CCColtsicehockey

My CL-S has 64,000 miles on it now and is a 2001. My acura dealers is telling me since it is going on 7 years old that the timing belt should be serviced since it is every 7 years or 100,000 miles. Is this neccessary really or is it just something they try to pull on your and I should be good till 100,000. They say the service will be $638. The car is primarily highway driver for most of the miles and then weekly driven 16 miles to campus round trip a day. Looking for some advice as the car is at the dealer right now. Thanks for the help ahead of time.

03CLSMT6

it wouldnt hurt, but I think you will be ok if you went to 100k. Its hard to say, but generally they never fail that soon. I have 99 civic with 159k on it on original timing belt if it makes you feel any better.

cbusAcuracls

I've got an 01 too with 79K original belt....If it ain't broke no need to fix it...;-)
just my two cents.

vincethe1

Even though the timing belt should be fine until well over 100,000 miles....u can't deny the fact that rubber ages and cracks, even if the car has never been driven, the rubber in it ages and becomes hard, therefore age is a factor too.

now 7 years should be fine, over 10 is prolly a good idea to change it though, so you can wait until 100,000 without a problem if everything is normal.

depends on how you drive too, 1 thing that will snap an old timing belt is high revolutions....if you don't rev your engine to the limiter all the time you should have no problem...if the car is always driven with a real heavy foot, look to change it not much after 100,000...so no matter what, 10 years, 100,000 miles should be no problem for your timing belt.

one other thing you have to keep in mind though, it's not a if it's not broken don't fix it game, because if the timing belt goes, your engine goes....no questions about that...snapping a timing belt in your car, even if brand new the engine is suddenly history, u'll need another engine....so that's the gamble with a timing belt...

Ayu688

I changed my timing belt last year at 107K. Hope that helps.

russianDude

I got 62K on my 2001 CLS, also thinking of changing it because its 7 yrs. I am going to do it through my mechanic, so should not be too bad. Yes, I agree, chances are you can wait few more years, but like someone said, rubber ages, and its difficult to know in what shape your belt is unless you look at it... but if you look at it, you might as well change it.

DLntheCL

great post, i think a lot of us are in your shoes, i have an 01 with 61K miles so i should start thinking about changing it soon.....but 20s sound too good right now lol. ill probably get it changed this summer

mr5parkle

iTrader: (1)

'01 with 81k here and on the original belt... and original battery in my remote!!!

russianDude

I was thinking that it does not really matter if you can squeze a year or two before changing your timing belt. One thing if you plan to sell a car in 1-2 years, I plan to keep it for another 7+ years, so this would be the last time I am changing timing belt... so in the long run 1-2 years won't make a difference.

CCColtsicehockey

For now I opted against it. Gonna at least wait till this summer.

Little more background info on car. Bought the car with 28k on it 2 years ago. put basically 18k on it a year right now most highway miles going back and forth from home to school on the weekends 4 hours away so its mostly highway miles there and will probably be about the same millage for the next 2 years. so I should be at 100k in two years.

Also will climate affect the aging of the belt cause the car is in cold NY winters for the last 2 years.

russianDude

In cold or hot climate timing belt will age faster. If you live in So. California, its perfect for the belt
yeah, you can go over by 1-2 years more, but I would not risk further. If you plan to keep a car for another 7 yrs, its does not matterr

504P_CLS

I hate to disagree with everyone on "If it ain't broke no need to fix it" for timing belts.

Most Honda/Acura engines, including the J32 on our cars are "inteference" engines. That means there is an overlap between the positon of the piston at Top Dead Center (TDC or when the pistons are in their most upwards position) and the valves are fully open. Of course, in normal operation, these 2 events never happen together as the timing belt controls the synchronization of the values with the pistons.

However, if the timing belt were to break when you are driving, you get general mayhem. There is a very real possibility of the pistons hitting the valves and if that occurs, a $600-800 timing belt job becomes a many-$k head job.

Of the 4 honda engines I have seen on which the timing belt snapped under load, 3 required the head to be pulled.

My 2-cents.

Universe93B

I have a 2001 also with 63,000 miles and I definitely don't plan on changing it this early! We'll see how many miles I got after 3 years!

russianDude

I would not wait more than 1 year. I have 2001 with 62,000 miles, just like you, and plan to do my timing belt within few month. rubber ages, and while chances are small for your belt to break, I would not take chances.

Universe93B

Well, I actually asked about this to Park Ave. Acura and Montclair Acura up here in NJ, and they said forget about doing the timing belt at this point. This was at my 60k mile service.

I also had a low mileage Honda Accord with this same situation, and waited to 100k miles to change the timing belt, or about 9 years. So I see no reason to spend the money now. Gotta spend it on a new widescreen tv for christmas!!!!

russianDude

Hmn, interesting! So Acura dealer actually said its OK to wait beyond 7 years due to low millage? This is different from other dealers, they would typically recommend timing belt replacement if its 7 years (even for low millage cars)
Timing belt makes me nervous. Spark plugs is a different story, I could care less if I go beyond 7yr/105K, but timing belt is different.... if it goes, you will need engine rebuilt....
I would be really mad at myself for destroying my engine just because I wanted to drag it out another year or so...
On the other hand, broken timing belt on CL is very rare.
you would need to abuse it bad before it goes....

GreenMonster

When do you get a CL ?

I thought you had an JDM Accord

CCColtsicehockey

that thing doesnt see the winter ever. plus I dont take it to school up in rochester where it would end up with tons of door dings. So basically you can say the CL is my DD but I drive the TSX all summer long as much as I can except for when it rains the during the week before show weekends.

bobpez

All I can say is you never know... At the shop I work at I see accords with 200k and the original timing belt is still on there. I also have seen hondas that are barely over the miles snap the timing belt. I just changed a timing belt on a 99 TL with 75k and the belt was starting to come apart. You probably can wait awhile but I wouldn't wait till your due on mileage.