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first and foremost, my name is Jay and i drive a 94 civic. probly the most fun car ive ever driven!
on to my question- im from central canada and last week we recently had really cold weather (bout -50 C) and my car did not start up after that. the day before that it started up well and showed no sign that something was wrong whatsoever. the next morning, it actually started up a good 3-4 seconds before it completely died on me. tried boosting/charging the battery, plugged in for 2 days, put it inside a heated garage overnight and still no use of getting it started. engine cranks/clicks etc when i turn it over all that stuff. took it to a shop and they said its probly the timing belt broke and probly bent some valves. is there a good chance its the timing belt in this case? i mean it did start a good 3-4 sec?

 
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Hi, welcome to the forum.
Easy enough to verify without guessing, but it sounds like someone has only guessed so far?

 
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Here is a very easy check for you to do-

remove the distributor cap.
Have someone turn the engine over while you watch the distributor rotor. Is it turning around in the distributor or just setting in one place?

If turning, timing belt is not broken (it turns the camshaft which turns the distributor)

If not turning-

Grab the rotor and see if it is locked on the shaft or if you can turn it by hand-

If it is locked on the shaft- bad news. Timing belt broke and high probability of serious engine damage -

If you can turn it by hand - good news - the set screw that holds the rotor is loose or missing and the rotor can't provide spark to the proper plug wire - cheap fix. This is not something that happens a lot - but I have seen it.


If the timing belt broke on what is known as an "interference" engine - meaning that there is not room at the top of the cylinder for a piston at TDC (top dead center) and an open valve at the same time, then even a few engine revolutions will cause the pistons to pound on the valves that are stuck in the open position when the camshaft quits turning. This usually does a lot of serious damage in a hurry. You would have to pull the head to know how much.