Please .. 2001 Civic - camshaft off center ?!

[TheJernigans]

Well the wife was driving her 2001 Civic LX, 4dr automatic, 85k miles, never any mechanical problems, changed oil, bought used 3 years ago, and the check engine light came on while in Boston here at an intersection... stalled, got it started, sounded like it was flooding, had no power, wouldn't go over 5 or so mph and wouldn't go over 2000 rpms she says. She finally putted into our dentist friends parking lot and we called Triple A to tow it to a Honda garage - the tow was the next day and the tow truck driver started it up and it sounded fine!! Weird! Check engine light still was on however - paranoid, I had him tow it anyways to Honda nearby - Today Hona calls me saying the code thrown is saying the camshafts off center and the head will need replaced.. $4200 total.. WTF !!??!? No way.. why replace a head for a camshaft off center and how did that happen anyways !?!? I'm not sure what's going on here.. but this doesn't feel right.. Anyone with any input on this please ? We're in a bind and are towing it from Honda, not paying that price!, to another friend of a father-n-law who he trusts, who will give us a second opinion..

Any help would be appreciated!

Jeff

[sages]

did the timing belt slip?

[MishaA]

Never heard of "cam shaft off center" problem on any car. Are you sure you heard them correctly? Either way, paying that kind of money for a new head is ridiculos, if it's really something wrong with the head and it needs to be replaced, buy the used one on the nearest junk yard or off ebay, and have you friend to replace it. This would cost you way less.

[BrodyP]

$4200 haha can you say K swap