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That's just gray silicone. Some guys put that stuff everywhere. Guess idea is that it won't harm, but it may help. Sometimes it's also used just to keep the gasket in place.
I put some Permatex RTV (blue stuff) on the rubber "O" water pump gasket in ~5 places to hold it in place in the water pump. Those little tabs along the gasket slot (three in the water pump pic above) help keep the gasket in place.
It's impossible to test the gasket fit until it's all put back together, so it's worth the little extra insurance. I'm pretty conservative in the amount of RTV I use, it's there just to keep the gasket in place not for sealing.
I figured this video might be useful for others. Provides some evidence to try a new belt on a broken belt engine - sometimes you get lucky. I would add - use OEM or Asin from rockauto.
In his timing belt video from 2020 (link below), it appears the “Amazon kit” parts were fake. Watch him pull the tensioner pin at 42:18. I’ve never seen a tensioner pin pulled with such little effort. When I did my timing belt, I used the battery tie down to remove some tension and I still needed some pliers and lots of muscle to remove the pin. Since watching his 2020 video, I figured that tensioner would eventually cause a failure. Eric blames his water pump for the failure. Note his serpentine belt from this same kit is also failing.
Sometimes these engines don’t get destroyed with timing belt failure. Try a new belt.I had learned that on an interference engine, a timing belt failure causes damage to engine. However, my sister’s Toyota interference minivan made it through a failure with no damage. There have been other posters who have reported j35 timing belt failures with no damage. Now, ETCG seems to have also gotten lucky.
I just did this a couple weeks ago and used the battery tie down to hold the tensioner pulley.
My pin came right out without any struggle. No pliers...just slipped right off using my finger.
If you keep tension on the correct side of the belt and use the battery tie down properly, the pin should slip right out. The tie down is a little difficult to thread back out though...because it will have a good amount of force acting on it until the tensioner pulley makes contact with the belt.
I've never needed a tool to pull the tensioner pin. Just these hands.
I bought my all parts at an Acura dealer...so I'm 100% confident they are real deal OEM parts.
I wouldn't go as far as saying the "Aisin" or any other kit from anywhere but a dealer is "as good" or "the same" as OEM. Its almost for sure not. Maybe it works fine, though.
I'd rather shop at a dealer if it was a car I wanted to keep, problem free.
I wouldn't go as far as saying the "Aisin" or any other kit from anywhere but a dealer is "as good" or "the same" as OEM. Its almost for sure not. Maybe it works fine, though.
Interesting.
The picture below is of a 51K mile 17+ year old factory installed waterpump taken from a S/C'ed '03 CL-S I purchased in November of 2019.
The previous original owner stated that the TB components were never changed under his watch.
As you can see, Aisin is clearly molded into the casting with the Honda logo.
At one time, Aisin was clearly good enough, back in the day, to be an OEM supplier ?
Yeah, no doubt. Using a previous OEM supplier is better than using someone who has never made the factory part.
BUT....here is the thing.
You can walk into Burger King and order your whopper how you like it, right?
Honda can do the same thing at Aisin with a water pump. If Honda isn't the one ordering the pump...Aisin doesn't need to make the pump with the same ingredients.
That example is simplified.
Let's say Honda is the one buying the pump, to sell at their dealers.
Aisin's stamp is on the aluminum housing. Honda's is too. But Aisin has the casting molds already. Why change them?
But...did Honda contract them for the whole thing?
Or did they contract them to just cast the housing?
Did Honda ask someone else to assemble the Aisin housing to the (manufacturer x) bearing? Or did Aisin do it in house?
Did Honda allow Aisin to sub-contract some of the other parts of the pump out? And did Honda also need to vet those suppliers?
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Now lets say Aisin is making a replica pump to sell to a parts distributor.
Do they use the same process as the Honda pump? Same assembly plant? Same sub-suppliers? Same surface finish? Same requirements?
What if they can find a different bearing supplier that's cheaper? If Honda's not ordering the pump, then why wouldn't Aisin do that?
There are a million different scenarios.
