This is a very strange problem.

1994 Accord, 2.2L w/ manual transaxle

I was going down the highway at about 70mph and the engine suddenly cut off on me. I coasted in a truck stop parking (lucky enough) and when I popped the hood I instantly noticed both belts were loose, luckily still laying there. I quickly then realized the harmonic balancer had completely come loose, obviously being the reason the belts were off.

I don't know why the car died in the first place... I still had plenty of power to turn it over with the starter.

Anyway, after being fortunate enough to have the shop there help me out, we got the harmonic balancer back in, put the belts on, and tada!

I wish it was that easy. The engine turned over, but wouldn't start. Finally with some gas, it barely came to life, and once given enough gas it would run fine at high rpm. Let that throttle off, and it would die. I drove it around thinking maybe excess gas needed to burn out of the cylinder and it ran fine, until I would try to let it idle.

Very strange, any help is much appreciated.

The like,ly hood of bending something in the engine is probably what happened. But with the way the engine sounds I would go to the EGR valve and disconnect it to see if it starts and runs. Sometimes the EGR will get clogged and al hell brakes loose (literally). Good luck!

OK first things first...your 2.2 is internally balanced by a countershaft, that crank pulley is just a crank pulley.for the belts.

I'm a little confused....where did the bolt for the pulley go? Was it just loose, and the wobble threw the belts off?

Usually when that happens, something belt driven is dragging, and at some point it locked momentarily and produced enough backsnap in the belts to yank the crank pulley in the opposite direction, which can occasionally be just enough to loosen the crank pulley bolt, then it begins to wobble, finally coming apart. But that's extremely rare.

If you had a timing belt and/or water pump replaced in the recent past, I'd say something went wrong with that job.

I'd pull the belts off, check all the belt driven items for binding or bearing hiss when spun, then if you don't turn up anything you'll have to verify that the valve timing is correct (timing belt could have jumped/stripped accounting for the reluctance to idle).

OK first things first...your 2.2 is internally balanced by a countershaft, that crank pulley is just a crank pulley.for the belts.

I'm a little confused....where did the bolt for the pulley go? Was it just loose, and the wobble threw the belts off?

Usually when that happens, something belt driven is dragging, and at some point it locked momentarily and produced enough backsnap in the belts to yank the crank pulley in the opposite direction, which can occasionally be just enough to loosen the crank pulley bolt, then it begins to wobble, finally coming apart. But that's extremely rare.

If you had a timing belt and/or water pump replaced in the recent past, I'd say something went wrong with that job.

I'd pull the belts off, check all the belt driven items for binding or bearing hiss when spun, then if you don't turn up anything you'll have to verify that the valve timing is correct (timing belt could have jumped/stripped accounting for the reluctance to idle).

The pulley was pretty much off, about the last two threads were barely keeping it on.

All belts are in good shape, and after getting everything back together, none of the accesories (power steering, AC and alternator) were whining or showed any sign of resistance.

What I can't figure out is how this coming off was what could have caused the time belt to skip a tooth. I have already heard this theory. Perhaps because of the sudden loss of resistance on the crank pulley it had more force and enough to jump the tooth on the crankcase?

Another little tidbit I learned was that after the engine cooled down, it would start right up (probably because of the extra fuel on a cold idle) but once warm it again wants to stall at an idle.

Thanks for the feedback

The pulley was wobbling while it was still on... I forgot to mention that.

Also, the pulley seems like it might be eating into the timing belt cover a little bit... I can see markings from a junkyard on the pulley too, so I know it has been replaced before with a salvage part.