• Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.

02 NSX with 21k miles Replace Timing Belt and Water Pump just because?

Joined
27 October 2011
Messages
57
Location
Swansea, MA
I have an 02 with 21k miles and just wondering if I should just replace the timing belt and water pump just because its 10+ years of age. I Had the Acura dealer go thru the entire car and they say its in terrific new condition. I am not a DIY mechanic so not sure if they were even able to exam the belt? I am proactive about things and my gut tells me just replace both before spring time. Looking for some opinions for what I think I already know, replace it right? :smile:
 
There's lots of threads on this topic so I'm not going to rehash the debate, but if it were me, I would do it for peace of mind. Just my $0.02.
 
I have an 02 with 21k miles and just wondering if I should just replace the timing belt and water pump just because its 10+ years of age.
Honda/Acura, the people who built the car, have a schedule of recommended intervals for maintenance items. They recommend replacing the timing belt every 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first. So their opinion is that you are four years overdue.

On an 11-year-old car, I would also recommend replacing the cooling system hoses - the two big ones at a minimum. Do it at the same time as the water pump (and timing belt) and you'll have some savings in coolant and labor.
 
As Phoen$x says, there are plenty of prior posts on the subject that will surely be helpful. I had a similar situation - got a 2001 with 11k miles and everything was still pretty much brand new. Had folks tell me they've never seen a belt fail; others said they changed theres after a lot of years and miles and said the belt looked like new. But I believe an ultimate belt failure could happen with the belt "looking brand new" just prior to failure. The Honda engineers said 7 years, and I figure that is good enough for me. This isn't a Civic, and a belt failure would be a MAJOR expensive engine repair. So, I figure I spent a lot of $$ for this great car, and so I went ahead with the TB / WP replacement. Good peace of mind and sleep at night insurance.
 
As others have said this topic has been hashed and rehashed with some pretty heated discussion. The only thing I will say is this - while it is true for the US manuals that's what they say 7 years or 105k miles - funny thing is that the ROW (rest of the world) manuals say 60k miles regardless of time. I've seen that manual and that's one of the reasons that if I was in your position I would not be worried. If you are nervous about it - do the work - it's not a lot of money maybe 1800. Peace of mind is nice. But after all you only have 23k miles on this pristine car. It's up to you - depends on which manual you want to read. Simple as that - there are mechanics - long time mechanics that have never seen a broken belt - there have been report and one was a track car - another was a turbo or super charged car and it blew right after purchase and that's why I would be a lot more concerned about whether the car had ever been anything but naturally aspirated. Some think it's no sweat.

I'm usually a party of one here in these discussions on this subject because the others that feel this way never write in these debates - they pm guys about what their mechanic told them. I've had a few of those....

Again - it's all up to you...
 
Here's one more thing to think about. If the timing belt fails, you're probably going to need to rebuild or replace your engine. The cost of doing so is likely to be in the low to mid teens (yes, five figures) if you replace it with a used 3.2-liter engine with lots more miles than your current one, and even more than that if you want a lower-mileage or new 3.2-liter engine or if you go the rebuild route. That's the risk you'll be preventing by getting the timing belt changed. You're going to be the one who pays that money. And anyone here giving you bad advice by telling you to keep driving on an 11-year-old timing belt isn't going to pay a dime towards your engine replacement if the belt fails.
 
Replaced them on my 2002 last year at 29k before installing the sc but would have done it anyway for peace of mind.

Mike
 
Are the TB replacement intervals the same for 3.0/3.2 engines. I can't remember but I thought I'd heard they were slightly different.:confused:
Heres my delima. Mine was changed on Aug 6th 2006@ 48,475 miles. When am I due? 91 model {3.0}
 
Last edited:
Are the TB replacement intervals the same for 3.0/3.2 engines. I can't remember but I thought I'd heard they were slightly different.:confused:
Heres my delima. Mine was changed on Aug 6th 2006@ 48,475 miles. When am I due? 91 model {3.0}
The recommendation was 90K miles or 6 years, whichever comes first, on the '91-96 NSX (all with 3.0-liter engines), and 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first, on the '97-05 NSX (for both the 3.2-liter and 3.0-liter engines). Some people feel that you can use the slightly longer interval from the later recommendation even if you have an earlier car, and that may make sense. So, assuming your car has less than 138K-153K miles on it, 6 years means it's already due, 7 years means it's due this August. And of course, these things are approximations; it's not like the belt is fine on August 5th and it's going to break on August 7th. To me the key thing is that you don't want to let it go WAY past the recommendation, like for 11 years as was discussed in another recent topic.
 
playing with fire. though you dont drive the poor thing, it needs to be serviced soon.

save a dime now, get a second morgage on the house to pay for the new engine.

as for hoses do all of them get it done and sleep good at night knowing when your wife drives it tomorrow it will not blow up as she is making a left hand turn and the car stops in the middle of oncoming traffic
and the semi truck make the NSX look like a pancake.
 
The recommendation was 90K miles or 6 years, whichever comes first, on the '91-96 NSX (all with 3.0-liter engines), and 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first, on the '97-05 NSX (for both the 3.2-liter and 3.0-liter engines). Some people feel that you can use the slightly longer interval from the later recommendation even if you have an earlier car, and that may make sense. So, assuming your car has less than 138K-153K miles on it, 6 years means it's already due, 7 years means it's due this August. And of course, these things are approximations; it's not like the belt is fine on August 5th and it's going to break on August 7th. To me the key thing is that you don't want to let it go WAY past the recommendation, like for 11 years as was discussed in another recent topic.
Well I just turned 78,000 miles this week so thats only 38,000 miles. My plan is December this year. Car is driven very little, it's not hot/dry like AZ, car is in the garage most of the time. Guess I'll start gathering parts in the next few months. Thanks for the advice.
 
