I have a 2006 Honda Odyssey with approx 218,000 miles. It gets routine maintenance at a local auto repair shop which I trust, but now that it’s time to replace the timing belt, I’d like to know if I need to take it to a Honda service center to have any new technology items serviced. I’m curious if the newer technology items require proprietary tools or knoweledge which my shop may not have.
Honda’s are nothing special requiring dealer service. They also are very common and use limited drivetrains so nearly all mechanics have seen one unless you live in some oddball place.
Use the local repair shop if you are comfortable. It made it this far with them, why not continue.
Take it to your local shop, not much technology involved in changing the timing belt. Who changed the last one or are you still driving on the original?
I had this shop replace a timing belt on a '95 Odyssey, but there are a lot more bells and whistles on the 2006, and want to be sure that something else isn’t being neglected out of new technology ignorance. The 2006 has not had a replacement timing belt, so it’s overdue.
This car also has the ‘shudder’ which has been noted on some other posts which I just read this morning (I’m new to the site). My mechanic doesn’t know what’s causing the shudder which is occurring between 35-45 mph. He suggested that it might be related to the ECO feature which reduces the number of cylinders from 6 to 3 at cruising speeds. He didn’t think it was a symptom of a problem - but that’s not very reassuring. I just hate getting ripped off by the dealership - especially after they wanted to charge $36 to service the battery when it was still under warranty in 2006. That’s when I stopped going in for routine maintenance, and have since done all routine stuff at the local shop.
If you read the above comments, you know that not all shops and do the work on all cars. I don’t think yours is one of them. In most cars it is a good idea to replace the water pump at the same time since they will have easy access to the pump while doing the timing belt.
BTW I sure hope this is not the first belt change. If it were mine and it was the first belt, I think I would have the car towed in to have the work done. I believe this is an interference engine and if the belt goes so goes the engine.
Thanks for the info. One small typo in my original post…118k not 218k. I know it’s still overdue for the belt replacement, but 100k less than I originally stated. My '95 had 220k, and was still running when an Expedition rear-ended me. It was such a good ride, I decided to get another one.
There’s nothing about your timing belt job that counts as new technology.