If you have an extended warranty, it might be a good idea to check if the policy specifies a mileage that you MUST replace the timing belt otherwise you lose coverage. On mine it states 60K for replacement.

 

80k on first belt, 60k on second belt, currently on third belt.

 

Don't forget T-belt replacement intervals can be influenced by weather conditions (extreme heat and cold) and driving habits! If you babied the car since day 1 and shift at 3k all the time...I probably wouldn't replace the t-belt until 160,000km (100,000 mi, i think?) But if you redline 24/7, 100,000km (60,000mi) would sound more appropiate.

 

Timing Belt failures on most Honda VTEC engines will at the very least bend all of the valves. Because most of these engines are "invasive" type setups (The piston at Top Dead Center would overlap the valves at full extention) you can expect some real nastiness when the timing belts breaks at speed. I personally know of three Honda engines that have suffered timing belts failures. A Del Sol was lucky and there was no damage(65k miles). A NSX bent 18 out of 24 vavles(87k miles). And last but not least, an Accord (20k miles) which ended up needing a complete engine replacement, but under warrantee.

Replace the timing belt. A few hundred bucks will likely save you a few thousand.

 

I have a '90 CRX-Si. The car does mostly track driving, and 7,000 RPM shifts, 500 past redline. If memory serves me correctly the service interval was 60,000 miles. At about 49,000 I started to see a little leak from the water pump. I had the water pump replaced, the gaskets replaced and the timing belt replaced. My mechanic suggested we do the belt while he was already in there so I said sure, I trust my mechanic! When the job was all done he told me the following story.

He knew he should replace the timing belt because if he had to do all that labor in another 10,000 miles it would be a complete waste, but he suspected he would be replacing a belt that was in perfect shape. When he was ready to put the new belt in he held the new and the old on his finger and to his surprise the old was longer than the new. He turned the old inside out and bent it over and there was no cracking, a sure sign a replacement is needed. However the old belt has stretched most likely due to the high, constant revs.

Now I will be the 1st to admit that belt technology has improved a lot in 7 years, but the car ran better when the belt was replaced. I suspect with the stretched belt the timing was off a bit.

Please err on the side of caution. If you are keeping the car you will have to spend the money sooner or later. If you spend it sooner, then you reduce the likelihood of a terminal engine failure, and that will cost more.

Good luck!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jerrypeterson
[B]Timing Belt failures on most Honda VTEC engines will at the very least bend all of the valves.