Tripp

[brickhousewench]

I think that I mentioned the other day that my check engine light had come on. While I was out running errands earlier in the week it came on again. I called the dealership to get a service appointment, but they couldn’t get me in until Monday. And I’m supposed to drive down to NYRF this weekend. So I was worried about driving him this weekend

Comments

[guy_todd]

That makes no mechanical sense to me at all. Timing belts don't get oiled, though timing chains do. Even if it was a chain it would have to get severely overheated and stretched before you noticed anything, and then (AMHIK) the first sign is a VERY loud rapping as the chain tries to slap and chew its way to freedom ;-). I wonder if they were actually referring to a mechanism that in some vehicles actually changes the cam timing to meet various conditions. If that started going west, you would definitely notice some punk performance! Whatever the cause, $300 ain't bad for the dreaded CE light attack.

[brickhousewench]

Maybe it was the timing chain? There was a lot of terms that I didn't understand in the explaination of what was wrong (which, I can assure you, made me feel quite ignorant about mechanical things! Usually I'm better at following along on explanations about this sort of stuff.)

All I know is, my car was coughing (and dying at stoplights), which it usually doesn't do. And there was a distinct lack of pickup. When I pulled into the dealership, the service attendant thought they smelled something. And whatever they fixed? He's running smooth again. So yeah, happy it was a quick, relatively cheap fix.

[guy_todd]

Aha! Pinged some gearhead friends and my guess was correct--the cam timing is changed via hydraulic fluid or oil, and lack of said vital fluid would mean the cam would almost certainly be in the wrong position. It then would open or close the valves at the wrong time, opening them before the power stroke was complete or before fuel was done entering. Either way, *no power*. You are lucky you stopped in time, you could have roached the engine. :\

Edit:

http://blog.caranddriver.com/timing-changes-how-hondas-vtec-variable-timing-system-works/

[brickhousewench]

Oh cool! Thanks for the link!

[allgudallthetim]

glad you got it fixed in a timely and mostly cheap fashion! and ain't it great we have a mechanically minded (Mike) friend who is right there with helpful info!! He is a treasure, for sure!!