Just thought I’d share some pictures of an 8 year old timing belt on our Honda. I used the Sony camera so focus isn’t ideal, it focuses on what it wants, not what I want. I should have used the Nikon, too late now, the belt has been changed.
Thanks.
It looks due. Well polished, though. The good news is… no sign of a leaky seal! No oil residue on the belt!
Not bad shots for an autofocus camera with a built in lens. Even with 72mm expensive lenses I’ve always found that for real detail you simply can’t beat manually focusing it
The belt was dry, but the oil pump seal was leaking. Fortunately it wasn’t leaking on the belt, just onto the ground, but I had it changed too. I would have done the work myself but I could not get the pulley bolt off, even with the pulley tool and a 36" long breaker bar. Bent the bar almost 90 degrees and it still wouldn’t budge.
Keith, FWIW, I use a 24" long 1/2" drive socket extension to bring the breaker bar outside the car fender and I use a 4 feet cheater pipe over my breaker bar which is supported at the fulcrum by a large (5-6 ton) jack stand. I use a large jack stand because a small 2-3 ton stand is not tall enough. Anyway, a socket extension will twist like a torsion bar but in the end it breaks loose the crank bolt for me every time. Stacked extensions will also work but have a bit more total twist. The most recent timing belt I did was about 3 weeks ago on a 2002 Honda Accord 4 cyl.
The support given by the jack stand is important. It reduces the give as you pull down on the breaker bar/pipe and keeps the socket square on the bolt head.
Next time? I think not. Seven years from now, the car will be 22 years old and I will be 70. I keep my vehicles a long time, but I do expect that I will get rid of this one by then. I’m holding out for computer controlled electric solenoids actuating the valves.
If you see obvious signs of cracking or age…then the belt should be replaced…The problem is that many times there is no evidence. I’ve seen belts that broke and besides the place the broke at look PERFECT. That’s why I always replace mine by time…NOT by visual inspection.