Yamada makes the pumps now. Not sure why Honda switched suppliers. Could be a lot of reasons. From quality concerns to pricing.
If its a quality concern then...that's an obvious consequence.
If its a monetary concern....why couldn't Aisin give Honda a better deal, and what steps did they take to make the pump more affordable to the public? Did they skimp on quality? Change sub-suppliers? Is it the "same" part anymore then?
OR....maybe it is truly the same pump, somehow being sold for LESS than Honda can sell it for? But that doesn't make economic sense. Honda bought enough pumps to build every single TL that used that part. So they're probably getting a good deal on it. Maybe Honda just marks their parts way up, though.
But there's no easy way to be sure.
In the end, you're paying like $50 more at a dealer to be sure you're gonna get the same part they put on at the factory.
I have used Aisin TB kits 3 times on the TL's I've owned over the years, never an issue. But I always buy from rockauto, would never get from one Amazon, or ebay. Aisin/Mitsuboshi is not actually OEM - Gates Unitta is OEM for the belt and Yamada is OEM for the water pump. Aisin/Mitsuboshi are Toyota OEM parts, though. Koyo is OEM for Acura if not mistaken?
But anyway I was bored and wanted to look at prices etc. Regardless Aisin is VERY popular with the kit for our TL's and I guess it's for a reason. I have zero issues/complaints. I'm a big OEM guy, just did ball joints on my TLS (OEM) and will keep doing so. But I also have SPC rear arms, so sometimes we have no choice.
I would only buy from rockauto and from the dealer as well...
I've seen too many horror stories firsthand from the tensioner or pump giving up the ghost...
even the kit I did which I think was the Gates one on my old TL...I think the water pump failed
for the next owner (he's put another 160K on the car so not sure when).
I remember practically shouting at my screen when ETCG unboxed that water pump. Fakest fake Amazon shit ever. I want to echo everyone here: Never, ever buy mission critical parts from Amazon. They've demonstrated no interest in reigning in who lists products or how they list them, and even their brand name inventories are poisoned by counterfeits binned with authentic items.
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I happen to have a recent Aisin kit here from Rockauto. Here's the makes and COOs:
Timing Belt - Mitsuboshi (Thailand)
Tensioner - Aisin (Origin not marked)
Water Pump - Aisin (Japan)
Adjuster - Koyo (United States)
Idler - Koyo (Japan)
Mitsuboshi is the OEM for the serpentine belt for 2004-2007. The OEM switched to Bando for 2008.
Gates, as I recall, now makes their timing belt in China.
I remember practically shouting at my screen when ETCG unboxed that water pump. Fakest fake Amazon shit ever. I want to echo everyone here: Never, ever buy mission critical parts from Amazon. They've demonstrated no interest in reigning in who lists products or how they list them, and even their brand name inventories are poisoned by counterfeits binned with authentic items.
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I happen to have a recent Aisin kit here from Rockauto. Here's the makes and COOs:
Timing Belt - Mitsuboshi (Thailand)
Tensioner - Aisin (Origin not marked)
Water Pump - Aisin (Japan)
Adjuster - Koyo (United States)
Idler - Koyo (Japan)
Mitsuboshi is the OEM for the serpentine belt for 2004-2007. The OEM switched to Bando for 2008.
Gates, as I recall, now makes their timing belt in China.
^ Exactly this...
I may not be as much of a OEM maniac as Brolando (and I mean maniac in the best way possible) but I am very much about going with oem parts. And while the Aisin kit may not be 100% oem as of 2022, it sure is close no? I dunno, I mean RA is sold out of this TB kit more often then it's in stock lol. It's obviously VERY popular, and most likely wouldn't be as such if it was a sketchy product.
I guess all "I'm" saying is I trust the Aisin kit, but the REAL Aisin kit. So no ebay, amazon, etc
In fact I just had this kit installed on my 08 6MT Type S, was bought from RA. I also had plugs done (NGK) and the serp belt (Bando) - I wonder about the Bando...weren't they oem?
Interesting.
The picture below is of a 51K mile 17+ year old factory installed waterpump taken from a S/C'ed '03 CL-S I purchased in November of 2019.
