hi, can anyone recommend a place in ( union )central NJ to do a timing belt job on my 98 accord ? 4v.

thanks,

 

Do a search for the local Honda dealers. Aftermarket shops are really hit or miss on their quality of a T belt job.
Be sure you have the water pump replaced too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MooGoCow3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a search for the local Honda dealers. Aftermarket shops are really hit or miss on their quality of a T belt job.
Be sure you have the water pump replaced too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yOU must be working at a dealer eh?? i totally disagree with you and the notion that after market shops are a hit and a miss,on their quality.. , there are a lot of non dealer shops that specialize on hondas that do as good a job if not better ,, and use nothing but factory honda parts,,and can save the customer some money at the same time..
of course if it takes it to joe blow down the alley that never seen a honda it is a different story..
Also when you do a t-belt, replace the p/s alt belts, and the seals as well..

 

thanks for the update !
my local dealer wants $650 for everything

 

if you can do the job, then it'll be $250.00

 

Hey I never said that an aftermarket shop can't do it right. I guess just be sure they know what they are doing. We get a lot of tow ins from other jackleg shops that screw up honda work especially T belts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BK101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for the update !
my local dealer wants $650 for everything</TD></TR></TABLE>

what is everything?? Find out what their everything includes, should ionclude all of these
t-beltt, balancer belt, p/s , alt belts, water pump, cam seal, bal shaft seal,crank seal, bal shaft seal retainer, valve cover gasket, coolant, labor,

 

MooGoCow3 is right, first look at the sign of the shop that you are going to enter (you must smell the shop) . Do they have enough Honda Knowledge and all tools - otherwise you might as well take it to bone yard

Not everybody knows how to fix Honda, and some they don’t respect your car, this is the main reason why I do my self.

 

At most of the big repair shops (dealerships, large franchises) you don't even get to see the person who is working on your car. (I had to sneak in at the dealership to get someone to fix my car). The sevice desk person was a joke at the Honda dealership. I like to talk directly to the machanic. I think you could walk through the same garage and witness one machanic doing quality work on one car. Then walk a few more steps and see a car being screwed up by another so-called machanic. "Which shop" means little. "Which machanic" means everything.

 

oh crap why does every thread get polluted with anti dealer propaganda?

reasons to use a dealer

Uses Honda parts only
You can fall back on HOA if something get fubar'd

Reasons to use a HONDA independant shop (such as JH car care in st Louis MO)
uses Honda parts
can usually under cut the dealer in labor and or parts prices


Reasons not to use an independent shop that will not use Honda parts

will that non oem timing belt actually go 105K?
will the parts used live up to Honda quality?
have to fall back on an attorney if they screw up your car........

Personally if I cannot do it myself or am not wanting to do it myself, I let my local dealer take care of it since they give me freebees for being a loyal customer and most importanly they undercut all of the local shops and other Honda dealers by a significant amount in addition to doing the work properly the FIRST time.

 

Oh, I wasn't saying the dealerships are worse than any other large (franchise) garage. They have some of the best machanics. But just like most shops, you can get good service, and bad service at the same place. Depends which tech actually works on your car. I like to talk to the tech myself (in person). Service Managers many times don't relay important information. You can usually tell if a tech knows what he's talking about after a couple minutes talking about your problem. You know yourself, if someone says their car is doing something strange, you may ask him, "is it doing this or that too?" A "Service Manager" doesn't ask you any questions. Where a tech would have questions for you. I like to at least talk to the guy who's going to be trying to fix my car. Know what I mean?

 

Finally I get some support!
Your right blkflsh usually if i'm dealing with an odd problem or anything like that I usually end up talking to the customers. Especially if it's an X-File problem. Because frankly I agree my service advisor sucks. All he wants to do is look up skirts all day. So yes I completely agree if you arent sure of the quality feel free to talk to the technician working on your car. Most of the time you will know if they know their stuff within a few seconds.
But the dealers and a few specialty shops are the only places you are going to find technicians that actually go to school to learn about Hondas and Acuras and actually understand how they work.
I pride myself in doing real professional work and it bothors me to see the reputation dealers have.
But for those of you that really understand thanks for the support.

