Just got a 98 Civic EX with 42,000 miles on it timing belt has not been changed.


I have read it would be wise to have it changed as the vehicle is 10 years old.

Called the dealer and the want between 750-799 for the
timing belt
water pump
engine seals
drive belts
coolant.

I'm in the NYC area.


Questions are:
Should I have the bely changed or can I wait?
Does the price seem high?
Anyone in the NYC area have the job done cheaper?Is so where?


Thanks

I'm not in the NYC area, but I did have my Civic's timing belt changed after it failed about 12 years ago.

And if I remember correctly, it's more expensive to replace it after it goes, because there will be further damage to the engine because it failed.

Maybe somebody else can verify that?

I am not to sure what the price is for sure but I have heard that it is a hard job to do yourself. And the above poster is right that if it goes you could damage your motor. My husband did that exact same thing years ago.

Mine would cost about $600 in ohio. a hayes book shows it . i'm a bit of a mechanic but it looks a bit complicated to do yourself. for what it is worth. i would let it go a year.. who knows you may not have it then.

Just off the top of my head, I think the repair bill after my timing belt went was over $1,000 Canadian, about 12 years ago.

Wow, if that was 12 years ago I would hate to see what it is now? I would seriously have to check into whether the car is worth putting that amount into first.

Well I found a delear to do the job for 650.00
Much better than the 750-800 I had been quoted.

Well, I have bitter experience about timing belt. Once I being overconfident did not bother to contact dealers to change that, myself tried resulted in heavy price. Timing belt was damaged for ever. It taught me a good lesson though. So, please don't try to change it yourself.

This post has been edited by raosihunt: Apr 7 2008, 07:41 PM

yea timming belts can be pricie if u go to the dealer.but if ur interested in learning about ur car and /or ur motor u can do it ur self for 40-60 bucks. what motor is that? i think its a D16 if stock. 46k miles is very low for a 98 has it been rebuilt or swapped? maybe i can give u some tips on the belt change. let me know what ur going to do.

I've replaced the timing belt on a variety of D15/16 civics, and depending on which car, can involve a serious amount of labor removing various other things from the engine bay to get access. It will be an expensive job from any mechanic. Make sure they replace the timing belt tensioner as well. The timing belt is pretty well protected by a plastic cover and I wouldn't worry about it if it only has 48k miles. The manufacturer replacement intervals (not sure what it is for you, would be at least 60k and probably more like 90k), are conservative, and there is no need to replace way before then, except for in extraordinary circumstances. That said, you don't want to disregard timing belt changes either as it can be expensive if one fails.

i have a 98 dx with 80k miles on it. mine was just due for the change in february, and it cost me around 450 or 500. that was through goodyear.

hondas are really easy to work on, but if you mess something like this up, you can mess up A LOT more stuff in turn just making it more expensive. i would just have a mechanic look at it and see if he thinks you should change it or just wait. paying a mechanic to do that can save you a couple hundred bucks, if he thinks you can wait that is.


the guy that paid 1,000 12 years ago, that was in canadian currency.

Well for a 1996 Chrysler Concorde it needed changing. It started out around $500, but ended up being a little more. At the time we thought the Chrysler would last us for a while. But we were wrong, everything started to wrong on the Chrysler. So when the repair bill was too outrageous, we bought the Ford.

Some technicians may recommend that you replace the water pump during a timing belt job even if there is nothing wrong with it. This is because 90% of the labor to change the water pump has already been done with the timing belt job and some technicians consider it good insurance to replace the pump at this time. My feeling is that some water pumps can last the life of the car but many do fail and will cost big money to replace at a later date. So ask your technician what his experience is with the water pump on your model car and look at how long you plan to keep the car. This way, at least you will be making an informed roll of the dice.

650.00 sounds like a decnent price for all those items, just be sure they're qualified to do the job !

Regarding the water pump: if you maintain your cooling system well it will last a long time. If you don't, it could fail well before you get to the second timing belt change. The cliincher is that I don't know anyone (except for me), who is sufficiently religious about cooling system maintenance to not worry about their water pump. I do it because I have a car with a brain dead water pump design that is both hellish to get to and for which failure spells certain doom for the engine.

You are saying the failure of the water pump equals the failure of the engine. I didn't realize the importance of the water pump and timing belt. They work together to keep your engine going well. So it's optional, but not really, to change the water pump. Because not doing it will cause you great problems.

normally if the water pump fails, you just hve to ensure you don't overheat the engine. However in the car in question (not a honda), the pump is driven by the timing chain between the two banks of camshafts.
This means:
1) The high tension required because of the cams is also exerted on the water pump bearing and stresses it, accelerating wear.
2) To get to the pump you have to essentially do a timing chain replacement, which is much more involved than a timing belt replacement
3) Failure of either the bearing seal or the gasket holding the pump housing on to the rest of the block will contaminate the oil with coolant, killing engine bearings very quickly.
4) If the pump seizes the timing chain seizes and pistons and valves will get damaged.

Did it do this before you changed the belt?
If not, I would guess that you have the belt off by one tooth.

Dave,

If you get good step by step instructions let me know, I will need to do
the same with my 99 ex 5spd

William