I see where it says to change the timing belt at 105K or 7 years. I only have 72K Miles after 7 years and the car has been garaged. Should I do my timing belt soon or should I wait till I am at 100K?

 

Everyone will tell you something different. Unless the car is in the desert or the arctic circle, I would wait until 100k.

 

I just had a dealership complete my 60k maintenance this weekend. The conversation before I picked it up ended with...
"The additional work we recommend for your vehicle is timing belt ($1099), Valve adjustment ($560), Power Steering fluid ($120), and cabin air filter ($200)"

They are basing it off of years. I understand where they are coming from. I will probably do the power steering fluid and valve adjustment within the next 10,000 miles but I see no need to get into a timing belt change with only 60,000 miles on the engine.

 

Oh my lord...
560 for valve clearence check?

His wife might throw him out of bed!

 

I guess another concern would be the type of cylinders in the engine. On many engines if the timing belt brakes you just need a tow and a new timing belt. Some engines would actually brake valves and or pistons when the belt broke. Does anyone know if our engine is one that the pistons would crash into the valves if the belt broke? A $1000.00 is a lot of money but a major repair like a valve job would be much more. Don't want to throw money away but I don't want to be so cheap that I end up spending a whole lot more.

 

07 RL here w/ 27k miles. I can tell you this, I'm not looking at changing my belt anytime soon. I know I have less than half the miles though. You can check the condition of your belt on that YouTube video about changing the belt.

 

those are some steep prices

 

Everything around me is too damn expensive. You can't even rent a 1 bedroom apartment for under $1600/month.

 

I would definitely check out the youtube video to inspect the belts. These are interference engines, so if it broke you would be causing engine damage. I did it myself at 105,000 and 7 years and the belts really looked quite good. It was quite a job. See my comments in the RL owner sign in page, post #702. I must say that the quoted prices seem high. One poster recommended having a Honda dealer do the work because the prices might be better and they are used to working on these cars. Good luck. If you are handy with tools and have some time (and can use another car for a while) try doing it yourself. I did it and enjoyed the challenge. I could send to a copy of my extensive notes on every step if you wish. Send me a private message with your email address and I'll send it to you.

 

Precisely.

Nice work, and a great post BTW.

Honda says 100k or 7 years as a liability statement. If they didn't say that and everyone of us had a timing belt break at 8 years and 80k miles, they would have a class action suit. It truly means nothing about the integrity of YOUR belt. It covers the worst case scenarios of people who live in the worst case conditions.

 

Yes, the Honda J Series is an interference engine. But as the other posters have suggested, don't let that panic you into a $1,000 expenditure unless it's likely to be necessary.

 

I would suggest get it done from Honda tech privately , the prices u were quoted arnt fair
My dealer in canada quoted 1300 out the door for timing belt , water pump , spark plugs , head valve clearance , tensioner extra if leaking , I got quoted 800$ for everything , timing belt , spark plugs and head valve adjustment , water pump and tensioner if needed extra
Rubber is age sensitive , small insurance to pay for peace of mind for next 7 years and if u decide to sell it will boast resale ,
I did it myself , fairly simple if u have the tools and workshop manual

 

I just had mine done by the local Honda dealer at 107,000 miles for $800 + change. Included timing belt, water pump, and tensioners (jeez, did I spell that right?). At any rate, the local Acura dealer wanted almost twice that amount. The Honda dealer did a great job and gave me a loaner for the day.

 

Had mine done yesterday at a independent shop. Included 2 belts, water pump, tensioners for $660, and $140 for the spark plugs -$20 so did it for $780 total. He showed me all old parts. Timming belt looked good, tiny wear and stretched a bit compared to the new one, mine is 2005 with 98k miles. I'm pretty sure it had plenty of life left. Spark plugs looked darn good. He even asked, did you recently have them changed? He agreed that both had plenty life left. I should have just done nothing! But peace of mind, since Im leaving for vacation. So hopefully another 100k miles with no issues, at least for what I changed.