 

one question to some of you,,,,,,,,,,

all these shops that specialize on Hondas,,, where do you think the techs got the training from ?? .. well i will tell you it is guys that use to work for a Honda dealer for many years till they decided to open up a shop of their own,,,
these could be the same techs that worked on your car a ferw years ago ,, how come they were good and trustworthy then and now they are not ??
Usually a tech that has been trained at delership will follow the same habits as he did at dealer,, Honda parts, because he knows they work and are reliable ,, and most of the times the work gets done cheaper not because of using shitty parts like some of you say but because of LESS OVERHEADS,, ,,,
no big shots sitting on their asses with suit and ties making the big bucks while the tech gets do all the work.. or the service adviser that does not know anything about cars but he is good at his job because he can sell work ,, even if not needed ,, and you got no clue how much of that **** i have seen going on at dealerships ,, the more they sell the more they make ..i could tell you stories that would make your hair stand up..
Most of you, do not have a clue what goes on at dealerships ,, not a damn clue ...
I have seen techs at dealership clean up the valve cover, and charge people for a valve adjustment durung a service ,, or too lazy to diagnose a problem and just replace the complete part ,, when there was a shorted wire ,,, cv boots very slight cracks and they tell customer they have to be done as soon as possible ..and a lot of customer have this illusion that dealership is the safest place to go .
.what a crack of PUPU..

Hell guys do not talk to me about how good work and honest a dealership is ...

 

you act like the dealers are the ONLY ones that do crap like that.............get a clue man......any shop can do crap like that........

 

It's like I said before. You have bad techs, and good techs. They're not confined to one type of shop. You can have good techs, and bad techs working in the same shop. That's precisely why I want to be able to talk to the tech myself. But if you ask the service manager to talk to the tech that's working on your car. They look at you like "What? you don't trust me?" No, honestly I don't. Techs should be required to talk to the customer about what they did or are going to do to his or her car. Isn't that resonable? I'm just glad my cars have only been in the shop twice (when not under warranty). I try to fix things myself, if at all possible. With a little help from an old machanic friend.

 

I know where I take my car they have guys that specialize in a specific repair (every time I go there I see the same mechanic doing the t-belts)

I have had bad experiences at the dealers and local shops as well. I just prefer to let one honda dealer in the area where I live work on my car...they have earned my trust and that is why I let them work on my cars. Believe it or not, they also happen to be one of the cheapest places to get repairs done....and they are always busy so they must be doing something right.........

 

Ok here is what happened to me last year, it was time to replace my timing belt, then I took my Accord to the local dealer (also this is where I purchased my car brand spanking new) until that day they did all my service including simple oil change.

OK now service manager call me and said, sir you don’t have to replace your timing belt yet, because we did that in last year. At once I was so happy, because I don’t have to spend my $800.00 CDN, now he is talking, but sir my technician inform me that you must have your valve adjust, rear brake done, and Catalytic converter cover replace, Oh man how much you going to charge me for all that, $650.00 CDN. Wtf please release my car now, so I called a cab and get their right away, as I go in, at the front counter stunning looking girl told me – Hey sir your car is Ready, and here is the work order and please pay at the Cashier – now guess how much, #550.00, I said wtf why ? ok sir while I was on phone with you, my techs are halfway done your job, look how fast my guys are ? oh man

Now I understand that valve adjusting job is good, but what’s on the earth make you replace my cat-cover? Oooh we realize that your cat worth around $750.00 CDN and so we must protect that, so in the long run you don’t have to spend for another cat – Now if you read my last week posts – you will notice that I had to replace my CAT with a aftermarket one.

Again I am not saying every Dealer is bad like that, but most of them are, from now on I only go to any dealer only to buy parts, I got the service manual and tools, I do all my works, If I have a question I’ll post here – done deal

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by accord-pro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">one question to some of you,,,,,,,,,,

all these shops that specialize on Hondas,,, where do you think the techs got the training from ?? .. well i will tell you it is guys that use to work for a Honda dealer for many years till they decided to open up a shop of their own,,,
these could be the same techs that worked on your car a ferw years ago ,, how come they were good and trustworthy then and now they are not ??
Usually a tech that has been trained at delership will follow the same habits as he did at dealer,, Honda parts, because he knows they work and are reliable ,, and most of the times the work gets done cheaper not because of using shitty parts like some of you say but because of LESS OVERHEADS,, ,,,
no big shots sitting on their asses with suit and ties making the big bucks while the tech gets do all the work.. or the service adviser that does not know anything about cars but he is good at his job because he can sell work ,, even if not needed ,, and you got no clue how much of that **** i have seen going on at dealerships ,, the more they sell the more they make ..i could tell you stories that would make your hair stand up..
Most of you, do not have a clue what goes on at dealerships ,, not a damn clue ...
I have seen techs at dealership clean up the valve cover, and charge people for a valve adjustment durung a service ,, or too lazy to diagnose a problem and just replace the complete part ,, when there was a shorted wire ,,, cv boots very slight cracks and they tell customer they have to be done as soon as possible ..and a lot of customer have this illusion that dealership is the safest place to go .
.what a crack of PUPU..

