velobard

We bought our RL last summer at 102k expecting to have to do a timing belt at some point. I know the maintenance minder should tell me when it's time for that job, but as of a couple thousand miles ago when I had a B1356 service done, it was still quiet about the timing belt and now we're at 115k. Shouldn't the maintenance minder tell me if the job needs to be done? I guess there's a chance it was done before I bought the car, but it would be too risky to make that assumption. How much faith should I put in the maintenance minder to let me know when it's time?

DanL07RL

I'm old school that way. I change things on specific, recommended intervals....everything. Timing belt was changed at 105,000 and I pay little attention to the lights. I see what they are about and if there is a surprise, but that hasn't happened yet. Yes, Acura tells you the "minder" is a good system, but I haven't' bought in yet.


As for your car, you could have Acura check the VIN to see if the job was done at a dealership, or ask whomever you bought the car from. Also, a good mechanic could just look under the hood to see if the work was recently done.

TonyCD

Good advice from Dan here. IMO, there's very little chance the Maintenance Minder would fail to flag the need for a timing belt change once the prescribed thresholds of 105,000 miles or 7 years were being approached. But there IS a chance the seller would shut off the light so a prospective buyer wouldn't be put off by the prospect of an immediate $1,000 service.

You need to either confirm it's been done, or do it. The belt has a reputation of outliving its specified life, but not forever. And this is an interference engine, so in the unlikely event it did break, it would trash your rather expensive valvetrain.

Maintenanceman

Euro models, Legends, have a 120000 km limit for that belt. Thats 74560 miles.
It was the same strange difference with my 1992 Legend Cope.

velobard

You're confirming my thoughts, although I hadn't considered someone shutting off the notice. We bought it at a dealer who re-imported our U.S. model car from Canada. I plan to take it in soon, but it will probably get a few thousand more miles before I have a chance to make it happen. Life is busy, miles are piling up fast with an out-of-town contract, and cash flow is a bit fractured from a contract agency I just left that was failing to make payroll.

rlerman

7 years or 105k miles. If you aren't sure it was done, change it. If it breaks, you will need a new engine. The odds of it breaking in the next few months are very low, however.

dapqam

I too am a miles/months kind of guy. Just follow the owner's manual. These maintenance items are so cheap relative to the cost of a repair it just doesn't make sense to neglect them. Since the timing belt is a rubber part I would replace it based more on time rather than miles. I did it myself and it was challenging.

oo7spy

If the light comes on and the owner presses "reset", what difference does the car know?

You should be able to tell the difference between a 115k mile belt and a 15k mile belt. Pop the cover off and inspect the belt. If in doubt, change if out.

06RL/NBP

I have a 2006 RL with every option available that I bought with 83,000 miles on the clock that was a one owner car only driven on the highway by a salesman. And I basically do all city driving with constant start and stop. I know have 103,500 miles and asked my mechanic who has worked on my car since I have owned it at the Acura dealership and has been with Acura since the start of the US sales and he says to have it done at 105,000 miles which I plan to do.

MY2005RL

done mine at 96000k with all the fluids was around $1100

TampaRLX-SH

Are we sure the MID will trigger the code for the timing belt change? My RL is just approaching 9 years of age and none of the MID service calls included the timing belt. Granted I just hit 58K miles, but I am planning to have it done on my next service call to be cautious.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

Tampa you have some time. I'm coming up on 10 years on my TL, with 58k mi. I am only now thinking about the TB solely due to age. If I wait for the MID, it'll be another 10-15 years at least.

OM for TL says follow MID. Mileage interval will be around 105k, give or take a few thousand miles when the MID tells you. There is no time interval. MDX is the same way. I would assume the RL is similar since the car débuted in the same era.

oo7spy

Are you positive about that? Everything I have read has a 7 year interval on it.

I think 7 years is premature, but I'm just recalling what Acura says.

TampaRLX-SH

I did check my 2006 Owners Manual.

