My cousin has an 04 Auto Transmission TL with 206,000 miles (He is a salesman that drives all over the midwest and north east). I kept telling him to replace the timing belt, replace the timing belt and he never has. Well somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania his car just stopped running and he said he heard a loud sound. Took it to some backwoods mechanic and he said the timing belt is snapped. He's trying to get it to an acura dealer but the closest is over 100 miles away. Anyway long story short, it's the ORIGINAL timing belt because he bought the car new in 04 and want me to ask you guys here how much $$$ will he have to spend on the repair? (Because the backwoods mechanic won't work on foreign cars, so he's going to tow to the nearest acura dealership)

 

Search. It's in here.

Plan on it running around $700.

 

Oh snap!

Its interesting to sort of have a base of how long a timing belt can go before failure.

Anyways, as far as repair, It probably wont be cheap. Keep us updated. I hope the other members can give you a little more insight. Anyways, good luck with everything.

 

I guess this thread answers the question- who went the longest on an original timing belt.

 

Timing belt snap = engine replacement. It's going to be several thousand dollars in parts and labor. I'm sure someone here can give him a more accurate figure, but what I can say is that it is not going to be cheap.

 

It's going to cost a LOT more than that.

I am pretty surprised the TB lasted that long, honestly.

 

Im pretty sure thats just to change the belt (and whatever else you need for the 105k service)

there has got to be some pretty serious internal engine damage. crunched valves and what not.

 

UPDATE: I've been trying to call him all day and he finally got back with me. Got it to a honda dealer instead of Acura dealer. Dealer charged $880 for timing belt, water pump, tensioner pulley and some other odds and ends. The ENGINE WAS NOT EFFECTED. Dealer said timing belt snap is not always but only sometimes a death penatly to the engine. In this case it wasn't. I still count my cousin lucky for waiting that long and it lasting that long + no engine damage.

 

Lucky man indeed....

 

Just because timing belt snapped does not mean the engine is gone. If the cylinders came out alive, than he is fine. I had this happen to my old 1998 Accord which had 275k miles before I did its timing belt. Luckily the engine came out fine and I got someone to drive too my house and change both the water pump and the timing belt for $200.

I'm pretty sure the timing belt can last too 200k miles, but it's just for peace of mind and under the scheduled maintenance the reason why we do it at 105k miles.

 

wow lucky man

 

that's great news

 

My thoughts exactly.

OP got lucky but don't get too confident. It may make a difference if you're on the big cam in vtec or not when it breaks but as far as I know it's an interference engine either way.

The valves had to have hit the pistons which will cause a slight bend but not enough to effect compression that bad at first. Since exhaust valves have to fully seat to cool themselves and the valves likely aren't seating perfectly, it's a problem that's going to get worse over time.

What's probably going to happen is a random misfire that will get worse and worse until some exhaust valves get burned.

 

Guess this means I can put off my 105K service until I hit 206K.

 

Wow it last that much of miles, so i don't have worry about the TB for atleast 200.000 miles lol long way to go.

 

Got lucky. That's not bad deal actually, ~210,000 and only $800 for timing belt service.

But I wouldn't want to be the person that buys it used.

 

We'll see. write back after the work is done and let us know if this is true.

 

I doubt the dealer checked much of anything in regards to a long term fix.

 

You should do it at 200k to give yourself the 6000 miles of margin in case it snaps a little early.

 

Lucky man for sure.. He could've beeen replacing the head along with a new timing belt etc, if the dealer is correct.

 

he has already had it fixed. This happened to him on Saturday and the dealer did the work on monday. He told me that the dealer assured him that there was no engine damage according to all the tests they could run without actually opening the engine up or something to that nature. I'm not the best with playing telephone but he's back on the road with it and he says it's not acting up, but actually running better (spark plugs also were replaced)

 

I find this very very interesting and insightful as to the longevity of parts that experience wear on our cars...

