AliShibaz

I recently bought my 2008 MDX with 100K miles and took it to my mechanic before I bought it. He told me it looked like it was in perfect condition but he warned me that I should bring it back and let him check the timing belt because Acura recommends the timing belt be replaced around 100K miles.

That didn't sound like much of a problem and I hardly paid any attention to it because I was just so happy that everything else appeared to be in perfect condition. Then, yesterday I Googled "2008 Acura MDX replace timing belt cost" and was horrified to learn I could expect to pay $1,000 to have it replaced.

I feel foolish because it just never occurred to me that something that sounds so simple like a "timing belt" could ever cost so much to replace. But I should have known better because I think they have to remove the head of the engine block in order to do this and so I should have known it was a very large job.

I'm feeling kind of anemic in the bank account department at the moment because I had to pay several large bills when I bought my baby (cost of the car, one year insurance (OUCH!), licensing fees and many etc.).

May I ask anyone here about their experience replacing the timing belt? Did you do it promptly around 100K miles? If not, how long do you think I can wait before doing it? What would be the consequences of putting it off for another 10K miles or so?

ETA: Yippee! For the very first time now I can edit my posts. I suppose this forum allows people to edit their posts only after they've made about 30 posts or so.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

A few comments:

• Your timing belt is now roughly eleven years old and regardless of which metric you look at, it is nearing the end of its life.
• Will your current timing belt last another 10,000 miles? Probably. Any guarantees? Sorry, no chance; it could go at any time.
• The heads do NOT need to come off, basically the job requires taking a number of covers and components off the front of the engine and replacing minimally the timing belt, tensioner, and preferably the water pump.
• If you are at least somewhat handy with tools, you can do the job over the course of a weekend for under $400.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

the thousand dollar price tag is dealership quotes...

if your mechanic is anywhere near decent, he wont charge you $1k.
some indie mechanics can get it done for as little as $350-400.

it's all about who you take it too...
of course, if you take it to the dealership, your pocketbook will be $1k lighter.
they dont call them "STEALERSHIPS" for fun

AliShibaz

Horseshoez and Justnspace,

Thank you both ever so much. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. How huge? About $500 huge.

I am not willing to attempt a job like that myself. I grew up working in gas stations. For about ten years while I was going to school. But I don't have hardly any tools or any space in which to try something like that. I fear I would need gaskets and gasket sealers and I'm just not up to the task myself.

But I am extremely grateful to both of you for the information. I'm not certain what I will do. There is a repair shop almost exactly next door to me and .... I would put this story in a spoiler box if I knew you had one. But I will tell you this story anyway ...

One day about 5 years ago, I was walking to a supermarket and I saw some man wearing a suit with a semi-automatic handgun strapped to over his shoulder. From the looks of him, I figured he was a judge or a lawyer. Very strange I never figured he was a policeman - which is what he turned out to be. But still. Plain clothes detectives should not be waking around with their handguns visible. Otherwise, lots of citizens would be calling 911 cuz they were scared - which is exactly what I was and exactly what I did.

I never saw a police response faster or more heavy before or after. They sent about six police cars with lights and sirens blaring and this detective had called a taxi and was riding down the street in a taxi. Well, they stopped that taxi and acted like it was some kind of emergency high-stakes takedown. I didn't see exactly what happened because they had turned the corner by then. But I assume they got it all straightened out because they all left the scene shortly after. Anyway, I went into the shop the next day and told the owner the story. I was surprised at his reaction. He thanked me many times and told me he appreciated me calling 911 cuz I saw someone wearing a gun in his shop. He told me that he hoped if anyone ever saw someone wearing a handgun they would call 911 too. I guess most everyone figured it was proper for me to call 911 cuz I never heard anything back about it.

Bottom line - this shop has treated me like a king ever since. They didn't charge me anything when I took a used car I was thinking of buying. They checked it out for me and when I asked them how much I owed them, the owner just said, "No Charge" and he shook my hand. So, I will probably take my Acura there and just pay them whatever they say. It would feel like "bad form" on my part to do anything different. But I will come back to this thread and let you know how much they charge me. By the way, I am in Canada so I will post the price they charge me in Canadian dollars as well as US dollars.

Thanks again for your help.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Good luck and keep us posted.

Midnight Mystery

You had me lost there for a second, but I get it now... Cool story... Hope everything plays out well!