Dumb question....hasn't the timing belt we buy to meet the seven year interval possibly been sitting on a shelf somewhere for eight years?!
 
I have a 2000 with 56k. I drive it when I drive. I did my 90k service at 53k because the clutch needed replacing. I couldn't tell the new timing belt from the old. I think you are OK to drive as you wish. The only thing that looked bad were the spark plugs. I have a 90k service thread somewhere. I have a friend with extensive track days on a 91, when he changed his he was overdue, but again saw zero wear and I could still read all the words. Its recommend, but it doesn't mean you need to stop driving it. I was under miles on the service but the cars was 11 years. I worried more about getting the valves adjusted than the timing belt. Again its up to you.
 
Dumb question....hasn't the timing belt we buy to meet the seven year interval possibly been sitting on a shelf somewhere for eight years?!
Extremely unlikely. Most dealers don't stock them, except the ones who regularly work on NSXs, and even those probably only keep one in inventory. Honda's warehouse probably reorders them from the manufacturer every so often, probably at the same intervals they use for those parts for other vehicles, but at lower quantities consistent with the intervals.
 
Last edited:
Do it. I did mine at 38,000 - and 7 years. - Best money you can spend.
Stock, the engine is bullet proof, except for a belt if it breaks.

If possible, make the pilgrimage to NSecca [Larry B]
When I went, we counted something like 37 old NSX timing belts hanging in his garage.
 
Last edited:
Extremely unlikely. Most dealers don't stock them, except the ones who regularly work on NSXs, and even those probably only keep one in inventory. Honda's warehouse probably reorders them from the manufacturer every so often, probably at the same intervals they use for those parts for other vehicles, but at lower quantities consistent with the intervals.

Now I don't want to start a long winded back and forth on this issue but this is a bs comment. How the heck do you know how long any belt made for an NSx has been sitting on a shelf - maybe not the dealers but the main warehouse that distributes them or even the manufacturer- you don't know. I wonder if you could even get Honda to tell you if they threw out timing belts after they sit for "X" number of years. If you had said - "I checked into this because I was wondering that same thing and talked to the dealer and distributer, etc. and they told me ...such and such". I might buy it but this is all pure conjecture. I bet that it is entirely possible that you could get a belt that has been sitting in a box on a shelf that is many years old - how many - who knows - if you really want to know the answer to that question, you are going to have to do some real research! And not listen to stuff like this anymore than others suggest you listen to me saying I wouldn't worry about a belt on an 02 with 23k miles on it.

Some people here just love to quote the manual and read the schedule and Honda has to say something - but the one thing I do know personally, becuase I saw it in print and read it with my own eyes is that the ROW manual is different and is not set up on years and miles but on miles only as in 60k, which doesn't even agree with the schedule they send to the US.

So again - this one is entirely up to you, but I would read with real excitement if you actually called around to see how long belts might sit on a shelf. I'd love to hear some real info on that!

Back to sleep now....
 
I've only done the job about a dozen times myself, and the old ones that I have removed that were undermiled looked ok, but again looks can be deceiving , and if the car was in any type of hot climate for very long I would definitely say change it. but being in MA and sitting in a climate controlled garage if you didn't have the 2k to spent on the repair I wouldn't worry too much. unless you drive like a crazy man then for sure ditch the old rubber. If you were any closer I'd say come see me, but since i'm really not fond of replacing the NSX timing belt I'm going to have to pass...lol.
 
rant.gif
rant.gif
rant.gif
rant.gif
rant.gif
There he goes again. :rolleyes: Posting bad advice isn't enough - he has to spew mindless rants in response to accurate, constructive information from others. Tell us again, Tim - if someone follows your bad advice and doesn't change their timing belt years past when it's due and it fails, how much are you going to pay for their engine replacement? Yeah, we thought so.

I've talked with the folks at Honda/Acura about how they run their parts inventory. Dealers don't keep a lot of parts around, except for parts that are used regularly. Parts that are not commonly used are stored and maintained in the Acura parts warehouse, and shipped to the dealers, overnight more often than not. Like most big companies these days, parts inventory and consumption are all tracked by computer, and they have minimum stock points, based on consumption, when they place reorders with the parts manufacturers. They don't want parts sitting around for years - not only because some parts can age (although that's part of it), but also because they don't want a lot of money tied up in inventory. This is very similar to the just-in-time parts ordering used at the Honda factories, where inventories are kept to a minimum. Many of the parts used at assembly plants arrive there within hours of when they go onto the cars. For example, the tire manufacturers send truckloads of wheels and tires to the assembly plant, and they are loaded into the truck so that, as they are unloaded, they are in the proper order for the cars that will be moving down the assembly line ready for them a few hours later. These days, inventories are all computer controlled, and they are kept to a minimum wherever possible.

The answer is still, you're almost certainly not going to find a timing belt that is too old to use, not in a Honda warehouse and not at an Acura dealer.
 
Last edited:
I always recommend on doing it.
I've you've seen a NSX engine where the timing belt failed it's a good motivator ain't a pretty sight and very expensive.

We do tend to use refurbished OEM pumps as the casting doesn't deteriorate normally it's the bearing that gets the brunt of the ware the seal generally sets towards the tension load of it's belt. thus replacing the belt can cause that bearing to start to leak over time since it's already set in to a certain load pattern which doesn't correspond with the new belt.

That being said shelf live isn't the same as service live even if the engine has been used often, tensioner and the elements add a whole set of factors to that equation.
Like nsxtasy pointed out stock levels are generally low.
I my self keep a short stock on hand and have everything flown in overnight from my depots.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top