Timing belt broke on red light

I was waiting at a red light and my car died. Could not start it again.

Had to be towed back home. The timing belt is ripped.

Do i just need a new timing belt or is my whole engine destroyed?

My car is a 2001 3.0 V6 Honda Accord Sedan

Not all interference engines go kaboom when the timing belt goes.

Put a new one in, see if it starts.

Yeah it mostly depends on if it's interference or not. Interference is whether the cylinder and the valves ever cross paths.

Its guess-work until you can get a look at the top of the pistons and see if there is any damage

If you were waiting at the red light then you would've been at idle, which is a good thing

yes, i was in neutral and just standing in front of the red light.
the engine shut off "normal"
no sound, no bang, no smoke etc.


should i tow my Honda to a dealership? right now its standing at my rented parking place of my apartment. i have no equipment or garage.

i have that feeling that these fuckers will just tell me "yah man ur car is wasted. yah need new engine gib 4000 $ "


do i just need to remove the headpart of the engine and look at it? how do i check if my valves are okay or bent?


sorry if my english is not so good.

Rent a boroscope or hire a mechanic to use one

A quick bit of googling suggests that this is not an interference engine, meaning all you need is a new timing belt. I would take it to an independent mechanic because this is a routine operation and you don't need to pay extra for a stealership to do the work.

If you don't have tools, there's no real way for you to find out on your own if the engine is #rekt. If it is damaged, the shop should be able to give you the results of a compression test (very inexpensive) or some other very obvious reason why they know for sure it's toast.

listen to this man

okay, thank you very much. i will look around my place for independent mechanics.
i will give them a call or show up at there location and talk with them about my problem.

thank God im able to use the car of my mom for a while.
i need a car! I have to drive over 30 miles to get to my job!

better i ask 2 or 3 or even more mechanic shops and then decide.

" the shop should be able to give you the results of a compression test"

>compression test
okay


thank you all very much

i thought i have no problem with buying "good old honda"


what is the endgame for me? i bought the Honda Accord for "only" 2 500 $
should i just buy an other used car instead?