HELP! What have I done to my baby?

[TheSebringOne]

I hope its not too serious Martin.

[mart155]

Well, Norton Honda phoned me this evening with the verdict of their investigation. Unfortunately it wasn't anything as simple as a pipe coming off somwhere.
I had suspected that it was a timing issue and AR was bang on when he suggested the timing belt might have sliped.

According to Brian, this was caused by the dreaded Crank Pulley failure which at 8000 rpm threw debris everywhere breaking the cambelt cover and allowing some of the debris inside. This subsequently caused damage to the cambelt and somehow caused it to jump a couple of teeth out of position.

The worst part is that they cant tell me for sure if there is any further damage until they have replace all the bits to see how she runs.

So for now, its a new cambelt, new cover, new crankshaft pulley and a new fanbelt.

I am currently keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that there isnt any further damage.

[simonprelude]

Gutted for you
Hope it's as simple as that and she's up and running again in no time.

[markdas]

Is the crank pulley failure a common fault then? I can't remember seeing it in the common fault thread??? When should it be replaced if it is an issue? Doe is have a harmonic damper or something built in that fails?

Thanks

Mark

[goldnsx]

I'm very sorry to hear. A friend of mine had this not long after his TB job on a low mileage car but with the difference that he was very, very lucky.

As for a prognosis your mechanics can use a microcamera to see if the valves hit the piston in one of the cylinders. This saves a lot of hours!

In general:
It's not a common problem but if it hits you them it's a big-£££ problem. It can happen on any other car/make. If you like your engine get one of these: http://www.honda-nsx.ch/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=24 Dave from the US had this brilliant but simple invention.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Sorry to hear the news and I hope it was just one or two teeth jump and not hitting the valve...
Finger crossed...

Is the crank pulley failure a common fault then? I can't remember seeing it in the common fault thread??? When should it be replaced if it is an issue? Doe is have a harmonic damper or something built in that fails?

Thanks

Mark

Not sure how to define the wording 'common' but it is a quite well known failure. There is a rubber like material bonded inside the pulley and with the ageing and heat, it just debonds itself. Sometimes it just sits behind the pulley (so you can't see it unless looking from bottom or behind) and starts to make a big hole on the plastic cover behind the pulley. Eventually, it will result in ...

So, amoung the people I worked with on NSX, it is a regular maintenance item to replace the pulley at the time of timing belt change.

Regards,
Kaz

[goldnsx]

...Sometimes it just sits behind the pulley (so you can't see it unless looking from bottom or behind) and starts to make a big hole on the plastic cover behind the pulley.

That's the problem with the failure. If it can't be seen it should be heared but metal on plastic doesn't sound critical enough for most to stop the engine ultimately. [EDIT]Don't get me wrong here. The noise of a broken one is very hard to detect.[/EDIT] My friend (who works on his NSX himself) heard some noise but was more feared about the slightly rougher idle of the engine. He drove 30 km back and was very surprised that:
1. it was the HBP
2. he was able to drive home
The HBP needs some, ok very short time to eat up the plastic cover, maybe 50 km, highly depending on the revs.
The HBP shield has two effects:
- you can hear it cleary as metal bangs on metal
- it protects the plastic at least your way to the next garage.

[amo]

well this is avilible from sos as i bought 1 back with me

http://www.scienceofspeed.com/produc...Damper_Shield/

hope this helps

thx amo

[WhyOne?]

So, amoung the people I worked with on NSX, it is a regular maintenance item to replace the pulley at the time of timing belt change.

Is this also known as a Timing Belt Tensioner or is it a different part altogether?

PS - Martin, sorry to hear about your problem, fingers crossed that it is no more serious than currently diagnosed.

[AR]

Is this also known as a Timing Belt Tensioner or is it a different part altogether?

PS - Martin, sorry to hear about your problem, fingers crossed that it is no more serious than currently diagnosed.

Is the harmonic balancer and is not a big job, but you need a Honda or Custom made tool for this.

Cheers,

AR