AliShibaz

Heh. Heh. I have a tendency to ramble sometimes. I've been trying to minimize that. I must find out if this board has spoiler boxes so that when I want to tell a story I can put it into a spoiler box so that people who don't want to be distracted can easily skip it.

Oops! I guess the standard approach to create spoiler boxes does not apply in this board. I'll keep trying.

Oh wait! It did work after all. It just does not appear in the "Preview pane". Oh well. That is good to know.

Carpayment4life

Get a parts list, from the shop that will do your timing belt service before you agree to have the work done.
The following list is the minimum that should be installed.

(These parts are OEM 2008 MDX parts from an online Acura parts store add up to $545.65).

1. timing belt 14400-rca-a01 $73.43
2. water pump 19200-rdv-j01 $129.62
3. hydro "t" tensioner 14520-rca-a01 $123.51
4. idler pulley 14550-rca-a01 $46.80
5. tension pulley, for timing belt adj. 14510-rca-a01 $101.86
6. serpentine belt 38920-rca-a03 $40.43
7. 2 quarts anti-freeze $15 each

AliShibaz

Wow! That is not only the best and most helpful reply I have ever received. It is the best I've ever seen on this forum. And to top it off, it is also the best I've ever seen on any forum.

This forum needs to make a change to it's "Thank You" system. Clicking just one "Thank You" can hardly do this justice.
The Thank You button needs to have a multiplier. For instance:

Thank You x 1
Thank You x 10
Thank You x 100

See where I'm going? Unfortunately, all I can say is, "Thank You".

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

No need to buy the parts ala-carte, just buy one of the following kits plus some coolant and call it a day:

• https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B008EEYWYE/ref=sxts_kp_tr_2
• https://smile.amazon.com/Timing-Belt...9SD/ref=sr_1_4

TLguy2013

One question - the mechanic/shop you plan to take the car to - do they do a lot of work on Honda/Acura vehicles? They sound like very nice people, but I'd want to be certain of the quality of their work - before going ahead with this type of repair. It's not complicated, and most competent mechanics will handle it with ease, but it is such an important repair. Not all mechanics/shops are equally qualified. Just saying...

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

The good news is the Honda J-Series engine is so ubiquitous virtually any competent mechanic will most likely have changed numerous J-Series timing belts and water pumps.

TLguy2013

Agree 100% - but I'd want to know about their experience just the same. I have a regular mechanic I've used for a along time so I'm ok. But, if I had to go to a new mechanic, I'd ask a lot of questions.

Carpayment4life

I agree that buying an Aisin kit, such as TKH002 is the way to go, but many mechanics won't install parts that you bring to them.

Mechanics make a profit on the parts that they sell.

Many mechanics, with their own shops, will only replace the timing belt and water pump, for $1,000.
You need to know which parts are going to be installed, before you leave your car.

AliShibaz

Here is a link to the shop. It is a Goodyear shop. I don't think that means it is owned by the Goodyear company. But it certainly looks like that. I'm unsure of the relationship between this repair shop and the famous Goodyear company. They have 8 service bays with pneumatic lfts and they have about 12 people working there everyday.
I used to own a Chevy Impala and took it there. You can read my review of the place under the name Ali S. I use a different alias on most every message board I post to increase my anonymity. Here is the link:

https://www.yelp.ca/biz/goodyear-bathurst-north-york

You can see the Goodyear logo in the picture. They don't specialize in any one kind of car. They work on all kinds.
The only other piece of info I can give you is that for some reason, they have a lot of police officers who take their cars there. I have no idea whether that is good or bad. I don't know what that means.
Sometimes they sell used cars. I originally bought my Impala from them. The owner told me the car was in excellent condition and that it had been serviced regularly by them. It was 12 years old when I bought it but it never gave me any problems aside from needing to replace the fan belt. That sounds like a small job. But it was a "Serpentine" belt which made it a little more complicated.
It was a 2003 deluxe model (I think that is the GS) with the big engine and the engine was really powerful. It was even faster than my Acura MDX (but I didn't buy my Acura for engine power). I paid $1100 for it in 2016 and it turned out to be a great car. I bought my 2008 MDX from a different dealer.