Does anyone know of other documented cases by members/owners having the timing belt actually failing?

And usaf2008, ask your brother if he got to keep the belt, myself and I'm sure many others on this board would be very interested in seeing the overall condition of the belt with that many miles on it.

 

Haha, ummm I think you might want to do it a bit earlier just incase. I was thinking 150-175K might be safe but either way I will still do mine around 120 or so.

 

if you drive high freeway miles the belts are known to last a long time

the gen2 megamod went 200 and the belt was still good- but he drove 50-75k miles a year!
while doing a CL-S engine swap with 6 speed m/t, he tore the orignal engine apart-
the cylinder walls still had honing marks from manufacture--that engine is good for another 100-200 no sweat

for a timing belt to break and not have exhaust valve to piston contact--somehow when it snapped, everything stopped turning in an instant (can you say excellent karma)

otherwise you bend valves, send shock waves thru the crankshaft and all related parts

It may appear ok for now,,assuming once running they did a compression ck and wrote down the readings to compare in 6 months...keep an eye on it

honda dealers who are willing to do our 105 offer great pricing and oe parts

usually a shop gets one towed in- they dont tell you of the probability of valve damage, charge 800-1200 for the belt and water pump,,dont replace the pullies,,

then its started and runs,,barely--now it needs another $1200-1500 assuming the heads are ok and can be rebuilt

 

Along time ago my uncle was teaching me how to change my plugs, cap and rotor on my first car. I think I asked him something stupid like, "What's that do?" He gave me a graphic illustration (fist in my face) of what would happen if I ever failed to change my timing belt.

Ever since then, on every car I have had, I always paid someone to have my timing belt changed on time.

One of those life lessons you never forget.

 

LISTEN TO HIM. Guy knows what he's talking about OP.

 

I'll be interested to see if that *fix* truly fixes it. I gots my doubts!

 

My friend's Sentra SE-R uses a timing chain which doesn't require replacement...how come more vehicles don't come with them? Costs?

 

x2 ... its gonna get worse over time, may not be immediate but give it time im sure he will start noticing decreased performance in the motor

 

From what I remember hearing, timing chains are noisier. That's one of the reasons. Timing chains are not completely maintenance free though, they can stretch out over time and may need to be replaced as well. They usually give you a little more leeway as to when they need to be replaced though, whereas a belt just snaps like the OPs cousin.

 

I agree with IHC 100%

 

Immediate thought was: broken timing belt = problems immediately or later on down the road. Looks like the OP chose option Number 2.

 

The probability of that is pretty low. New heads / valve replacement would be 3-4x more. It never ceases to amaze me how some people treat their cars.


red = sarcasm here.. If you drive your car like an old lady and don't sit in a lot of traffic, 120 should be fine. If not, I wouldn't risk it.

 

Timing chains don't drive scheduled maintenance to the dealership. They could keep most of the noise in the cover if they wanted to. I personally, without any real data or evidence, believe that this is a post-sale revenue decision.

Hundreds of thousands of miles later, many Ford V10s, of which I am familiar, have original timing chains, still perform well and you cannot hear them.

 

The funny thing is that even though the timing belt might last a long time, the water pump probably won't. Since you have to remove the timing belt to replace the water pump I can understand why Acura/Honda just rolled replacing the timing belt and water pump all into the same service at 105k miles.

 

i would tell him not to count his chickens yet. things may seem fine now, but unless they actually took a look in that engine itself, Im pretty sure there would have been contact of some sort inside and there would have been damage.

 

The difference between a timing chain and a belt are huge, chains are typically not scheduled to be replaced

 

Wow thats why I'm working on my timing belt this Saturday as a matter of fact my Timining belt kit just arrived today, my 04 is about to hit 100k

 

I'm pretty sure we have a timing chain. IHC can you confirm this?

 

Nope, timing belt. Look in your manual around page 199. Service symbol "4" is for timing BELT service....