The timing belt is part of the MID alerts. It is in group 4 which includes:

Replace spark plugs
Replace timing belt and inspect water pump
(If you drive regularly in very high temperatures (over
110°F, 43°C), or in very low temperatures (under
20°F, 29°C), replace every 60,000 mile (U.S.)/
100,000 km (Canada))
Inspect valve clearance

I cannot find a reference to 7 years or a specific age, nor mileage. There must be some fuzzy logic in the MID calculations to trigger this service call.

I had been under the impression it was an exclusion from the MID alerts except as noted above.

oo7spy

Maybe I haven't actually read "105K or 7 years" anywhere but here. The 2008 manual agrees with you, Tampa.

TampaRLX-SH

I admit the same. Even my service manager advised not waiting for the mileage threshold, but understandably they are brainwashed to upsell service above MID advisement.

I find it interesting that the MID advisement somewhat takes responsibility for the tb replacement and yet many (myself included) are anxious allowing it to do so. I guess that fear of a belt snapping on an interference engine makes it goes BOOM. I wonder if that should happen, if a fully documented vehicle (as is mine) would be covered by Acura.

rlerman

I was told by the dealer (Honda and Acura), 7 years or 105k. My Toyota dealer for my sequoia recommends 7 years or 90k. I don't know if there's any science behind it, but belts do age, some faster than others.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

^^all Acura dealers say 7 yrs or 105k. It's partially an upsell but on the older Acuras pre 2004, that is what was written the the OM. Anything 2004 or newer there is no time interval. Many of us I think are just paranoid of something happening to the TB, because the engine will go kaput.

This discussion has been debated endlessly on the 3G TL side.

oo7spy

From what I remember, there was a member here who changed his timing belt at 120-125k+ after 6 or 7 years, a seemingly risky idea in the minds of attentive car owners, and the belt was minimally worn. He shared to show the good results, but that could've been as far back as 2011. The exact details are fuzzy.

If everyone who did theirs at the dealership asked for the belt back and reported it, we could get a relevant idea of the true answer to the OP.

sOLLEx

Another reason for "timely" maintenance is because of the hydraulic timing belt tensioner that will seep oil over time and mileage. When they begin to leak, they no longer can apply the proper pressure to the timing belt. The belt is really on borrowed time when the tensioner gives up and there is no way to tell if it's leaking until you remove it from the car. These are always a recommended replacement even if they show no signs of leaking. Usually the old belts are just shinier and you can make out the teeth marks on the back of the belt. They typically don't show a lot of wear because they are very strong.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

A few 3G TL guys have gone 120k to 180k mi on the OG TB. They said there was very little wear.

For the OP, it would be curious if the previous owner had the "4" pop up at the 101k or 102k mark and just reset it. Whatever algorithm Acura uses for the MID, it tends to be conservative (ie, OCI, again 3G TL guys sent oil analysis to Blackstone to find this out and this is with Dino not synthetic. They also tested their synthetic oil as well). For the TB, check some of the 3G TL threads on the topic.

gogogoldrl

I have 85500 miles on my 2005 RL
does anyone have any timing belt failures to report.
just wondering
thanks in advance

oo7spy

There was a guy from Vegas, darknesx55 or something like that, whose new timing belt broke shortly after replacement. He ended up buying a used engine and doing the swap himself. I don't remember what the consensus of the root cause was, but it's happened here before. It was a long thread.

oo7spy

Found it: https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...valves-866518/

MyAcuraRL

I changed mine at 125,000. I recommend doing it at 105,000. Better to be safe then sorry. Oh, try doing it at Honda dealer it most likely be cheaper than Acura dealer. Also they will recommend plug change at $300 but you can get the plugs on Amazon for less than $80 for 6. It wasn't that hard to replace.

RobbDizzle

Was that still the original belt, or had it been previously replaced along the way?

db22

Proof that you should never change your TB