Carpayment4life

Well, there is a lot to be had, by going to someone that you are comfortable with.
You now know which parts are needing to be replaced. You should ask The Goodyear shop to tell you which parts they are going to replace, as part of their timing belt service.
You could get all of the parts included at an American Acura dealer for around $1,600 (US)

What I did, when I was ready to pay for my 2007 timing belt was to go to Facebook and inquired about local import repair shops that mainly worked on Hondas and Acuras. There are probably several Honda and Acura car clubs, on Facebook in Toronto.
Someone knew an Acura mechanic that did timing belt services (in his garage on the weekends) for $300.
I bought the AISIN TKH002 kit and the Serpentine belt separately. So, my total cost was under $700 (US).

TLguy2013

A.M.A Tire and Service, 3390 Bathurst St., Ontario M6A 2B9 - 416 789 7964

Is this the shop you're referring to?

Look at the ratings for the shop on Google and other places. Talk to friends, neighbours, etc. You might be able to find a mechanic that will work with you if you bring the parts to him. Order the parts on line (buy a kit, as others here have suggested). Make sure they are Original Equipment (OEM) parts or equal. The kit should contain the timing belt, the water pump, and the tensioner. The Antifreeze you can get locally at NAPA auto or similar - be sure it's Honda/Acura grade or better. My mechanic would charge about 4-4.5 hours to do the job @ ~$100.00/hr. (or about $1,150.00 + tax - incl parts, labour, antifreeze, etc.) The local Acura dealership quotes $1,350.00 + tax for an MDX (parts and labour). If you can afford it, I'd consider getting the serpentine belt (S-belt) changed too. Likely another $100.00 or so - I think it would be worth it though.

Be sure to get the old parts back when it's all finished. This is especially important if you don't know the mechanic very well. Good luck with this endeavour.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

If the shop insists on sourcing the parts themselves, you can still direct them to which parts you want them to buy.

AliShibaz

Just want to keep you posted. I called them today and asked them to give me the approximate cost. They sounded completely knowledgeable. The fellow I spoke with knew all the parts off the top of his head. I considered that to be a very good sign.
He told me the parts would be about $600 US ($800 CDN). But he wanted me to bring the car in so they could examine it before he could give me the exact estimated cost. I will be taking the car in to them on Monday and I will post whatever they tell me at at that time.

AliShibaz

OK. I took my 2008 MDX into the Goodyear store/repair shop located almost next door to my home and was really shocked because one of the mechanics there had previously told me to bring the car in so they could look at it first in order to get an idea as to how much it would cost based on what all needed to be done.
But when I got there one of the other mechanics told me that since the timing belt was "inside the engine" it made no financial sense to just check it in order to see if it needed to be replaced and it would be better just to replace it. I guess he figured the cost of "checking it" would be very close to the cost of "replacing it" so it made no sense to do anything except to just replace it.
At the time there were three people in the room: the mechanic, the owner and me. The owner asked me about the history of the car which I could not answer because I had previously asked the dealer who sold it to me about the history and he said that he had bought it at auction and had his mechanic check it out but he had no further knowledge about the history of the timing belt. Please be patient. The story gets very interesting now.

After a few more questions, the dealer told me it would be best for me to just forget about changing the timing belt. Needless to say, I was shocked by this. I feared this might cause serious damage to my engine. But here's the thing:
The car has 100,000 miles and when I checked the Users Manual, it said to change the timing belts every 60,000 miles. But then it added the following important detail (on page 402 of the 2008 MDX Owner's Manual):

Replace the timing belt every 60,000 miles IF you regularly drive your vehicle in any of the following conditions:

. In very high temps (over 110F, 43C)
. In very low teps (under -20F, -29C)
. Freguently tow a trailer.

None of these 3 conditions apply to me. So, I'm guessing the owner figured it was not necessary for me to change the belt. WHAT A SHOCKER!!!

I had previously called them and learned the cost of the parts alone was $800 (CDN) which is $600 US.
So I was expecting to pay $1500 (CDN) for the job. Needless to say, this was a big expense. Excuse my language but HOLY SHIT!!!
In any case, I'm not certain what to do now. It's nice to avoid a $1500 expense. But I'm afraid what might happen as a result.
On the other hand, if I'm correct about when the belt needs to be changed, it might make sense. But I'm terribly conflicted and confused. As a matter of fact, I'm back to HOLY SHIT!!!

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

You're overthinking this, wait until you hit 105,000 miles (the recommended change interval), and then shop around for a shop to do the work; simple as that.

