I’m going to be getting my timing belt done soon, along with all the usually stuff.
However, I’ve been told (by other owners, not the shop), that I should do the following for preventative maintenance, since it’s the same area and will save labor:
cam seals
crank seal
balance shaft seal
valve/head cover gasket
retainer
The part are cheap, but I’ll be paying an extra $200-$250ish to get these things done.
So the question: Replacing those parts necessary (if they don’t fail often)? Or it should be done for maintenance sake?
Depends on the car. Most vehicles have their water pumps located behind the timing belt so you would have to take the belt off to remove those parts. In this case it is wise to replace the waterpump at that time. This ensures that the parts is good and “shouldn’t” fail in say the next week and have to do all the labor all over again.
With Mitsubishis. It is recommended to replace those seals because most of the time they are leaking a little, and if they are leaking…the oil gets on the belt. Which will make it fail. If this is a mitsu it shouldn’t be 200-250 extra to replace these though.
Not sure what kind of car you are talking about.
If it were me, I would replace those things for peace of mind. I don’t see many cars costing that much to replace those things once the belt is off. That too me sounds like a little much. What is the retainer?
If it were me, I would replace those things for peace of mind. I don’t see many cars costing that much to replace those things once the belt is off. That too me sounds like a little much. What is the retainer?
sorry, should have mentioned it’s a 5th gen Prelude
the stuff that will be done: t-belt, balance belt, water pump
the stuff I’m 90% sure will choose to do: auto tensioner (supposedly it fails with regularity on the 5th gens)
so it’s all the other stuff I’ve listed I’m thinking about
$200 is not that bad, it’s just that in a month or so, I’ll be under a severe budget…so I want to separate what should be done, and what can wait another 80k miles (my car has approx 80k now)
If its a Honda definitely do everything you listed. Cam seals will start leaking on a Honda around 100K miles. Crank seals, balance shaft seals as well. Valve Cover gasket is a DIY so don’t work about that now. Head gasket I wouldn;t worry about either even on an H22a. As Don said earlier, when the other seals start leaking, like the Cam seals the little bit of oil will leak off and drip down inside your timing cover, getting oil on the belt. Then you will start noticing a drip spot the size of a dime on the ground directly beneath the lower timing belt cover.
I suggest you buy all OEM parts go to www.majestichonda.com
parts are very inexpensive all OEM. I buy all my Honda parts from them.
Reason I say this is, on my mothers, now my sisters 1995 Accord V6 we had the H20 and water pump replaced around 55-60K miles like Honda recommended. We had at done at a shop, that didn’t use Honda parts. 13 months later (right out of the 12 month/12K parts and labor warrenty) the water pump started leaking. The $18 water pump was covered, we paid another $380 in labor though. Retarded.