If you broke a timing belt, how many miles were on it and what age?
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i had a timing belt break on my old prelude.i got it new and had a new timing belt early,at about 30k miles,because i had a premature water pump failure,so i went ahead and did the timing belt since all the labor was being done anyway.then,since the timing belt had been done,i forgot about it.
at about 105k,or 75k on the timing belt,it broke,right on schedule because i think it was supposed to be replaced at 70k.it had an interference engine,but i got lucky and there was no damage,but to me it was a lesson learned.
at about 105k,or 75k on the timing belt,it broke,right on schedule because i think it was supposed to be replaced at 70k.it had an interference engine,but i got lucky and there was no damage,but to me it was a lesson learned.
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did u have any oil leak on the timing belt (leaking valve cover gasket, accidental spillage, etc.)?
not that i know of,but it was a long time ago.
I had the same issue as Robbiedawg. I bought a brand new 2001 Prelude and the Timing Belt snapped within 3 weeks of ownership. The Service Dept. said they had never really seen one break the way mine did. I was lucky, it did not do any other damage to the engine. There was no oil leak or anything of the sort, they thought it was a manufacturing defect in the belt.
i just put valve cover gaskets on and was checking the timing belt, since i have no idea when it was changed last. it looks to be in good shape, but im going to replace this spring some time. it looked to be oil free, but one thing that caught my attention was the cogs on the cam gears. there appears to be what looks like maybe rubber or oil maybe? on the grooves. im thinking rubber, but i guess it could be oil and grease that has dried. anyone see this before, and do i need to be concerned?
my first car, a 1988 Honda Civic HB went for 12 years with 270K + miles on the original belt. Maybe NSX owners aren't taking care of their cars or over-extending the the belt by always getting to 8k redline. JK, no flame suit here please! In all seriousness, it is almost random when belt breaks, and I think it warrants a longitudinal studies. Questions such as how, why, when, driving conditions, locations, temps, drivers, etc... needs to be closer examined.
Of course stealerships want to change them as often as possible.
My NSX had 80k + miles when I first acquired it with its original belt. I had my brother in law who is a master tech changed it out at his shop. It took him four hours for the TB, WP, hoses, seals, front main seal, etc...I got to clean under the car while he was working on the engine. After close inspection, bending the belt backwards and forwards and putting it on a vice and yanking and pulling on it, like tug o war, the belt remains intact and is visually just like the new belt. I am not sure what it looks like at the microscopic level; but, I would have no trouble driving it for many more miles/years.
My NSX had no leaks, no unusual rubbing, no weird noises.
So the moral of my story is the 90k/7 years is a myth and if the dealership would have recommended 50k/5 years, we would still be having this discussion. They do not have hard data to back up this maintainence recommendation neither.
On a side note, I have had more issues with timing chains then belts, on my toyota 22re to be exact.
Of course stealerships want to change them as often as possible.
My NSX had 80k + miles when I first acquired it with its original belt. I had my brother in law who is a master tech changed it out at his shop. It took him four hours for the TB, WP, hoses, seals, front main seal, etc...I got to clean under the car while he was working on the engine. After close inspection, bending the belt backwards and forwards and putting it on a vice and yanking and pulling on it, like tug o war, the belt remains intact and is visually just like the new belt. I am not sure what it looks like at the microscopic level; but, I would have no trouble driving it for many more miles/years.
My NSX had no leaks, no unusual rubbing, no weird noises.
So the moral of my story is the 90k/7 years is a myth and if the dealership would have recommended 50k/5 years, we would still be having this discussion. They do not have hard data to back up this maintainence recommendation neither.
On a side note, I have had more issues with timing chains then belts, on my toyota 22re to be exact.
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Well for what it's worth, American Honda does have data on all types of failures including timing belts. My brother has been a director of service communications for them for close to 30 years. As previously mentioned, I have witnessed at least 3 timing belt failures on the NSX while working at a dealership, although I will admit it is very uncommon. The dealerships don't have hard data but the OEM's do and most (not all) dealerships just follow the OEM guidelines.