AliShibaz

You are certainly correct. I have a tendency to overthink most things - related to the car as well as most other things. But your advice sounds real good to me. I can definitely use some time to let things settle for a while. Thank you for your advice - both today and in previous days as well.

NBP04TL4ME

I have a Honda Certified Master Mechanic work on my car on the side and when he was replacing the timing belt on my TL-S (I did it early - meaning before the "4" showed up on the MID) he relayed a story of an MDX (don't remember the year) where the belt was in for it's first timing belt service @ 305K miles. Now I'm not advocating for you going to this extreme but like Horseshoez says I'm sure you will be fine for a while. Mind you, we can't make any guarantees My mechanic said that he has only seen one or two timing belts break in his 20+ years. Says the timing belts are "over-engineered." I replaced mine early only for piece of mind as the car was 9 years old but still under mileage. When the belt was replaced, it still looked good. No fraying, cracks or sings of wear.
He replaced mine with an Aisin kit ( I think he got it from Amazon) as he explained Aisin makes the belts and kits for Honda but it just doesn't have the logo or brand marks on it. If you can find an Indy shop and find the correct Aisin kit for your MDX, I bet the bill comes out to be half (less?) of the $1500 you were quoted. Good luck and keep us posted.

AliShibaz

Thank you very much for this info. Today my day has been a series of highs and lows. Your post took me back up to a high. I do not feel so worried now. Your post was very helpful to me.

EZ_types

thank you for the spoon feed but where the hell do you get these prices from? only know that the forum mostly uses delrey.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Amazon, RockAuto; lots of places to get the parts.

Carpayment4life

Those prices came from acurapartsforless dot com

I particularly watch Macchurchill dot com and follow them on e-bay, because they often offer large (front bumper cover) and heavy items (front shock assembly), with free shipping (in addition to the 32% OEM online store discount that others offer).


Here are some other Acura (I have a separate Honda list) vendors:

Hondapartsunlimited dot com Phoenix, AZ

Newoempartsonline dot com Savannah, GA

Bernardiparts dot com Boston, MA

Acurapartsforless dot com New Jersey

Acuraexpressparts dot com Chicago, iL

Oemacuraparts dot com Peoria, AZ

Macchurchill dot com Ft. Worth, TX

Acurapartshq dot com Las Vegas, NV

Amayama Japan

Max Attitude

Lol, I thought ours was bad. Bought ours with 172k on it and it had never been done. Guy I bought it from said it had been inspected and wasn't needed.... talk about mis-information. It did help negotiate the price down. I changed it myself and to my surprise it was in very good shape- no cracks or anything... prob would go another 100k lol. I get the Gates kits from Napa and have had good luck with them. Many of the components match the factory brand pieces. I think the last kit with water pump was around $170.
I wouldn't freak out about the belt being done right at 100k. Save up for it and do it soon as possible but that's just my 2 cents. I have done 4 or 5 now and the belts all looked great when removed....

AliShibaz

Wow! Thank you ever so much. You don't happen to live anywhere near Toronto do you? As it stands, I do not intend to change it for quite some time now. The reason? I'm having terrible trouble with the company from whom I bought my car insurance - Belairdirect. I think they operate primarily in Canada. But they may also have offices in USA. It's a long story and I won't give you all the details unless or until it becomes available. But judging from the way they treated me ... they are lying, cheating scumbags and I strongly recommend you never buy any insurance from them. They clearly lied to me and their cancellation fees are just outrageous. Does anyone here have any advice for me about a good company in Toronto from which to buy car insurance? Also, I'd appreciate any advice about the various options. For example, from now on, I will never pay the full annual price up front because I think it will be much easier to negotiate with these greedy vultures when they want money from you instead of you wanting to get a refund from them.

My annual insurance is approx $2150 and they want about $300 to $400 in order to cancel the policy after one month has elapsed. That amount is reduced every day. But you still have to pay an outrageous amount to cancel a policy when you pay for it all up front (annually). The cost of paying monthly is extremely low. They quote you approx one percent and it is just about the only thing they told me that turned out to be true. If you multiply the monthly premium by 12, the total is about $18 higher than if you pay for it all up front. So the cost of paying monthly is extremely low and if you want to cancel a policy after (let's say six months), it will be much harder for them to take your money when it is in your bank account instead of in their bank account.

