Hi all. I’m in a real pickle here. My wife and I bought a 2004 Pilot about 3 months ago. It has 160k miles on it. We were returning from our cabin 3 hours from home and an hour into the trip when I started passing a slower car and suddenly it just died while under full throttle. Now I turn the key and
the motor turns over but there appears to be no compression and it will not even try to start. Just spins. The car fax report did not show the 105k service but the person I bought it from said he saw receipts from the owner before him and the service was performed. I’m concerned that the Timing belt broke. It did not make a lot of noise when it stopped running. Anyone have any ideas what we might be up against? Thanks in advance for any response.

 

welcome to the forum. 04 pilot timing belt should be changed at 105k. if you have access to the belt cover and can remove it easily, might just check to see if it is broken. if you turned the engine with a broken timing belt, your valves may have been damage.

 

Unfortunately it was the timing belt and I was going about 50 miles an hour...heavy on the throttle so it destroyed the engine. It is at the Honda dealer right now getting a used motor installed. The previous owner assured me he had seen a receipt from the owner before him and that they had replaced the timing belt. Apparently this turned out to be untrue.Thank you for your input.

 

Sorry to hear that! I had the same thing happen with my 1987 Subaru back in the day, but it didn't have an interference engine so it wasn't an issue. I do know how surprising it is when the car just dies like that! Do you mind if I ask how much is the engine swap going to cost?