The previous original owner stated that the TB components were never changed under his watch.
As you can see, Aisin is clearly molded into the casting with the Honda logo.
At one time, Aisin was clearly good enough, back in the day, to be an OEM supplier ?
Aisin was the OEM water pump supplier from 2003 to 2005, then you start finding Yamada water pumps starting from 2006. Honda has not gone back to Aisin for water pumps since. You will find the very first Aisin water pumps in the J30A4 2003 Honda Accord V6.
Yea Amazon, Ebay....no thanks. I do trust Rockauto but maybe that's not a sure bet anymore I dunno. Little surprised with all his experience with Hondas he went that route to begin with...
No reason to write off Rockauto, I don't think. They get parts directly from the manufacturers. Amazon and eBay's problem is they're essentially free for alls. Anybody (with some hoops to jump through in Amazon's case) can list anything, for the most part. If you have a pallet of counterfeit crap from China, or factory seconds/rejects, Amazon or eBay is where you go to unload it.
I remember practically shouting at my screen when ETCG unboxed that water pump. Fakest fake Amazon shit ever. I want to echo everyone here: Never, ever buy mission critical parts from Amazon. They've demonstrated no interest in reigning in who lists products or how they list them, and even their brand name inventories are poisoned by counterfeits binned with authentic items.
---
.
I make a few exceptions here for Amazon purchases. If the seller is
1) Honda or Acura
2) Honda or Acura dealer
3) OEM manufacturer (ie NGK for sparkplugs)
I've done all three of those above with no issues, otherwise I stay clear of other vendors on Amazon for autoparts
If it's fulfilled by Amazon, you might want to shift habits. Amazon chucks products from different vendors together in the same bin if they purport to be the same item, then picks them back out in any order. Can't trust none of it.
No reason to write off Rockauto, I don't think. They get parts directly from the manufacturers. Amazon and eBay's problem is they're essentially free for alls. Anybody (with some hoops to jump through in Amazon's case) can list anything, for the most part. If you have a pallet of counterfeit crap from China, or factory seconds/rejects, Amazon or eBay is where you go to unload it.
I've had great luck with RockAuto...customer service and parts. No reason not to use them.
For American I go with them, for Japanese I go OEM and for German I go FCP and Autohaus
I will sometimes chance it with Amazon for ease of returns for troubeshooting etc...
I know this is an old thread (and excellent write up) but I just wanted to add some comments based on my recent experience. I did this 105K service on my 2017 RDX but I had a lot of trouble getting the crank bolt loosened - I ended up using the weight of the RDX with the 2nd breaker bar on 2x4's per my picture (note how the breaker bar is bending just before loosening). I nearly gave up but I was determined to do this since the dealer wanted $1900 & they wouldn't change the pulley's.
I also marked the old timing belt in 3 places where both cams & crankshaft markings are using a welder's paint marker before I removed the old belt and then transferred these markings onto new belt. This gave me a piece of mind that new belt was in correct position.
Thank you.
I did this 105K service on my 2017 RDX but I had a lot of trouble getting the crank bolt loosened - I ended up using the weight of the RDX with the 2nd breaker bar on 2x4's per my picture (note how the breaker bar is bending just before loosening). I nearly gave up but I was determined to do this since the dealer wanted $1900 & they wouldn't change the pulley's.
If there was one thing I could recommend to anyone doing this job on their own, is to buy a Lisle 19mm Harmonic Balancer/weighted socket. It's like 25 bucks off amazon. I had an 400ft/lb air impact with a regular 19mm impact socket unable to take the crank bolt off. I further ruined a chrome 19mm socket doing the same thing. Once I bought this one, it came off immediately. No messing around with extensions, leverage, starter bumps, etc.
Last edited by TheSauceBoss; 07-12-2022 at 09:15 AM.
DUDE, I forgot to second that...
it makes a HUGE difference...basically you take your impact gun from being a ball peen to a damn sledgehammer by giving it some serious density to slang around.
03-31-2021, 11:09 AM