I would love to get some advice on things like:
1) "accident forgiveness" - this costs about $150 and it means that if you have an accident that is your fault, the price of your policy will not go up the next time you buy one. I thought it was a good idea. But this company are such incredible liars that I would never go for it again because I don't believe they would keep their word. I don't trust them any further than I would throw them.
2) deductible - I payed about $25 to go for a $300 deductible instead of the standard $500 deductible. However, at the time, I never realized that both comprehensive and collision each have a deductible and I have a $300 deductible for each.
I couldn't believe that when I first read it. They never told me about that when I purchased the policy over the phone. I had never heard of a deductible for comprehensive. Who would believe that if your car is involved in an accident that is not your fault, you have to pay the deductible for any cost involved to any 3rd party? That is the most ridiculous thing I can imagine.

But I hope I understand this correctly. Dang! I just went searching on the net and find my understanding was all wrong. Here is what the net has to say: https://www.nationwide.com/differenc...-collision.jsp

Collision Insurance covers damage to your vehicle in the event of a covered accident involving a collision with another vehicle. This may include repairs or a full replacement of your covered vehicle.
Comprehensive car insurance pays for damage to your vehicle caused by covered events such as theft, vandalism or hail, which are not collision-related.

I never really understood this before. I can't believe I have to pay $300 (and most people pay $500) if my car is damaged by something which is not my fault (like a hail storm). That seems preposterous and ridiculous to me. I always understood that I had to pay a deductible when the damage was my fault. But having to pay the deductible even when the damage is not my fault just seems completely unfair to me.

Anyway. Does anyone have any advice regarding the difference between getting $500 deductible and $300 deductible? I fear my driving is not all that good and so I may be involved in an accident (alhough - knock on wood - I have never been involved in an accident during the past 30 years). Here is a good example of the difference between paying monthly vs paying annually.

Suppose the annual cost of your car insurance is $2064 (which is very close to mine). If the interest rate was zero, your monthly payment would be 2064/12 = $172
Now suppose they told you the monthly payment is $174.58. That amount is 1.5 percent higher than $172.
If you compare $172 monthly versus $174.58 monthly, I think you would agree the cost of paying monthly instead of annually is almost negligible. In this example, it is $2.58 per month. Now consider the following: 174.58 * 12 = 2094.96 and 172.00 * 12 = 2064.00

This means the total annual cost of paying monthly instead of annually is 2094.96 - 2064.00 or $30.96. The total cost of paying monthly instead of annually is only $30.95. Even if you can afford to pay annually up front - I still will pay monthly because if I cancel, they have to collect from me instead of my having to collect a refund from them. If there is some need for negotiation, I'm quite certain I will be in a much better position if they have to collect from me instead of vice versa. Any opinions about this?

AliShibaz

Oh dear. Too late to edit my post above. Please disregard the sentences, " I had never heard of a deductible for comprehensive. Who would believe that if your car is involved in an accident that is not your fault, you have to pay the deductible for any cost involved to any 3rd party? That is the most ridiculous thing I can imagine. ."

I was entirely wrong about those facts. Please disregard that portion of my post above.

EZ_types

i appreciate the reply, ill look more into the macchurchhill considering im in the Dallas area

EZ_types

out of all honesty is there really any significant difference between the oem and the aisin kits? and a side remark is on my TL-S the timing belt had not been done and it was at 120k and apparently the belt was fine, but from what a mechanic told me when he checked it out it appeared to be the tensioner lost it tension therefor making the belt lose tension the skip teeth having almost the same effect as the belt breaking.

EZ_types

really contemplating between going oem or buying the aisin kits, is there any significant difference?

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

The only difference I am aware of is the OEM kit comes with front crank seal and cam seals; they both use the Aisin water pump.

NBP04TL4ME

So your TB has jumped teeth and is no longer doing it's job? If so you should NOT be starting this engine at all. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you are saying.

According to my mechanic, the only difference is the Honda logo and the cost because Aisin makes the OEM parts for Honda.

Carpayment4life

There is no difference.
When you are shopping for the aisin TKH002 kit, on e-bay read the entire description. You'll find a seller that lists all of the OEM part numbers and cross references to the Aisin kit.
Don't just go by the photos.

EZ_types

my bad yea the car is currently sitting and not driving and i have a mechanic checking the car out, he told me the tensioner lost its tension thus that was the reason it had a timing belt issue. and thanks just wanted to make sure its as durable as the oem kit