2010 CRV with 63,000, but soon to be 8 years old. It states that I should change water pump and timing chain at 7/100,00. What do you think? Let it go?

 

If the belt doesn't look frayed or covered in oil I would just let it be. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time I would do it some time in the next couple years, but no hurry. Belts don't magically expire or break at a preset interval. I've heard of guys putting 150k on a timing belt, but at that point its playing with fire.

 

Chain Crazyhorse, chain. 2010 CR-V has a K-series engine

To your question, gspeaks, I wouldn't change the components early unless you see evidence of coolant leaks, hear noise from the chain, or have excessive amounts of money cluttering up your home. Belts are made of rubber and degrade over time whether they are in use or not so it makes sense to change a belt based on time and not miles. Chains are metal...obviously...and degrade far less over time when not in use. I guess humid air (or worse, humid and salty air if you're by a shore) could cause a bit of rusting on a chain that spends much of its life stationary, but this is still minimal. The main causes of chain degradation are stretching from use (i.e. accruing miles), or if you had some kind of oiling problem in the front part of the engine...but that's a whole other issue and very unlikely. A stretched chain will generally make noise alerting you that you've got a problem.

 

As to the chain or belt making noise? What kind of noise would this be? My car does make a funny whine sometimes going up a hill-I live in mountainous area

 

The typical noise is referred to as a "timing chain slap", and most if not all chains will make the noise as they start to wear/stretch. Usually the best way to hear the noise is to have the hood open, vehicle running, and while you're leaning into the engine bay, have someone rev the engine a bit...maybe 3000-4000 RPM, and then jump off the gas pedal. The quick deceleration in engine speed will cause any slop in the chain to be exaggerated, and the resulting sound is kind of a metallic clatter. See if you can find a video on Youtube of someone recording timing chain slap. It'll obviously sound a bit different in different vehicles, but the cause of the noise is the same...the extra chain length slapping against the chain tensioning guides. If you're experiencing a whining noise under excess load it's probably not your timing chain. Rear diff perhaps? A fluid change would probably sort out rear diff noise if the fluid is older than the recommended service interval, or if the AWD is activated often (or...both).

 

Just checked, does the 2010 not have a timing chain? GSpeak, you said " It states that I should change water pump and timing chain at 7/100,00. " What is "IT"? The owner's manual? I've never heard of periodic maintenance on a timing CHAIN. Other posters indicate does it look frayed? Huh?

 

I just learned something, I think. I also thought the 2010 and 2011, which I have a 2011 CRV had a timing belt. A little trick I learned go to rockauto.com and dial in your vehicle, it takes very little time with fast internet. I dialed in a 2010 and out of curiousity a 2011 CRV, and they do indeed have a timing CHAIN. As far as to when or if to replace the chain, I don't know.

 

One way to tell if the engine has a belt or chain is to look at the engine's front cover. A timing chain must be oiled at all times, and as such, the front cover of the engine (the timing cover) will usually if not always be made of metal since the front cover must seal against the block and head to keep oil from leaking out. If the engine has a belt, the belt must be kept dry. No oil will be in the front cover, so it'll usually be made of plastic with just a little rubber gasket between the cover pieces and the block/head. Plastic timing cover, likely a belt. Metal timing cover, likely a chain.

 

stumped - I suppose if you were doing a full rebuild of an engine, adding a new timing chain would be part of it, but I have never considered replacing a timing chain as a maintenance item. Sure, they'll get some play in them, but not until you are north of 200K miles. Effectively, a timing chain means forget about it.

 

That's right if I was rebuilding an engine, and I have rebuilt several, a new timing chain and gears would definitely be something I would replace. I know Honda is big on maintainence, so I will have to get the owners manual out of my 2011 and see if they recommended replacing the timing chain at say 100,000 miles. The OP of this thread sounds like Honda recommends replacing the timing chain at 7/100.

Yes, I have some Fords with over 200,000 miles and never touched the timing chain.