ballzac

I've got an '05 with 56k miles on it. Engine ran perfect until 2 days ago.

I was on my way home from work and the engine died while slowing down for a stoplight. It looked like the alternator quit because I had battery power but couldn't restart the car. I pushed it into the repair place right where it broke down and they put a new battery in in the next morning, said charging system checked out perfect. I picked it up on lunch from work, ran a few errands before I left work to go home for the day, running like new again.

I was about 5 mins from home on the interstate, and I dropped into 5th to pass slower traffic, and power felt much lower than normal...I thought I was going crazy and moved back over to get ready to get off to my exit.....and the car dies. Before it comes to a stop, I tried popping the clutch to refire, thinking it was another battery/charging issue at the moment. I call the place that worked on it the night before to try jumping it(doesn't work). They tow it back to their place, pop oil cap off, and when we turn the engine over the intake cam isn't spinning.

To cut down on the story, the timing chain is alright, but after taking the valve cover off it isn't good. Exhaust side is perfect minus slight scoring on one cam holder. On the intake side, the nut holding the cam gear to the cam is loose, the bolts holding the cam caps to the holders, most are loose or finger tight, all cam lobes are scored heavily, and the journals are destroyed. At the moment, everything else looks good. I'm going to check down in the cylinders here in a bit to see if there is any debris on top of the pistons, but I haven't seen any in the head. Has anyone heard of this before or dealt with it? not sure if those bolts backing out led to this and the cam gear stilling spinning with the timing chain spun that nut loose, or if I'm looking for a clogged oil passage.

ChefJ

sounds like you have some knowledge on motors. that said if the cam cap bolts were to back out slightly that will cause a loss in oil pressure which could cause failure in the cams and journals. why the cam nut would be loose is beyond me. I guess its possible if the cam seized and the timing belt continued to turn that it may loosen it??? I don't know what side the threads turn on those though.

jeggy

Def. change the oil. cut the filter open and check the amount of metal/aluminum shavings.

ballzac

Just drained the oil, there are no big scrapings/pieces. There is a SMALL amount of metallic dust in the oil. There is absolutely nothing in the oil that's sitting in the pockets below where the cams go. Don't know if it's enough to be worried about, but I plan on pulling the engine either tomorrow or monday. Any upgrades I should do while it's apart? I'm going to order a magnetic drain plug, and figured I would replace the timing chain while I'm in there.

vtec4life57

recent valve adjustment or anything?

ballzac

Nope...I've had it a year this week, and I've just done the oil changes and an alignment. I used Royal Purple w/ Lucas oil stabilizer on my last change and was going to be doing the next change in a few weeks. Nothing internal..

ballzac

Kinda wishing I had an AP1 right now lol...Coming across a lot more engines/heads for a ton cheaper. Besides Ebay/craigslist, where does everyone get their engines?

ChefJ

I have hear d alot of negative things about royal purple in general. My tuner and I discussed alot of engine failures due to it. I have also read that lucas is a honda engine killer.
I am not saying either of these attributed to your issues but its possible.

ballzac

yeah, who knows...I remember back when I was in high school throwing money into my 93 prelude(2003-04ish), there were aftermarket performance companies who sold honda cylinder heads that had been gone through and ported etc. Are they still around? I can't remember the names of them for the life of me. Would rather pay a little extra for one of them that were ready to go instead of buying a used one and then still having to go through it before I put it in.

VAD

Lucas is so thick, it takes longer for oil to reach the head at cold start-up, which is when a significant amount of engine wear occurs. Please don't use it anymore.