I have only owned 1 Honda and it had 2 wheels.
1 Like
[quote="keith, post:17, topic
I don’t see which engine you have, 4 cylinder or V-6. I understand the 4 cylinder has a timing chain instead of a timing belt.
[/quote]
Jimmie, find out which engine you have and whether it uses a timing belt. If it uses a chain, you avoid several hundred dollars expense. But if belt, and you are about to be driving 500 miles a week, it’s worth the expense to avoid an engine catastrophe. In either case, keeping oil level OK is critical.
My 1999 Honda has over 185,000 miles on it and works very well. Yours could do that, too, if you keep up with maintenance, even if it’s using more oil than you would wish.
1 Like
True the timing chain doesn’t need to be serviced, however, over a period of time with low oil, etc, the timing chains in these engines start to stretch, and a check engine code is set off for stretched chain. I am not aware of the actual price to replace one, but it isn’t too bad from some forums ive read.
1 Like
Sorry for the lack of intel, guys. It’s a 4-cylinder. The guys at the Honda dealership referred to it as a timing belt, but it could’ve easily just been a slip up since they work with all kinds of Honda’s all day.
They should be more familiar with anyone as to which Hondas use a belt and which use a chain. It’s lazy and misleading for them to use either term sloppily.
What does your owners/service manual say about your engine? If belt, it’ll say at what miles/months it should be changed. The engine should have a big sticker saying which engine it is. From there it’s not hard to find out, authoritatively, if it has a belt or a chain. The VIN also includes info identifying the engine.
1 Like
this 4-cylinder Honda uses chain:
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,2010,accord,2.4l+l4,1444945,engine,timing+set,5756
1 Like
Thanks so much for looking that up!
Perhaps they said that the axle boot is torn and the accessory drive belt is dry and cracked, nobody inspects timing belts to see if they are “dry”.
1 Like
@Nevada_545 makes a point here. A torn axle boot in my opinion should be repaired right away but others will argue that the axle won’t just fail and you can drive it until it is about to and just replace it with a reman. The cost will be the same either way. I don’t like remans but that is just my opinion.
The accessory belt will not damage your engine if it fails either unless you keep driving after the belt has broken. If you let the engine overheat, it will damage it. So basically you can keep driving it and checking the oil and put off spending anymore money if you want to. But if the belt or the axle does brake while on the way to work, would you possibly loose your job? The axle will start making a lot of noise on turns before it goes, a loud clicking sound. I’d do the accessory belt first at least.
1 Like
I REALLY hope that the timing belt is dry.
If it was wet from oil or coolant, its life expectancy would be shortened to a great extent.
I don’t think that I’m going too far out on a limb when I speculate that the OP and the people at the dealership have a major communication problem.
I hear you. But as someone whose knowledge in car maintenance does not exceed changing oil, tranny fluid, and spark plugs, I rely on the word of the dealership mechanics. So whatever I’m telling you guys is what I’ve been told.
How much was the estimate for replacing the “timing belt”?
1 Like
$180 was the dealer’s estimate
That would be for accessory drive belts, not a timing belt. If your car had the V6 engine a timing belt replacement would cost more than $600.
1 Like
Do you have these recommended repairs in writing? I’d like to know what is written on the estimate. I suspect that if there isn’t a written estimate, the mechanic may have said that the belt needs to be replaced, and that would be the serpentine belt. A timing belt would cost closer to $1000.
You might get an estimate from an independent shop for serpentine belt replacement. I think it will be a lot less than $180. Get an estimate for whatever is needed for the axle at the same time.
If the dealer service writer really did tell you that you need a timing belt, you should get away from them as quickly as possible. No timing belt = lying service writer, and if you can’t trust them you must assume that they lie about everything.
1 Like
Well shoot. Thanks for that key piece of intel. In all honesty, in the handful of times I’ve taken my car to the dealership (between two different ones), it’s seemed that everything they’ve told me was BS.
That being said, would you recommend I take my car to a dealership to be fixed or a certified Honda mechanic?
Don’t they give you an inspection report with rows of green, yellow and red boxes with each visit? That report would list which belt that is recommended for replacement.
1 Like
Your comment perfectly correlated to what I just finished typing. All the issues/estimates were given to me over the phone. I’m strongly leaning towards taking it to a private mechanic.
I was not given one on my last visit, which was odd.
Honda’s are not so exotic that they can’t be handled by any mechanic. If you don’t know a good, independent shop, ask everyone you know for recommendations. Eventually, a few shops will get multiple recommendations. Try one of them.
1 Like