2001 Honda Civic Timing Belt ~115k mi/7yrs PICS

[Sayjac]

Timing belt hass ~115k miles and is one month short of seven years old. It looks in my estimation to have a lot of life left in it. Honestly could have been an almost new one based on it's appearance.

No pic of water pump, but if one wanted to see it, just google a new Honda or Aisin water pump for 7th gen Civic. The impeller and internal housing looked pristine. The shop that did the work said yeah but the pump wouldn't have lasted another 80k miles. Looking at it though I think with similar maintenance, it well might have.

I understand these are interference engines and better safe than sorry, but does lead me to wonder just how conservative the recommendation is. With 221k miles on this car, could be the last TB/WP service for this car and owner, daughter.

 

[Phishin]

WOW!!! That looks pretty darn good to me. But who knows what can be drawn from "how it looks".

I'm sure when the belt let's go and destroys your engine, moments before that, it would look just like this too.

Really, it's hard to say how long that belt could have gone.

I only know from my experience, that we had a 1994 Honda Accord 4-cylinder that went 290k miles when we sold it. NEVER had the belt or water pump changed. Ever. Never changed the coolant either.

My brothers and I all drove that car through college and into our early adult years. So, we didn't know any better. But no harm was done.

 

[JHZR2]

Looks nice! I guess that's because it is under a cover and shroud, and not just in the airflow and grittiness of the underhood space? Or at timing belts truly made to higher standards.

Id suspect that a 90k TB would be specified with an engineering design margin to get to somewhere from 135-180k miles before failure. Probably more like the latter so that time doesn't take as much a toll on seldom used, low mileage engines.

 

[Sayjac]

Funny I was going to put WOW in the title but not enough room. The one thing I couldn't compare was length to a new one. But my 'guess' would be, it would have been right there.

I was surprised how good the belt looked. Drive belts were in good shape too.

As for timing belt maker, not sure if you can see, but it does say Gates on it.

 

[qdeezie]

That is a good looking belt. I sometimes wonder how durable are those blue Gates belts, but with a standard belt with quality like this, the money spent on the blue belt is probably not worth it.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

That looks about right. I was amazed at how mine looked at 100k after only 2 years of use when I owned my 2001. It looked identical to the day it came out of the box. Same sheen on it. No wear.

It makes me wonder how my 2008 Pilot's TB is doing. With 73k on it but 7.5 years on the clock, I'm sweating doing it or letting it go another year. When I do it, I'm also going to have the valves adjusted and new tires so it's gonna be a big bill.

Did you replace the tensioner? That's what got me after only 35k when the spring failed and took out the valves. And it was a Honda tensioner to boot.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Just like our Acura's components. I changed them just short of 100k miles because of the age (~8 yrs) and they all looked like they could go for another interval. I used OEM replacement parts from an online Acura dealer, and am very comfortable with the durability of them.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
That looks about right. I was amazed at how mine looked at 100k after only 2 years of use when I owned my 2001. It looked identical to the day it came out of the box. Same sheen on it. No wear.

It makes me wonder how my 2008 Pilot's TB is doing. With 73k on it but 7.5 years on the clock, I'm sweating doing it or letting it go another year. When I do it, I'm also going to have the valves adjusted and new tires so it's gonna be a big bill.

Did you replace the tensioner? That's what got me after only 35k when the spring failed and took out the valves. And it was a Honda tensioner to boot.


I don't think I have heard of a J30/J35 with a broken belt or pulley, actually. Even on the accord forusm there are a few people that run past 200K on the v6 models on the original belt.

 

[cptbarkey]

does look pretty good. my MIL's 2001 CRV went 165k on the original belt and it looked okay too. its usually the tensioner/idler/water pump that fails.

 

[RhondaHonda]

That one looks great compared to the original on my 1989 Accord. Mine was, I'm assuming the original when it let go at 180,000 miles back in 2004. It looked like it had been sitting out in the elements for a decade compared to yours. It was very brittle and was a Honda belt so I think it was the OEM belt. Slapped a new belt on it and drove it 800 miles the next day.

 

[TomYoung]

Some years ago, I drove my Civic Si to 125k plus on the original timing belt, which broke and which brought about a top end engine rebuild. Especially on the 4 cylinder cars, there is no reason for pushing past the mfr reco.

+1 one on the comments on timing belt physical inspection. They all look new until they break.

My preference is to replace tensioners, idlers and water pumps on the same interval, although on my wife's odyssey, my mechanic said there was no need at the 105,000 point. We'll see.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Looks nice! I guess that's because it is under a cover and shroud, and not just in the airflow and grittiness of the underhood space? Or at timing belts truly made to higher standards.

Id suspect that a 90k TB would be specified with an engineering design margin to get to somewhere from 135-180k miles before failure. Probably more like the latter so that time doesn't take as much a toll on seldom used, low mileage engines.

Yes it is under a cover, which likely provides some protection. The recommended interval is 110k miles or 7 years.

Doing some reading on the interval, it would seem some of the recommendation would/could be based on possible hours of service in that time frame. This vehicle has seen very little what I'll call major metropolitan stop and go type traffic.

As for parts used, yes the indie Honda shop uses total Honda. However, if I had used the same individual that did it last time I was considering ordering from Rock Auto. I was going to use the Gates timing belt tensioner kit, Aisin WPH-044 water pump (based on reading Amazon regarding Gates pump in the kit) and Gates Multi V Drive belts. But after the alignment done for free as a recheck decided to let the indie Honda shop do it.

I'd be interested if the Gates timing belt in the belt/tensioner kit is the same as Honda. Based on how this one looks the Honda belt is a quality belt.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: sayjac
Honestly could have been an almost new one based on it's appearance.

You can't go by appearances. What often happens is that the underlying carcass weakens where the teeth are, and the teeth strip off. You can't necessarily see that weakness.