Hell guys do not talk to me about how good work and honest a dealership is ...</TD></TR></TABLE>
You do have a valid point. For the most part...
What you failed to mention was the same dishonest and careless mechanics work at aftermarket shops and the the ratio of bad to good is greater because all you need to know is how to change oil to get in those joints.
Sure I admit there are some great aftermarket Honda specialty shops out there. But those themselves are far and few between. And at a good percentage of other shops Midas, Good Year, etc... you may have a few people that have a clue how to diagnose a Honda but then there is Bubba with his oversized gullet and eating a triple with cheese that hefts tires around all day and gets handed a check engine light because everyone else is busy.
I bet 90% of them don't even check a Catalytic converter to be sure it's really bad or if an O2 sensor is giving bad readings.
The absolute truth is Honda dealers and the Honda aftermarket shops have the BEST resources and diagnostic tools to propperly diagnose and repair all Hondas and Acuras (PGM tester, HDS tablet, ISIS, hard copy service materials, Tech line, specialty tools... the list goes on) And 80% of that is available to the aftermarket world too but we have ALL of it. The materials are all there and every honda tech has acess to it. They just have to use it.

 

OK, here's my Dealership story.

When my 92 Accord would be sitting in the sun for a while (real hot in the south) the D4 light would stay on (even when in park) and it would not shift right (slip and constantly change gears). So I take it to the Honda dealer. I tell the Service manager what it's doing, and that it only does it when the inside of the car is hot. They keep the car for a couple days. Call back and the service manager tells me the problem doesn't happen to the techs (D4 light doesn't come on). So I tell her again, the inside of the car has to be hot (parked outside in the sun). So I pass by the shop the next day and the car is parked outside. I'm thinking ok, finally they listened to me. Problem was, none of the lazy sobs would go outside in the hot sun, and check my car. Two days later, I'm getting fed up with the situation. So I go to the dealership, sneak around back, walk into the shop and ask them who is working on my car. I take the guy's hand and walk him to my car, open the door, turn the key, and guess what, the D4 light is on (the trans still in park). The tech says that would definitely be the computer doing that. I wonder to this day how long my car would have sat out in the parking lot, before someone would have gone out there and done something, if I hadn't grabbed him by the hand and showed him what it was doing. Two weeks they had my car, when they could have diagnosed it the next day. If they would have just listened to what I told them. It's not that he didn't know how to do his job. Just plain lazy. The dealership has changed owners since then, and I hope that's not all they changed.

 

That's pretty funny actually. Sadly a few names popped into mind while reading this. But a lot of time i'm the one that ends up wasting my time trying to fix the problems that others are too lazy to fix. But as long as the car drives away fixed i'm fine with it.

 

I am 101% with you on that, they are Lazy bums, they don't listen to us and think we don't know what we talking about.

They shouldn't under estimate the customer's knowledge, who knows customer could be an Engineer, another Technician in deferent field.

I think customer’s input is very important when you troubleshoot anything not only a car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MooGoCow3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's pretty funny actually. Sadly a few names popped into mind while reading this. But a lot of time i'm the one that ends up wasting my time trying to fix the problems that others are too lazy to fix. But as long as the car drives away fixed i'm fine with it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well it may be funny, to you. But if it was your car, it wouldn't have been. And how much extra time do these cars spend in the shop while two, maybe three different techs try to fix the same problem? It's a sad situation.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by YeuEmMaiMai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you act like the dealers are the ONLY ones that do crap like that.............get a clue man......any shop can do crap like that........</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's what i have been trying to tell you all along...but in many of your posts , immediately you put down the private shops and say dealership only,, they are the only ones who know what they are doing..
and that's what i disagree with you about ,,I do not disagree that your dealership does an excelent job for you, or that they treat you well ,,that's great for you,, and not all dealerships are like yours,, All i am saying is ..
DO NOT STEP ON THE LITTLE GUY AND TELL PEOPLE DEALER IS THE ONLY ONE .. etc etc ..
Having said that i hope your experience with the dealer is always a pleasant one

 

MOOGO,,,,,,,,,You seem to be a tech that takes a lot of pride in his work and goes the extra step to do the job well. to make sure you don't have any comebacks .. .i respect that .....I would hire you on the spot ,,

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by accord-pro &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that's what i have been trying to tell you all along...but in many of your posts , immediately you put down the private shops and say dealership only,, they are the only ones who know what they are doing..
and that's what i disagree with you about ,,I do not disagree that your dealership does an excelent job for you, or that they treat you well ,,that's great for you,, and not all dealerships are like yours,, All i am saying is ..
DO NOT STEP ON THE LITTLE GUY AND TELL PEOPLE DEALER IS THE ONLY ONE .. etc etc ..
Having said that i hope your experience with the dealer is always a pleasant one </TD></TR></TABLE>
You musn't be reading what i'm saying? Is that right? Because I have not condemned every aftermarket shop out there. I'm just trying to explain the truth. Your going to find a lot of guys that know what's going on in those places but even more your going to find that don't. When you find a good one then you can stick with them. But finding one can be a big waste of time and money while "Mechanics" throw parts at the car and hope it works.