What is the best (safe!) mileage to replace the belt? Presumably the valve train is free-wheeling so that if the belt goes, the engine doesn’t go with it, i.e., cams and lifters don’t seize. When my Camry’s V6’s belt broke, it just got real quiet, and I can live with that.
Your owner’s manual should give you the information that you seek. It will list both a mileage and a time. You should change the belt if you exceed either the time limit or the mileage limit.
I think when an Acura belt breaks you’ll hear a loud bang, then it gets quiet. The bang is when the pistons and valve bang into each other and seize up the engine. If you can live the $3,000 t0 5,000 to fix that then good for you.
In general 8 years and 90K miles are pretty standard for timing belts. If you have an owner’s manual that is the definative source of info for your car.
Why don’t you trust the owner’s manual? Tell us that and we can go from there.
Go to Gates Belts website and find out if you have an interference engine. If you don’t have an interference engine, and don’t mind being inconvenience of having the engine quit without warning, let it go until it breaks. I had one on a Horizon break at 43000 miles and a Plymouth Voyager with a Mitsubishi V-6 went to the junkyard with 170000+ miles with the original belt after 13 years.
Oldtimer, why did the plymouth go to the junkyard? Was it the engine or just things in general?
Great info re Gates Belts, Oldtimer - thanks! Looks like I’ve got the interference engine/valve cruncher, so I’ll play it safe.
8yrs or 105k miles from last replacement is the Honda interval.
Honda/Acura are interference so damage is more than a simple belt.
You’re not driving a Camry anymore. If the belt in your TL breaks the engine will suffer very expensive internal damage.
You didn’t tell us the year or mileage of your TL, so we don’t know whether or not it’s time to replace the belt. The maintenance schedule that came with the car should be followed. Mileage or time, whichever comes first.
You can’t wait until the belt breaks on this car.
Acura corporate says they used to advise 105K, but now officially refer to Maintenance Minder system, which supposedly issues a prompt based on vehicle history or some such, and can happen from 60K onwards. (The manual states this, but not on the page the index suggests!) Reliance on the Minder deal is only scary if the prompt never prompts! I’ll probably go for it at around 80K. Thanks, everyone.