well guys, ive had my car a month and a half and i had the valve cover off the other day and the timing belt is pretty old plus it says honda on it so i imagine it is original. anyway, ive got 140k miles and want to know how much to expect to pay to get it done. or if its not too bad how much are the parts to do it my self. ive got a friend that can help me do it so if its not bad we can do it. i know enough to know its a pain to do. thanks
The acura dealer will do it for $700+; that includes:
timing belt
accessory belts(3)
water pump
tensioner bearing
valve cover gasket
The best place to get genuine honda parts is AHmotor.com; I got these parts(minus the gasket) for ABOUT $150 from them.
It’s a pretty easy job as long as you have plenty of time and the right tools, you’re very careful and follow the manual closely. The hardest part will be getting that crankshaft bolt off.
I’ve done my other belts and valve cover gasket. When I do my timing belt I’ll put in cam gears and str cam seal. What do you do for the water pump (replace the whole thing??, replace just gaskets?) and tensioner bearing(not even sure where this is??)?
unless you have access to 400 or 500 lb-ft of torque to take off the crank bolt, you might have to take it in to the shop… I think the manual recommends 140 or 150 lbs of torque, but I haven’t met anyone yet who’s taken off the bolt with that little effort…
For the water pump, you just put a new one in…it comes with a new gasket pressed into it. You will have to put some gasket goo on the coolant drain plug on the front of the block when you reinstall the plug.
Some people don’t do the tensioner bearing; but it IS part of the timing belt service at the dealer so I recommend it. The bolt you loosen to loosen the timing belt goes right through the middle of the bearing and there is a spring attached in there. Follow the manual carefully!!
To loosen the crank bolt I drove to the local shop and turned the front wheels all the way to the left to allow them easy access. It took their most torquiest gun, but they finally loosened it, then tightened it back to 70 foot pounds, and I drove home carefully to finish the job.
use honda bond to seal the water pump, get it at the dealer.
I have no idea where your city is in Washington, but if you are willing to drive to Portland, Oregon… I can hook you up with a good price. $170 labor. Parts are as follows…
$65 timing belt
$65 Water Pump
$55 Belt Tensioner
$5 Coolant
$8 New Valve Cover Gasket
$8 4 new Spark Plug Seals
So you’re looking at about $375 out the door. Takes me a few hours and I guarantee all of my work. The price list for parts is for OEM Honda. Shoot me an e-mail if you are interested.
Timing Belt
I work at a honda dealership… Do it yourself. I can’t even get parts for that motor thru my work because even though “Honda Motor Company” made the engine, it isn’t in any Honda’s ever produced. there’s HONDA, who owns Honda, Acura, Honda Motor Company, and a few subsidiaries. But Honda Motor Company also engineered all engines for the dirtbikes, motorcycles, honda cars, acura cars, lawnmovers, snowblowers, generators, (deep breath), commercial equipment, etc… (fwef). Just get the parts from a local acura dealer parts counter, and do it yourself. The only hard part (for a novice) is remembering how to CORRECTLY re-assemble everything. A Saturday, a 30-Pack, a few cd’s and a buddy and you are all set. While you are at the dealership getting the parts, ask someone nicely if you could borrow a service manual for that car, and if you seem nice enough and don’t come across as a prick, they’ll probably help you out (a little collateral may help as well).
As far as the Crank bolt comment, slide a really long section of pipe over a breaker bar and pull like the dickens! It’ll work. It’s 140-150 to install, but after spinning torque is applied over time, the bolt just gets tighter. (it’s threaded that way so it won’t get looser over time, cause we all know that would really suck…
I got the bolt off with a long ass breaker bar with me standing on it. Yes you replace the whole water pump its about $40.
Hey G2guru, is that price list straight from the dealership? the parts store wants $30 for the valve cover gasket. i am about 2.5 hours from portland and my friend is pretty good with cars so we’ll probably just do it. is there anyway to tell if the water pump has been replaced recently? prob not. anyway, thanks.
im about 15 miles east of tacoma
They normaly replace the water pump when they do the timing belt, so whenever you last got the timing belt changed is when you got the water pump changed.
www.foreigncarpartsonline.com
They have the valve cover gasket for $7.
get it done at pep-boys !!! 
i did my timing belt at pepboys …
just buy the belt yourself, buy the
waterpump from honda (make sure it’s
genuine !!!) and go with those to
pep-boys …
they’ll charge you anywhere between
2-3 hrs, that is $120-180.
the reason i am saying pep-boys is
that they have really nation-wide
coverage and also once you get to know
people there (some collateral again,
might help) … you can go there …
i changed all other belts myself, adjusted
valves and did pretty much everything an
almost stock engine will need but for
the timing belt and alignment i went with them.
i know pep-boys is not exactly what people
love around here but believe me that a guy
that works there is as good as any other guy
and also be sure they see ENOUGH honda’s to
be equally qualified as the additional $300+
“honda-certified” technicians …
but AGAIN: STAY WITH THE CAR when they change
the belt. BUY THE BELT AND WATER PUMP YOURSELF.
also make sure they won’t charge you double …
if they say that it is timing belt (2hrs) +
waterpump (2hrs) … then say nay and go and
give $10 to the guy doing it to change also
the pump …
do NOT change anything else. gaskets etc etc
you can do yourself afterwards etc.
the good thing about doing it there is that
they also adjust valves and timing in the
same price, make sure you get that !
any opinions ?!
my 2c.
what do you guys use to hold the pulley? i just used a 600lb-ft craftman pro impact wrench and it didnt even flinch. just how long does my breaker bar need to be based on this heh