Hey guys, I bought my lude with 90K on it, now its up to 101K. Im not sufe if the timing belt was changed recently, but I am wonderring if I should chage it now. Any suggestions? I was told that hondas could go up to 130K easy without a timing belt change.
I thought at about 90k they are supposed to be changed? I know the previous owner of my car had it break right after 90k and had to have all new pistons, valves, and everything changed so if it hasn't been changed I'd recommend it.
I think you can have honda run your vin and see if a dealer did the timing belt on it. or you could call the person you bought it off.
but if you can figure out if it was then i would assume it wasn't and change it. it is pretty easy to do yourself if you have knowledge on engines, like TDC and such.
you'll NEED these things to do it:
-Helms manual
-19mm 1/2 impact grade socket
-a high quality impact wrench and a good compressor
or
- the crank pulley holder tool and about 18" worth of extentions to get past the wheel well. and a pipe to go over the breaker bar thats a few feet long at least.
and its a full weekend job too if its your first time. just take your time and make sure that the crank and cams are TDC. Mine were off and the car ran excellent but the timing was way out of whack. so take your time and the tdc part. you'll need a extra set of hands to help with that process and when you are taking the crank bolt off.
Joon did a great write-up in the general forum that goes into detail. I used that and the helms to get the job done
again, only tackle the job if you have the know how
Originally posted by joshmv I thought at about 90k they are supposed to be changed? I know the previous owner of my car had it break right after 90k and had to have all new pistons, valves, and everything changed so if it hasn't been changed I'd recommend it.
that's actually the recommended timing, but you'd be wise to change it well before that (80k, latest), as they've been, if I might say, notorious for breaking before 90k. As with anything else, it's better to be safe than sorry.
don't assume it though, some people will buy a car, even as nice as the Prelude, and never change it, only finding out about this magical belt when it brakes. If possible, contact the prev. owner, or call all the dealers around where he/she lived, give them your VIN and check.
that's actually the recommended timing, but you'd be wise to change it well before that (80k, latest), as they've been, if I might say, notorious for breaking before 90k. As with anything else, it's better to be safe than sorry.
I don't know about notorious. I would say it's quite contrary. Especially with Preludes, my experience is that the timing belt seems to last well after 90k. Personally, I had mine done at 121k and it was still in decent condition.
I think more has to do with how well the car has been treated or driven. For instance, I have seen more VTEC Lude owners complain of early timing belt breaks than S and Si owners. So, it may also have something to do with VTEC vs. non-VTEC, but I can't give you a definitive answer on that one. It's also safe to say that VTEC Lude's get pushed harder more often by their owners than SI owners.
Well, there's my theory, anyways.
I would say change it because you're above 100k. Or you could be like some of my friends and say screw it... and when it breaks, get a swap. That is if you don't have VTEC, of course.
that's silly, because you could just buy a swap, and sell a good H23 instead of waiting for it to break and then try to offload a damaged engine to offset the cost of your swap. Notorious was probably a bad word to use, but I've heard of a lot of Preludes, S, Si, VTEC, all breaking before 90k miles, this from various family members working in Honda Service. In the end, I think it's still just fair to say change early, better safe than sorry.
You should change it immediately if it is the original one on there. If you had an F22(usdm) or an low comperession engine where the valves and pistons don't travel in the same area you would be ok if it the belt broke but on your engines you are looking at a lot of head work if you loose the belt. You are pushing the belt even going to 90k. Most people replace it 60-80k. There are numerous people that can post here that had there belt break between 90-100k so consider yourself lucky that yours has not gone yet.
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