We recently had a valve job done on our 2006 Honda Odyssey last fall. It had to be done twice since the first repair wasn’t done correctly and the vehicle blew a lot of grey smoke. The second repair was covered by warranty but seemed to burn more oil than it had previously. Fast forward to 6/29 and the car quit on the highway. We had it towed to the same repair shop and they said that the serpentine belt failed which in turn caused the valves to burn up and that would not be covered under the warranty.
A few questions: 1) Could a failed serpentine belt cause the valves to burn up? 2) Would it be more plausible that failed valves would compromise the serpentine belt? 3) When doing a valve job, wouldn’t the condition of the serpentine belt be checked? Thanks!
If your timing belt failed on an interference Honda engine the pistons would hit the valves and bend them. They would not be burnt. They would be bent. And the engine would spin over very fast and not start. A compression test can be performed to determine valve failure.
A failed serpentine belt would cause and engine to overheat and warp the heads and or blow a head gasket causing coolant loss and or white smoke from exhaust.
- No
- No
- Depends on the shop. And the belt may have been okay at the time. I’m not looking at it back then so its hard to say.