Accord V6 Timing Belt

[ek02]

I have a 2003 Accord V6 that I bought new 7 years ago when the 2004 models came out. According to the maintenance schedule, the timing belt is due for replacement by time. It only has 72,000 well cared for miles. Some are highway miles and some are short city trips, and no severe conditions. My question is whether or not I should change the water pump and all the timing belt pulleys, or just put a timing belt on it, or wait until 105,000 miles and do it all. I inspected the belt and it looks almost new all the way around it. I want to keep the car 2 more years and may not get to 105,000 miles. Any advice?

[Aliman]

just change it before you regret it. i know people who have put off changing timing belts and they have broken with the new belt in the back of the car . For your own safety just do it

[ek02]

Thanks. I will for sure do the belt, not sure about the water pump. I changed the coolant at 50,000 miles. The pump is not leaking and is quiet. I am not sure how many miles a Honda water pump is good for.

[Aliman]

Id say its better to change the water pump while the belt is off. first reason it can all be done in the same price. second you dont want to have to pay for it all again just to change the pump when that goes out

[ek02]

I am doing the job myself, so the labor is not an issue. I just hate to have to do it at 72,000 miles. You are right, do it all at once and be done with it.

[motegicivic]

Originally Posted by ek02

I am doing the job myself, so the labor is not an issue. I just hate to have to do it at 72,000 miles. You are right, do it all at once and be done with it.

Might as well do the water pump since you are there anyway.

By the way for v6's you should do the tensioners as well, 4 cyl, not so much.

[ek02]

Thanks for the advice. I plan to replace it all.

[ek02]

I finally got my parts and the crank pulley holder. It took me 7 hours to change the belt, tensioner, and water pump. The book say 4.3 hours. The biggest problem was getting the crank pulley bolt loose. I tried a breaker bar, an air impact wrench, and finally 3 tries with a 4' pipe on a long breaker bar. It's probably easy to pull on a bar on a lift, but I did it on the floor with the breaker bar and pipe coming out the top and pushing toward the hood. Anyone doing this job will need to use a 6 point impact socket. I would also recommend the Honda factory shop manuals be used. The old belt looked pretty good at 72,000 miles and 8 years old. I am glad this SOB of a job is finally done.

[salvageland]

Just finished doing a timing belt job on my accord too....had 131k miles on the original belt!! It still looked in great condition, no cracks or signs of ageing. I think they may have over engineered the belt on these cars. Probably would have lasted another 20-30k miles.