe it, but I'm wondering, could stalling it have caused some type of damage I'm not thinking about? Any help is appreciated.

 
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Either jumped timing or snapped the belt. Especially if it sounds weird when cranking. Pop the upper timing cover off and it should be pretty obvious

 
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is the engine turning or not?

 
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Thanks for the replies. Yes, the engine is/was turning. I tore into it today and confirmed that it DID skip timing. I haven't started the actual repair yet. Wondering why this happened and what will prevent it from happening in the future. Also wondering if it skipped because I stalled it, or if it died because it skipped timing. I've been using it to teach my son to drive a manual transmission and he's had a few much more violent stalls than my little bump, but none recently as he hasn't driven it in a few weeks. So, I'm doubting the "skipped because I stalled it" idea. That said. what do I do? Reset timing, obviously, but what beyond that? Replace belt? Replace tensioner? Replace water pump since I'm already taking everything apart? Ideas?
Thanks in advance.

 
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Reset timing and check if you have bent valves.
if no bent valves then buy a lotto ticket and then buy a timing belt, tensioner, and water pump kit. We recommend oem on this forum.

 
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So, I may or may not have spoken too soon. When I checked the timing, I was trying to do it with as little disassembly as possible. I pulled the top timing belt cover so I could see the markings on the cam gear. However, on the lower part of the engine I was using the marks on the harmonic balancer/pully, rather than actual crankshaft, when I determined that it had slipped. Question: Can I use those marks to determine if the engine is timed correctly? Do they align with the actual timing mark on the crankshaft? Or is pulling the harmonic balancer the ONLY way to know for sure if the engine timed correctly?

 
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there is a procedure - place piston on TDC and check camshaft sprocket.

 
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https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ne-timing.html

 
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Sorry so long to reply; work & family, you know the drill. Thanks to each of you for your replies. BrotatoChip's explanation with the diagrams was especially helpful.

So, my Civic definitely jumped timing. I put it back in time and did a compression test to check for bent valves (Thanks for the suggestion Colin42).

Bad, and confusing, news and a question. Since cylinders 1 & 4 operate in sync, and 2 & 3 operate in sync, I expected to get similar compression readings on 1 & 4, and similar readings on 2 & 3. However, I got 140psi on cylinder 1 and ZERO on 2, 3, and 4. How is that possible? If cylinder 1 has compression I would expect cylinder 4 to have compression, even if 2 & 3, don't. In the long run, I guess it doesn't matter, it looks like I need a valve job either way. Next steps? Your experience, thoughts, and advice are appreciated.

 
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pull out the head to inspect damage and take to a machine shop to rebuild it... Zero compression is bent for sure

 
Rep Power: 224

Pistons 1&4 and 2&3 are in the same position, but the valves are separate for each cylinder.

If at TDC, cylinder 1 fires while cylinder 4 just finished pushing exhaust out (also TDC). Rotate the camshaft 90 degrees, cylinder 3 fires. Another 90 degrees, cylinder 4. 90 degrees, cylinder 2. A final 90 degrees and you're back to TDC where cylinder 1 fires. Since these are four stroke engines the crankshaft rotates twice for every one of the camshaft. That would mean 180 degrees on the crankshaft between each firing.

Also, if you reset timing then ran a compression test it's entirely possible it jumped time again. The tensioner is likely failing.

 
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Thanks for the replies and the explanation.
(Can't figure out how to use the "Quote" feature)
"if you reset timing then ran a compression test it's entirely possible it jumped time again." - I kept an eye on the timing while doing the compression test, it did not jump again.

I guess now the real work begins . . .

 
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If you have any more questions feel free to ask. For future use....

Click the "Quote" button at the bottom of whatever post you want to quote. There's also the multi-quote button for multiple posts at a time.


Anything between the two circled square brackets will show up as a quote in your reply. In this case I trimmed out excess wording so the quote only shows what I want it to.

 
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I'm considering my options and would like as much input as I can get on each option. As I see it I have three options.
1. Junk it/Sell it damaged, of course with full disclosure
2. Rebuild the head.
3 Replace the head with a used one.

Option 1 - This would be the easiest, but also results in the biggest loss.

Option 2 - I talked with a friend of a friend who is a machinist. He said that specifically with the 2001-03 engines with high mileage, if you rebuild the head and don't rebuild the whole engine, they tend to wear out VERY fast. He said that the higher compression produced by the rebuilt head accelerates the wear on the lower half of the engine and it's likely to fail in as few as 10,000 miles.

Option 3 - Assuming that Option 2 is true, what if I were to get a used head, one with some miles on it but still passes a pressure test so that I know the valves are good, and install it. My thinking is that it probably wouldn't increase the compression as much as a rebuilt head and therefore wouldn't stress the lower half of the engine as much.

Those are my thoughts. I'd really appreciate as much input as I can get based on everyone's experience. Thanks in advance!

 
Rep Power: 222

Do option 2 and sell immediately, although I don't agree with what your mechanic says about the engines failing because of the rebuilt head. There's other factors at play

 
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yeah, rebuilding is not the reason. If they do resurface, then compression goes up
you can rebuild without milling the head