mailman1

I have a 2004 v-6 accord and have been told different mileage recomendation replacement than the owners manual suggests. I would like input from you. Thanks.

Targa250R

The factory service manual states every 105,000 miles or 7 years. Do not let anyone talk you into replacing it sooner - I have never seen a J-series timing belt break early.

x2lazyx

just check the belt if it cracking change it

BLKFLSH

I haven't changed the timing belt on my 03 V6 yet. I know I'm over the 7 years, but I only have 85k miles. I took the front cover off, checked the belt out, and it looked great. I don't know how long I'm going to wait, but it will be done by the time I get to 100k miles. I haven't heard of a J series engine timing belt breaking yet, so I don't think they are prone to failure.

Targa250R

It's generally not a problem to go 8-10 years with a timing belt on a Honda car if you aren't putting many miles on the vehicle and you don't live in an area with extreme conditions. The main reason they specify an age limit is because the rubber in the belt will start to dry rot in some climates.

The smooth sides of most timing belts will look fine even well past their specified life cycle. It's the teeth that you have to inspect - flex the belt and check for cracks developing on each side of the teeth. These cracks can propagate through the teeth, at which point they will start to shear off. This is how most timing belts "break."

I've seen a handful of J-series belts break, and in all cases the engine bent exhaust valves.

I haven't seen any break early (meaning before 105,000 miles or 8 years), but I don't recommend postponing a timing belt service much beyond 10 years or 115,000 miles. The odds begin stacking against you very quickly as the time and mileage accumulate.

BLKFLSH

On the belts that broke, did the belt just give out on it's own, or was the failure caused by another part (tensioner, pulley)?

BLKFLSH

I know the inside corner of the teeth are the most important wear points to check, and I could only see very slight wear in that area. Basically the shine was worn off, but that's it at 85k miles. The date of purchase was 9-28-03, so I'm thinking 9-28-11 (8 years) for the change. I will probably have about 90k miles at that point.