Do I really need new timing belt on '03 TL w/ only 23.8K miles??

i don't know where they got those manual pages because i have the accord shop manual and they're not what i recall from my copy. i need to dig it out.

but it is true that different vehicles have different belt change intervals specified. not all belt types or manufactures are equal either.

Reply to
jim beam
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the inconsistency between recommending stuff that easy to do but unnecessary, and the stuff that's necessary but hard.

you're right on this - some vehicle oem equipment is indeed utter garbage and it doesn't last. [frod is a perfect example, but they're far from unique.] in that case, i would definitely recommend replacement as a matter of course. as i would if inferior aftermarket components have been used on a honda. but in this case, we're talking oem on a honda/acura, and oem quality is excellent.

you're lucky they've got 2 quarts. i was driving a girlfriend's lexus one time and the oil light kept blinking. "oh, it always does that" she says, "just ignore it". but i pull in to a gas station and check the oil. nothing on the stick, so i buy a couple of quarts and put them in. nothing. a couple more, just touching the bottom of the stick, not the minimum mark. it took nearly 2 more quarts to get that thing back to full - she'd run it almost bone dry.

but she could suck a golf ball through 30' of garden hose, so what did i care?

Reply to
jim beam

except that it does because often times, people rushing to do stuff quickly screw stuff up. and worse, replace high quality oem parts with cheapo low quality aftermarket, and the thing doesn't last 30k miles.

that's because it's oem honda, and they're that good. and that's why if you look at the service manual maintenance schedule, the pump has an "I" next to it, not a "R".

Reply to
jim beam

as others have said, collateral damage. and i wasn't referring /just/ to the coolant pump, but to /any/ component replaced on a superstition/extra profit schedule rather than a knowledge schedule.

but you also have the matter of replacing something of very high initial quality and low mileage with inferior aftermarket. a friend of mine had a bunch of work done to his civic, at a dealer here in the bay area, and paid full dealer price, but they used aftermarket components. i wouldn't have believed it, but he showed me the invoices and the components clearly had aftermarket manufacturer names on them.

Reply to
jim beam

from the direct metal contact and local friction

. if the motor were to constantly run

Reply to
jim beam

Could that be for Canadian versions? What does that CD mean in the URL address, anyway? I can imagine Canadian versions having more frequent intervals due to the harsher weather, but I'm just speculating.

Reply to
cameo

Oh, so that's why my dealer suggested wheel alignment every time I took my car in? I never needed one since I quit going to the dealer.

Reply to
cameo

dingdingdingdingding

we have a winner

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

cameo wrote in news:jqsake$f6t$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Canada has the same timing-belt service intervals as the US.

Reply to
Tegger

it needs "checking" periodically, true, but the check is a visual one and a problem is self-evident. just like an oil leak. you certainly don't need to put it on a machine and charge the customer for it if there's no evidence it's needed.

Reply to
jim beam

there is a "severe service" schedule for very hot and very cold climates, but that link doesn't say anything about it. just like those pages don't say what vehicle. the poster says what, but pages don't.

Reply to
jim beam

One would think so but then you find a Canadian web link like this:

where if you fill in the Complete Maint. Schedule variables for a 1994 Accord sedan and View Complete Maint Schedule for it, you'll find a "Specific Additional Required Maintenance" list at the bottom where timing belt replacement is called for at 96,000 km, which is about

60,000 miles. This is not what they specify for '94 US models.
Reply to
cameo

But they did. Well, if you believe the charges.

Reply to
cameo

The industrial belts that have been supplied over the past 10 years are nitrile units with fibers (some fiberglass, some kevlar) and are standard lengths that can be bought at auto supply stores for the most part (aside from the double sided timing belts).....

I was taking off from a light in first gear, hit about 3500 rpm and then nada. Knew what it was right away......

Reply to
Stewart

well, you're talking to the "business". i'm talking to the technical necessity.

Reply to
jim beam

you'll get yet another disparity* if you look at the european specs too. which is why, with the qualification that belts /do/ need to be inspected and changed periodically, i'm in the "pinch of salt" department on this.

  • my favorite is towing capacity. euro-spec towing capacity for a civic with a braked trailer is 4 digits. u.s. spec is zero. now /that/ is
100% bullshit and 100% the result of political backroom deals to keep the oilcos and detroit in business selling gigantic trucks with ridiculously huge gas guzzling engines selling to people that only want to tow a motorcycle or fishing boat.
Reply to
jim beam

kevlar is not typically used in automotive belts because it's susceptible to moisture, particularly at elevated temperatures. there are other aramid fibers out there that are better suited - twaron being the most common.

forgive the pedantry, but a toothed belt is not automatically a "timing" belt. the term "timing belt", in correct usage, is when there is a specific gear synchronization function, like syncing an engine's cam to its crank. the kind of drive belt you get for a final drive on a harley is simply a "toothed belt". and that's what the majority of industrial drives are.

sure, it happens. but as i said, the majority break at or close to idle

- for the reasons given.

Reply to
jim beam

Our servo systems do quite a bit of syncronized movements with other drives/digital and analog IO. These all use timing belts where direct drive is not available. The extuders themselves used toothed belts, though they all use closed loop vector regen drives for our control loops.

Yep....my sample size is quite small.

Reply to
Stewart

cameo wrote in news:jqtesm$d9s$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Well woddyaknow. I was wrong. Even for my car they list a 60K mile belt chenge, whereas my factory paper manual (which I've been following for 21- years) says 90K miles.

This must be a fairly new thing, since the paper manuals I have (non- Accord, mind you) that are meant for both the Canadian and US markets give no difference in interval for either market. I wonder what changed?

Reply to
Tegger

i recently changed on of mine at 110k. it was in pretty decent shape when it came off.

detroit-trained management. the same ones that managed to ensure transmission failures "mysteriously" occurred across the honda line of civic, accord, odyssey, etc. [you don't get simultaneous failures on different transmission families unless you make a management decision that it's going to happen.]

and as we all now know, honda usa's senior guy is an "ex" frod guy. either he's misguidedly having honda mimic the worst of detroit's maintenance practices in an attempt to make a small amount more money without realizing the consequences. or he's still actually working for frod and setting out to undermine honda's customer loyalty as part of frod's public perception repositioning program.

Reply to
jim beam

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