I have a 1997 Honda Civic DX and i recently took it in to have its timing belt and water pump replaced. Since then, I have noticed a change in the cars performance. I have lost both gas mileage and power since i took my car in. The maintenance supposedly took the dealer twelve hours to complete which seemed a little odd to me. Do you think this is linked? I just remember getting a lot more miles to a tank of gas, and my car was about the same speed as a friend of mine's who now smokes me. Thank You.
ITS MOST LIKELY NOT TIMED CORRECTLY, MAYBE OFF BY ONE OR TWO TEETH. IF THIS REPAIR WAS DONE RECENTLY I WOULD TAKE IT BACK AND TELL THEM THAT THE VEHICLE HAS A LACK OF POWER CONCERN EVER SINCE THEY DID THE REPAIR. THEY SHOULD NOT CHARGE YOU MORE UNLESS THEY FIND THAT IT HAS THIS CONCERN BECAUSE OF ANOTHER PROBLEM. HONDA'S ARE KNOWN FOR DECEIVING TIMING MARKS.
It sounds fishy for sure. These repairs should not take so much time and if the timing belt is not synched correctly it can affect mileage. I suggest a second opinion by a pro.
If your Alternator belt is to loose, it would definitely cause your battery to start up, on alot of foreign vehicles they dont really have a tensioner but a bolt to loosen and tighten the belt, like toyotas, have maybe he didnt tighten it enough, you can self check pop your hood with the engine OFF and push the top of your alternator belt down if you feel alot of play in the belt he didnt tighten it, as far as timing belts and timing chains i know foremans in the field of automotive for 25 years and more who hate doing those because the slightest bit off and the car wont start, if its your timing belt you cant tell if it takes you forever to start the car up and then it finally starts up, sounds like your alternator belt is the problem
12 hours on a civic DX. I am a honda mechanic and I will say that this job only takes 2 hours, 4 hours if your slow and never done it before. Mind you this includes timing belt, water pump, cam seal, crankshaft seal, serpentine belts, valve cover gasket, spark plugs if needed, Honda coolant, and valve adjustment. If you are 1 tooth off on timing your Honda will run, but it will run very rough. Sounds to me like they may have the timing 1 tooth off, 2 teeth off and the car just wont run and if it does it will barely run. This car needs to be taken back and everything i told you should have been done and done properly. What probably happened is the dealer let an apprentice work on the car, since this civic is the easiest to do a timing belt on. However its still their fault that it was not done properly.
I wouldn't take it back there. Get an independent shop to look at it probably just an o2 sensor or emissions stuff Tell em what happened but point any blame just tell em you want an independent 2nd opinion The timing belt is buried in the block so it is on the long side as far as hours go all the front engine accessories have to come off water pump I hope they didn't double dip you since they had to take off the water pump anyway. Allot of shops try to get away with this charge you hours that weren't actually spent its dishonest but I don't know what the legalities are. Anyway get a second opinion. The poor mileage is probably unrelated check your air filter is about the only owner level thing you can do changing the spark plugs is pretty easy. Its a 97 so it probably needs new ones if it hasn't been done. I would recommend having the fuel filter changed that can effect mileage. Have the shop plug in a scan code reader, they will probably do this first without having to mention it.
