I own a 2004 LX and she now has 108,000 miles. The dealership often sends me 10% off coupons for the 110K mile maintenance. Also, the service manual says I should take it in. I'm hesitant to do so since it costs $800.

So, my question is, how imperative is it that it goes in for this maintenance? When I looked at the list of maintenance items they perform, it all looks really basic except adjusting the valves. This car runs phenominally well and I want it to keep doing so, but not at the cost of $800 from a money hungray dealer.

I'm very handy with tools and do all my own car work on our domestics. Can I do this work myself?

 

Is replacing the timing belt and water pump included in that service?

 

If you're handy, you can definitely do it yourself. Hondas engines are designed in a way that makes changing the timing belt on them much easier than most other cars. The first work I ever did on my car was when I was 16 with no prior experience with working on cars, but I have always been pretty good with mechanical stuff and all so that helped, and it was fairly easy besides getting the crank pulley bolt loose. You'll likely need a special crank pulley holder tool or a very powerful impact wrench.

Adjusting valve clearance is also pretty simple and you could do it yourself. All you need is a flathead screwdriver, a socket wrench/sockets, and some feeler gauges.

What is for sure though is that no matter what, you do not want to skip this maintenance. Your engine is an interference engine and if the timing belt snaps there is basically a 99% chance you will have severe head damage and will have bent valves. Also, while all the way in there it is best to change the water pump and timing belt tensioner.

Honda engines are built well (as you probably know from their reputation), and will last a very long time - if you take care of it. The people whose Honda engines die at 150,000 miles... well, those are the people who didn't maintain their vehicle.

 

Thank you for the responses!

I will thumb through my Chilton's manual and review all the work to be done. I'm fairly confident I can do all the work myself. The price from the dealer does not include the water pump and tensioner replacement. I agree, it's probably very wise to do it at the same time.

I have a set of feeler guages so I'm good on that side of life and I have a set of pneumatic impact guns.

Do the spark plugs and coils get replaced at the same time?

I'm all for making this little Honda run for a very long time. This is by far the best car we've ever owned!

 

The coils should last the life of the car. No need to replace them pre-emptively. Just replace the plugs.

 

What brand do you guys suggest for replacement parts? Timing belt, water pump, tensioner, plugs, etc.? A preferred brand for every item I'm going to replace would be helpful. Thanks!

 

2 Words. HON-DA. lol. I'm not saying you have to buy them at a dealer but for best results. You could prolly get cheaper from a parts store or something but I've always bought dealer stuff as far as nessary engine stuff goes. As for plugs tho, NGK's only! Not iridum those are unnessary. Just plain ol' $2.45 NGK v-power.

 

For plugs: NGK, you can buy them anywhere. The other parts buy from a dealer. There are mail-order dealers such as hondaautomotiveparts dot com that sell at a considerable discount. Then the Honda parts are very competitive with third-party parts store ones.

 

You should use NGK V-Power spark plugs. Don't get iridiums or and of that bull****, just plain ol' V-Powers.

For the water pump get OEM Honda, it'll be like $60ish.

Alright, for the timing belt and tensioner, here's the deal: Everyone on this forum is going to tell you "use OEM Honda." I went to Advance Auto Parts, and bought a Dayco Timing Belt, and a Dayco Timing Belt Tensioner. Dayco gives you a warrantee on the belt for the amount of miles Honda recommends you change it at again, which is 105,000 miles, but only if you install it with a new timing belt tensioner. (they call it a "timing belt kit") So basically, for less money than OEM, you are getting a quality part, with a 105,000 miles warrantee, and you should be changing the belt again anyway before that next 105,000 miles expires (probably around 100k is when I would change it, but then again you'll have the warrantee so you can wait until 104,999 miles, lol).

I suggest taking a picture of the odometer whenever you install the belt and put it away somewhere with your warrantee documentation.

 

Nice, I had no idea dayco had a parts warranty like that. Thats crazy. Do they cover your motor is the belt brakes or what does the waranty cover?