I have a 2005 Honda Civic with about 105,000 miles. I brought it in to the Dealer for an oil change which was fine. But they then they told me I needed a timing belt with water pump ($800) and a valve adjustment plus 100k spark plugs. Do I really need these maintenance items at this point and are these reasonable prices?
Yes, it will be listed in the scheduled maintenance supplement to your owners manual.
If this is the first timing belt change on this vehicle, it is way overdue.
You can be glad that the belt didn’t break and leave you stranded.
You don’t have to do this at the dealer. Shop around and get quotes on the work. You can probably have this done for $500- $600 elsewhere.
Yes, the repairs are legitimate, the belt is past due, and if the belt breaks it will cost you far, far more than what you’ve been quoted.
Yep. And you do the water pump because it’s so expensive to drill down to it, and you drill down to it when you do the timing belt anyway.
To allay any worries, you are not overdue for the belt change, but you are due. Newer Honda timing belt change intervals are in the 110,000 mile interval, not the old 80,000 mile one.
I get concerned when people come here and say “the dealer told me”. You’re not doing this correctly. Open your owner’s manual, see what needs to be done, go to a dealer or other mechanic, and tell them what services to perform. Otherwise, you may skip necessary maintenance items and you may pay for unnecessary maintenance items. Honda printed the owner’s manual for a reason, not for fun.
As for your actual question, replace the timing belt now unless you have around $3,000 that you feel like throwing away on a new engine when the belt breaks sooner or later. Almost everyone replaces the water pump with the timing belt because you’ll have to pay the same labor charge a second time if you don’t replace it now and it dies.
In addition to what the others have already stated, I want to add the advice that, if the OP does not have an Owner’s Manual for this car, then he/she clearly needs to obtain one. The Owner’s Manual contains the mfr’s maintenance schedule, which should be followed in order to get the most economical use out of your car. E-bay is a good source for low-cost, used manuals.
And, if the OP does already have an Owner’s Manual, all I can do is shake my head in disbelief that the OP has apparently never taken the time to open this little booklet in order to find out what is necessary in order to keep this car on the road safely and economically. If the OP has not utilized the mfr’s maintenance schedule over the past 6 years/105k miles, then there are likely to be several other vital maintenance procedures that are overdue, just like replacement of the timing belt.
If you have the 1.7L engine, it is an interference engine and uses a timing belt. You need to get it changed now, and have the water pump and belt tensioner replaced at the same time. If it is a 2L or hybrid, you do not have a timing belt, but a timing chain instead. You might ask the dealership why you need a belt change if one of the latter 2 engines is your.