recent inquiry: 1100$ labot another 900$ish for parts
acura of bellevue
tl-s 02 is that a rip off?

 

off the top of my head cuz i cant remember what the other guys have said.... YES!

search timing belt in the forums. and as or parts... well its tbelt wich is cheap and water pump that you should do same time. and that is no where near 900 bucks

 

yea too much, if its only timing belt, way too much

buy the parts and go to a small shop, the dealer labor rate kills the deal.

 

Rip-off? Depends who you ask and what you're comparing to.

Expensive? Depends who you ask and what you're comparing to.

Worth it? Depends who you ask and what you're comparing to.

When I did mine, a private shop did it for under $700 (timing belt, other belts, water pump, coolant flush).

 

Got my '02 done for ~$530 at the dealership.

Saved ~$400 on labor because it was done with the Tensioner recall.

 

$350 for Timing belt, Tensioner, idler, all accessory belts, and coolant flush done at a Benz dealer











...by me

 

check with private import, honda/acura shops- look in the phone book for smaller ad with pic of honda in it-
visit a few and see if its a clean organized place with happy techs, not greasy floor and tools everywhere, service writer is son of owner,,,

Should run parts and labor about 800-1200 depending on how smart you and the tech are- thats last years prices reported by azine members for just the water pump and timing belt job

by smart I mean- IMO all the belt tensioners and pullies should be replaced-
thats where the price quotes will vary
If one of those pullies fails,, its the same as breaking the timing belt- you end up with bent valves..$1200 to fix just that..plus another timing belt job!
Releasing tension on said spring operated tensioner, then installing a new belt and putting tension back on the spring MAY result in failure of the tensioner,,
its been doing one thing, then suddenly all the pressure is released- then applied again

always ask for a printed parts and labor list of what they are expecting to replace in the estimate--before the car goes in to the shop!!!
ie: water pump-pulley tensioner for wp, new coolant, idler pulley for ac, new timing belt new accessory belt, tensioner for acc belt...

Tell them you are shopping for `quality labor` and the right parts being used (honda wp) not just the lowest price

what do they add on the bill for shop supplies?- its a ripoff and every shop has a different way to calculate it
They spread the cost of shop rags and techs rubber gloves, spray lubes-cleaners and the rest to every invoice
May charge 5-10 bucks on a small job- may have percentage system and charge $50 on a big job!!--you have to ask

Other places will lowball price to get you in the door - then with the car apart they find more parts are needed and you are stuck there~ at their mercy and price

The dealer may have included valve adjustment- which is a good idea- (most of us have a few valves a little loose- it does affect mileage and running smooth)
It does take a few/several hours to do in addition to the few/several hours to do the water pump/timing belt,
With dealer labor at $125 per HOUR,,maybe more- and 7-8 -9 hours labor,,,theres a grand without any parts
Parts should run in the 400-500 range

of course this is all just my opinion based on cars I have worked on or know about

 

I thought it was 03s got the recall on the pulley? some 02s as well Bearcat?
Thats definetly something to check before taking the car in
When they are doing a recall and you want to spend some of your money on a few parts that are right there,,everyone wins

 

my local mechanic got me a new oem timing belt and new oem water pump, adjusted valves, fresh coolant, power steering flush and put on my UR crank pulley for $591 total...the oem parts and labor is included in the price

Acura wanted $955 for timing belt service with new water pump and that did not include the valve adjustment ($169) or ps flush ($99).

I feel I got a good deal, did not want to mess with that.

 

thats an awesome deal
You must have a good relationship with that shop~
Does the car run way better? did you do plugs too?

Make sure you reset the ECU due to new crank pulley - the car needs to learn its new part

 

thanks guys.
i thought originally that the belt and wpump will be replaced along with the tensioner belts. But some of you guys are saying that the pulleys (all?) need to be replaced. Is that really necessary? If so, what pulleys?
The one that are top of my heads is crank, cam, ac compressor. Looking at following i could certainly spot crank and cam pulleys.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DX

 

Yeah, looks like late build 2002's (??).

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/B03-030.PDF

Oddly enough, even though I was in the VIN range I got no mailed notice and it did not (and still does not) show up on my MyAcura page.

Would not have known if the dealership had not pointed it out. Lucky for me, it saved be a noce chunk of change.