Timing chains do fail too and can really stretch over time. The issue with timing chains in my experience has been more the tensioners than the chain itself. Don't mean to digress here. Anyway, timing belts on NSX's can and do fail and replacing it is preventative maintenance just like oil changes. Whether you decide to change your oil at 3K miles, 5K miles, etc. is up to you just like when you decide to change your TB. However, I wouldn't call 7 years/90K just a myth.
Timing chains do fail too and can really stretch over time. The issue with timing chains in my experience has been more the tensioners than the chain itself. Don't mean to digress here. Anyway, timing belts on NSX's can and do fail and replacing it is preventative maintenance just like oil changes. Whether you decide to change your oil at 3K miles, 5K miles, etc. is up to you just like when you decide to change your TB. However, I wouldn't call 7 years/90K just a myth.
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I would not consider it a myth. It just seems like a very conservative recommendation (7 year/90k). <object type="cosymantecnisbfw" cotype="cs" id="SILOBFWOBJECTID" style="width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block;"></object>
I got my NSX with a timing belt that had 12k miles on it, but 13 years. After checking on prime I did the normal stuff TB/WP, LMA's, hoses, cam seals/plugs, drive belts, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, valve adjustment, crank pulley, and a few other things only weeks after purchase. The old belt with 12k on it I kept, one day I'm going to have a friend stick it under a microscope and take some pictures for me. I'm curious about small micro cracks, but to the naked eye it was perfect. But as everyone has said I'd recommend replacement. Because atleast now when I do drive it hard or just around town, I don't have doubt in the back of my mind of if I should of changed it or not.
I changed my TB/WP, etc at 77K. And that was 7 years ago (and it was a very expensive thing to do). Up until that point, I was very paranoid about what might happen. Ever since then, the only major (what I would call major) expense has been replacing the window regulators. Those are expensive and a pain! But apparently if you don't use them routinely, they wear out faster so I always put the windows down prior to putting it in the garage. So I only have been doing my routine oil changes. But my brother (who is my mechanic) will argue with you about my "routineness" of my oil changes. He doesn't even put the stickers in the window anymore as a reminder to me. Apparently I ignore those...
This probably isn't directly relevant to NSX timing belt failures, but I did break one on my '88 CRX Si back in the day. I bought the car used with about 50K miles so I'm relatively certain it had the original belt on it. Ite broke in 1998 at about 90K miles (and roughly 9 years old). I had been meaning to change it for a couple of months but kept putting it off. It snapped at about 80mph (which is quite a few RPM in the CRX!). It bent almost every valve. Luckily the pistons and bottom end were fine. I rebuilt the head and continued on for many more years of troublefree service. This was my introduction to the importance of Honda timing belt maintenance. I've owned many Honda's/Acura's since then and have followed the factory replacement schedules pretty closely (I think I went over about a year on my TL with no issues). I would recommend sticking to the recommended replacement schedule, especially on an expensive NSX engine.
I don't know where this "90K miles 7 years" is coming from. The original recommendation from Honda/Acura was 90K miles or 6 years, whichever comes first, as specified in the owner's manual and service manual for the '91-96 NSX, and 105K miles or 7 years for the '97-05 NSX.
I know some folks believe that the later, longer interval can also be used for the '91-96 NSX. I don't have a problem with that, as for me the real issue is not having the service done within spitting distance of the interval, but rather, folks who feel they can ignore the recommendation and exceed it by several years or tens of thousands of miles and claim there is zero risk of an expensive failure.
I know some folks believe that the later, longer interval can also be used for the '91-96 NSX. I don't have a problem with that, as for me the real issue is not having the service done within spitting distance of the interval, but rather, folks who feel they can ignore the recommendation and exceed it by several years or tens of thousands of miles and claim there is zero risk of an expensive failure.
