creator1322

It started out that I had 118,000 miles on my 03 accord v6 at. Yes, alot of miles, but someones gotta have one with that many.

Anyways, I took it in last night to get a timing belt and water pump changed at the local Honda dealer. ~$534 was the qouted price. Pretty standard from the calls I made.

Well, this morning I get a call that there's MORE issues that they've found.

- Drive belt tensioner is noisy
- Timing belt tensioner is leaking
- Front Right motor mount is broken

**These were the notes from the tech to the serviceperson regarding my car.

So, I decided to let them do the Timing belt tensioner and the motor mount.

I'm just curious as to what you folks think about these things going bad considering the mileage on my vehicle.

Well, that's bout it.

Accord1234

The tensioner should be changed with the timing belt weather it is good or bad, so I dont see that as a big problem.

HondaTechAV6

that's pretty typical imo. i see those items fail regularily after 60-70k.

creator1322

Thanks for the input, I feel a little bit better.

Eyetattoo

How did the motor mount break? Did you hit something?

YeuEmMaiMai

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Eyetattoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How did the motor mount break? Did you hit something?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, the throttle..........

Aahj

Common problems on those cars...

HondaTechAV6

heh, yeah, the throttle is the problem. good call!

YeuEmMaiMai

the mounts on any front drive high HP car will give after time especially if you get into the throttle hard right off the line...... you gotta get into the throttle graudually until it's moving somehwat

Alex_G

Did you feel alot of vibration before you took it into the dealer? Usually thats a sign of a broken motor mount. 118,000 miles on a stock motor mount is pretty good IMO but if you didn't have any symptoms of one I'd have them show me the old one.

creator1322

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HondaTechAV6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">heh, yeah, the throttle is the problem. good call!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, unfortunately I bought from a good friend who moved to Greece and I'm not sure of his acceleration habits through 100,000 miles.

I did have the guy show me the old part as I had them keep the old parts when I approved the service. There was some oil that was leaking under the rubber cover, by which they validated their claim on the broken motor mount.

I didn't notice any real vibration, but who knows, I've only had this car for about 10k now.

My timing belt still LOOKED good, but you all will probably educate me that that means nothing to the true condition of the belt. There were no cracks or tearing at the edges.

Thanks all!

Juan_Mitosis

+100k on stock timing belt? Thank the Honda Gods it was a problem of replacing a T-belt instead of doing some valve overhaul deal. I read someone, somewhere on Honda Tech once say " I would never trust any car with a timing belt over 80k miles"

someone else

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Juan_Mitosis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">+100k on stock timing belt? Thank the Honda Gods it was a problem of replacing a T-belt instead of doing some valve overhaul deal. I read someone, somewhere on Honda Tech once say " I would never trust any car with a timing belt over 80k miles"</TD></TR></TABLE>

That person was an absolute idiot unless they were referring to extreme climates such as Vegas or abused cars.

I can only think of one car in the 5 years I've worked for Honda that had a belt go under the interval and it was because the tensioner went bad. I have seen many cars go far beyond the recommend interval although I would never try it.

And those are all fairly normal issues. Especially the damn auto-tensioners.

Angels_fall_first

yea its fairl common. my aunt is a General Manager for a New CAR dealership and from talking to her. alot of the extra stuff that is told to the owners after their car comes into the dealer for service is stuff that...

-will help cover their asses if anything else breaks after the install. (liability)
-make them more money...
-etc

BLKFLSH

So with all the extra stuff (tensioners, motor mount) what did the total amount to? I am planning to change my own timing belt when the time comes (03V6 also).

creator1322

came to around $775 - $800 can't remember exact...timing belt, tensioner, motor mount(the one on the passenger side of engine) and water pump.

I feel good knowing it's all done...i guess that's what i paid for.

BLKFLSH

Money well spent, if no other problems arise. Think you'll have it long enough to have the second timing belt changed?

creator1322

I feel I will. I don't see myself needing to purchase anything anytime soon.

Why do you ask?

BLKFLSH

Just wondering how much you still like the car after 120k miles. I plan to keep my 03 for at least 10, maybe 15 years. My 03 V6 only has 53k miles on it so far.

creator1322

I've only had it the last 15K, but it runs solid with this many miles.

I can feel the suspension starting to get sluggish, probably just the bushings and such.

No oil leaks at all, except when driving to San Francisco from LA with 4 people in the car and a bunch of luggage maintaining 85+ the whole way. I lost 1/2 quart the whole round trip.

Besides that, I keep it waxed and clean to keep the paint as long as possible.