I have a '91 Accord EX. I just want to get all these stuff squared away before school starts. When is a good time to change the belts and how do you know when? My car has 171K miles on it but I'm unsure when the last time it was replaced, so for safety measures I wanted to check it all before hand.

Dave

 

You can't tell if a timing belt is good or not by looking at it, besides some obvious chunking or cracking, that is. 90,000 miles is the recommended replacement interval for your vintage. Assuming it was done around 90,000 by the previous owner, you would be due at 180,000 anyway. So if you don't know when it was replaced, I would replace it soon. Besides mileage, there is also a time interval for replacement, but I don't recall what that is.

 

replace the belt, if that thing snaps you will have to replace some engine components such as valvles and possibly pistons.

 

AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!

 

Besides being nearly unlegible, this is incorrect as well

here is a fact. Hondas are interference engines. This means that if the timing belt breaks, you are going to bend valves. thats expensive. his toyota obviously is NOT an interferance engine.

If the timing belt was done at 90k like it should have been, then you are almost due anyway. I'd go ahead and do it now.

 

There's also different intervals for the belts. If it's a genuine Honda belt, then 90k miles. Aftermarket belts are 60k. If in doubt, change it. Not worth the risk of finding out the hard way

 

Yea I have 2 Honda Accord's: a 99 and an 85 and i its about time to change the timing belt on the 85. Even though I don't know when the previous owner changed the belt, Im gona change it because it costs about $27 to replace. http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com here is a good site to get it. Because whatever that kid above said ignore it. If that timing belt snaps then you will proably have to do a valve job, and I believe to remachine the valves costs about $400, considering youre pulling the head off yourself.

 

Is it difficult to change on your own? I know very little about repair cars.

Dave

 

who the *** did you hear that from.....
-please stop posting inccorect facts.

Last month my 93 accord timing belt snaped and has som major issues.
had a bent exhust valve in 3rd cylnder.
-do you know how much work it took to take off head and replace a damn valve?
----i'l lucky i didn't damage my pistion.

........word of advice bro... cheap prevents a lot. DO IT if your worried about it.
*timing belt $35
*water pump $100 reccomend you do it at the same time!!

 

i'd feel safer changing it now before it snaps and leaves you stranded on the highway. try to take the cover off and look at it.

 

if you know little about working on cars, then it is a job best left to professionals.

 

i did not want to do it where I live as I do not have a garage to work in....

 

Like everyone else, I'm going to rag on you because your stupid.

The 93 Accord engine is a 35% Interference engine I beleive. That means 35% of the time in a full 360 degree rotation, the valves occupy space where the pistons will soon be. However this doesn't mean you have a 35% chance of breaking something in the event of a timing belt failure. Timing belts usually give way at higher RPM, and we all know an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This means that the cam will continue to turn a bit after the belt brakes, and being that the pistons are directly connected to the driveline of the car, they will continue to move to some degree after the belt brakes unless the car was at rest when the belt breaks, this is especially true in a manual transmission car. What this means is that a 35% interference motor has somthing like a 70% chance of internal damage in the event of a timing belt failure.

Now, the only intellegent point this man has is that the value of your car is quite low. Being that you have admited to not being the most technically inclined person, and changing a timing belt can be somewhat involved, I'm going to assume your going to pay someone to do it. This should run you somewhere shy of $450 at most Honda dealerships (they will change the water pump at the same time - which is a good idea), independant garages should be a bit cheaper. I couldn't sell my 1991 Accord LX with 115K miles for $2000. Personally I've decided to let my car die. I'll continue to make it servicable for as long as it's inexpensive to do so, but I'm not going to fix the car if it's going to take more than $300 to do so, this means I wouldn't replace the timing belt. Of course, I feel that I've gotten my fair use out of this car a long time ago, every bit of service it has given me after is gravy. So risking my Accord means very little to me, and when it reaches a terminal failure, I'm going to donate it to a charity.

If you can't afford the loss, you should find a way to pony up the money and replace it. Regular intervals are stressed highly because there exist no good way to tell how much life a timing belt had left, and risking it if you can't afford it is a bad idea. Now, if you do risk it, it IS possible to get a used head cheap, if you know who to ask and where to look. But you really don't want to suddenly find yourself in that position, so I'd look around ahead of time and have that channel open and ready for you when the time comes. You'll probably spend more this route, but the idea is to differ that expendature as long as possible.

Another idea is to simply let the car die when it dies, and buy another one with lower miles when it does. Donate the old one to charity and get a nice tax break. The age and value of the 90 to 93 Honda Accord model dictates that the car should be seen as something disposable. I hope you don't have money tied up in it.


[Modified by trouser chili, 9:25 PM 1/2/2003]