dougal813

How long has everyone gone on their initial timing belts and water pump?

I'm due to get mine changed and the guy wants me to change the pump too.

any suggestions and also does it matter if i get an OEM belt or is it worth it for a Greddy, Toyo or other performance belt

TLBaller

i didnt know greddy and toyo make belts..wow. i did my timing belt and all the other belts done at 70k for the 1st time..

dougal813

Greddy makes belts, but unfortunately I was looking at the integra. And it's not toyo but rather toda who makes a timing belt for the 3.2tl. Is it worth it to get a better one or does it not really matter/

AC_DADDY

only i mean only put a timing belt from the dealer on. if you cheap out with a pep boys ones it wont always last the the 70k+ miles the oem would.

WBroylesH

Y'all got the timing belts changed at 70k? Acura says you don't have to do it 'til 105k.

98tlracer

I'm planning to do mines at 90k.

AC_DADDY

actually honda recomends pre-98 cars at 90k and 99 and up do it at 70k

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

yah 90k miles... im not there yet still got like 11k more miles to go... and any belt should be fine... i mean a belt is a belt... if u r unlucky and get a defect ur odds are with all brands...

LDH

i changed mine at 103k, but do you guys that change it earlier have 3.2's or 2.5's?

oulaw29

I had a 93 acura integra and the belt broke @ 93,000. If you look at the TL recommendations I think it is 7 or 8 years or 90,000 miles

lcuppy

Hey dougal813,

I just bought the same model and color w/o premium package as you back in February. The car only had 98,298 miles on it when I did the Timing belt package (Timing and all other belts plus the water pump and coolant change) at the dealer.

I thought about waiting until 105,000 miles, but the car is technically 8 years old so I figured better safe than sorry.

Good luck with your new ride.

joes723

When I bought my '96 2.5TL in January of 2003, we negotiated with the Acura dealer to change the timing belt and water pump before we would buy the car. The car had 100k on it and still seemed to be running great. Of course it runs even better now.

Boarder.97.TL

the scary question, how much to get the timing belt/water pump changed? I know if you dont change the water pump with the timing belt, if you do have to replace the water pump later, the labor cost will be the same as when you replaced the belt because of the location. Bad news.

LDH

they just always change the water pump and timing belt together because it's just convenient to do it when changing the timing belt. the prices range on this but its all up there. I think i payed about 700 for it but that was my dads friend changing it for me out of his garage...lol he's a mechanic btw i've heard of people paying close to $1000 for it.

dan jacobsen

I had our timing belt/water pump replaced at about 103k miles; was about $800, after I read here that these are "negative clearance" engines that smoke valves if the timing belt breaks. I was considering pushing mine further, but after I read that, I had mine changed.

98tlracer

How much would parts cost? I know this guy whos going to charge me 200 labor to do it.

beno1

I have a 97 2.5 standard and I bought it in 2000 with 23K miles on it. I did the timing belt/water pump work at 77K in 2002. I had the work done at Acura and they charged $800 for the whole service.

Skip a couple of years and it is now spring 2004 and I have 157K on my car. I am planning on having the service done again(!) at 170K or so. This time I am taking my car to a Honda dealership--they said they'd do it for $650 which included timing belt (and all the other belts), water pump, oil/filter change, cooling fluid flush, and a once over on the important systems.

Not a bad deal I thought...and they are much nicer than the pretentious folks at Acura ("oh, you have an old TL... :thefinger )

Anyway, hope this helps.
beno1

egaus33870

Shop around. Both the Acura dealer and Honda dealer near me want $800 including the timinig belt, 2 accessory belts and water pump. The newer belts supposedly use rubber that is good for 105K (at least for 2nd generation TL. 1st generation may use the older technology.

However, dealer prices are a rip-off (wanted $100 for a $50 list price OEM belt). I found a pep boys near me that will do the labor if I bring them the parts since they don't stock OEM anyway. Order online. There's a place on ebay that sells sealed OEM timing belts for about $35+$5 shipping. Or you can order the belts/pump from a number of different web sites (just google it). Most have the same prices ($85-$95 for a water pump) and the accessory belts are only about $10 or less each, all using OEM. It's worth spending a little more than some other brand. With labor, it should cost around $500.

That being said, my '99 TL has 109K on it. Still debating whether or not to change the pump-manual only says to inspect, not replace, but it might be good to have one available in case it needs to get changed. My last car was a 1994 V6 Camry that eventually died only b/c a Bosch spark plug broke off and ruined a cylinder. Car had 269,000 miles on it (lots of highway miles) with original timing belt (not sure if belt or chain but it never was changed) and water pump. Car before that was a 1985 Camry with 240,000 (did change the belts on that one, but not the pump). Although I think my Acura is sportier than the Camry, I don't think Honda is as durable over the long haul as Toyota and I am really annoyed that Honda still uses interference engines.

Anyway, good luck with changing the belts.

Ken1997TL

Honda uses interference engines so that the emissions are lower and for a more sporty rush of power.

As for the Camry, yes Toyota uses chains, so no need to change belts. I'm glad Honda is starting to switch over to chains, particularly in the K series motors.

Cornflake

$700-$1000 USD!?!? My service advisor at the Acura dealer near me quoted $700 CDN to do it at the dealer, that's like just over $500 US these days...SOunds like the CDN dealers have a much fairer shop rate than the US ones do!