The only common failure with the regulators I know is the plastic clip breaking, and this can be prevented by installing the inexpensive "window fix-it thingies".
I offer this post as merely a data point in the timing belt discussion. I recently changed the timing belt (plus all the other recommended items) last year w/90K miles on the car. Prior to that the timing belt was changed in 2000 with 60K. 18 years/30 miles. The belt that came out of the car looked excellent…to the point I joked with the mechanic to ask if he bothered installing the new belt. I have detailed pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qlbn3whh5wh0poy/AACezEagCkEWCy_zfGVx_kD0a?dl=0 . I also have the belts, if anyone wants them to put in their car :tongue: The water cooler/ AC belts were a little more worn. None looked like it was moments from failure, but I’ve heard you really can’t tell by looking at them. The car has only been lightly driven, in fact the last 1K occurred over the last 7 years…I’m “saving” the car for when I go back to California. I live on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, so there isn’t anywhere to open it up and the roads suck here. When I do drive, I drive it hard…acceleration-wise. I don’t burp the throttle and I’m decent at syncing my gear shifts…which I imagine is good for the timing belt.
The rest of the article is just my philosophy, so skip if you like!
Why did I not change it earlier? To be honest, I didn’t want to service the car in Hawaii. The NSX is very rare on the island and there isn’t much experience in TB changes here. Also, the cost is considerably more here than in the mainland. The plan was to get this service as soon as I moved back to the mainland. Well, my military 3 year tour turned into a 12+ year saga. As the years went by, I drove the car less and less, partly due to fear of it being so beyond the time interval. On the other hand I wasn’t “extremely” worried that the belt would snap due to my driving habits and how and where I was storing it. In the end, it was a risk I was willing to accept. When you factor in my infrequency of driving (due mostly to lack of “driver” roads), the risk of someone screwing up the repair was higher than belt breaking in my opinion.
Ironically, I found an independent shop less than 5 miles away that I trusted to do the job. All of a sudden it made sense to get the work done. Prior to that, I did wince every time I turned the engine over, since it’s one of the high stress moments for the belt.
So bottom-line, there isn’t much data out there to paint much of a risk picture. There is only the recommended interval put out by the manufacturer with their interests in mind. If you’re worried and you love driving the car, change it! If not, then don’t change it…it’s your money and time!
The rest of the article is just my philosophy, so skip if you like!
Why did I not change it earlier? To be honest, I didn’t want to service the car in Hawaii. The NSX is very rare on the island and there isn’t much experience in TB changes here. Also, the cost is considerably more here than in the mainland. The plan was to get this service as soon as I moved back to the mainland. Well, my military 3 year tour turned into a 12+ year saga. As the years went by, I drove the car less and less, partly due to fear of it being so beyond the time interval. On the other hand I wasn’t “extremely” worried that the belt would snap due to my driving habits and how and where I was storing it. In the end, it was a risk I was willing to accept. When you factor in my infrequency of driving (due mostly to lack of “driver” roads), the risk of someone screwing up the repair was higher than belt breaking in my opinion.
Ironically, I found an independent shop less than 5 miles away that I trusted to do the job. All of a sudden it made sense to get the work done. Prior to that, I did wince every time I turned the engine over, since it’s one of the high stress moments for the belt.
So bottom-line, there isn’t much data out there to paint much of a risk picture. There is only the recommended interval put out by the manufacturer with their interests in mind. If you’re worried and you love driving the car, change it! If not, then don’t change it…it’s your money and time!
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Emac, did you wash your parts? They do look perfect. I should have waited longer 
!
I'm going to feel bad if someone reads our posts, decide not to do the mx, and explodes their engine!
! I'm going to feel bad if someone reads our posts, decide not to do the mx, and explodes their engine!
Emac, did you wash your parts? They do look perfect. I should have waited longer
I'm going to feel bad if someone reads our posts, decide not to do the mx, and explodes their engine!
That is how they looked when they were removed.....Your mileage may vary!!
