I understad that Honda recommends replacing the timing belt on a 2000 CRV @ 105K / 7 ys. Although my vehicle is @ 90K now, it’s about 7ys old. Any ideas on how much of a margin I have before the belt should really be changed?
It could be a few years and it could be the next start of the ignition. Look on your build data in the drivers door jamb to get an idea of when your vehicle was actually built to find out how old the timing belt is.
Its due, start saving your money for either a timing belt replacement premptively or timing belt replacement+smashed valves if it breaks.
There is no way of determining when a belt can break.
A few years back some good friends of mine bought an “as new” 3 year old Honda with only 59k miles on it. Two weeks later on a trip the timing belt broke out in the middle of nowhere.
If you like gambling, I would recommend that you try Las Vegas or Atlantic City. On the other hand, car maintenance is not an area where I recommend gambling, especially since something like the failure of your timing belt is an event that is totally unpredictable.
As one of the members of this board has said, your engine is likely to run very nicely–right up until the milisecond after your timing belt snaps. And, once it snaps, you will have a repair bill of perhaps a couple of thousand $$ for replacement of valves and perhaps some pistons, rather than a bill of a few hundred $$ for the timely replacement of the timing belt.
It’s your car, so it’s your choice. I know what I would choose, but then again, I am averse to gambling.
Change the belt and don’t forget the water pump. Not a fun maintenance bill, but better than needing a new engine.
ref
Good avice from above posters. Last year I got a Honda Magazine in the mail; it has stories of Honda owners who rack up a lot of miles without problems. One Civic owner proudly said he was still on the same timing belt at about 170,000 miles. I’m puzzled why Honda publishes such irresponsible behaviour. It did prove that Hondas have good timeing belts, but it is Russian roulette to go that far between changes. I would go and have it changed in the next few months. Many Volkwagen belts have failed BEFORE the mileage indicated in the manuals.
You have no margin left. Your 7 years is up. In anything containing elastomers, time matters.