Is it worth it to replace the timing belt on a 1991 Honda Accord that has 238,000 miles on it? We have taken care of this car - regular oil changes and other repairs. It still gets a little over 30 mpg on the highway? Anyone have an opinion? Will this car keep going for a few more years if we do this repair?
Of course it will; my brother still drives his 1987 Accord. However, timing belts HAVE to be changed at the interval indicated in the owner’s manual. Not doing so will essentially total the car if it fails.
Budget about $700 for the belt, water pumpo and tensioner package. You don’t have to go to a dealer to have this done, any GOOD garage car do it.
Think of the cost in car payments. Even if the car only lasted another 2 or 3 months after the repair, you would still be ahead.
Ed B.
Somebody must have already changed it a least once…
If you don’t enjoy $700 “maintenance” bills, avoid cars that have this design feature…Even Honda has seen the light…
Will this car keep going for a few more years if we do this repair?
I consider it maintenance, not a repair, and we have no way of knowing without seeing the rest of the car.
I would get it changed, but only if the car is in good shape otherwise. If the car is on its last leg, you might consider a simple timing belt swap without changing the tensioner and water pump. I normally wouldn’t recommend this, but on a car this old, it might be the way to go. Here is how it works:
-Remove what you have to to expose the timing belt.
-Carefully cut the timing belt in half longways down the middle, so that it stays on the pulleys.
-Carefully remove the outer half of the timing belt.
-Slide the new timing belt on until it butts up to the half of the timing belt that is still on the pulleys.
-Cut the remaining half of the old timing belt and carefully remove it.
-Slide the new timing belt the rest of the way on.
-Reinstall the cover and anything else you had to remove to get to the timing belt.
If anything goes wrong, you will need to realign the cam pulleys to set the timing properly, so if that happens, you might as well go ahead and change the timing belt tensioner pulley.
Is it actually due? I would personally look around for the least expensive quote possible for this given its age. You have options of changing tensioners and water pump, however at this point in the game I would personally skip the water pump/tensioners unless the mechanic sees a need to change them out. More likely than not they will be fine.
If you don’t do this MAINTENANCE soon, you’ll definitely have a large REPAIR bill from a trashed engine when it breaks
If the timing belt hasn’t broken yet it doesn’t matter how many miles are on the carI it will be exactly the same as if you changed it every 60 000 miles once you have the new belt on.
I think I have a good mechanic and the car runs great so we’re going to do it. Thank you for the advice.
Thank you for the reply.
Thank you for the advice.
Thank you for the advice.
It is absolutely worth doing. And I’d replace the water pump and perhaps the tensioner while I was in there. And, if there’s any sign of oil leakage past the front main seal, I’d do that too.
Thank you for the reply. I think it is worth doing also. This car runs great. I want to keep driving it.