I had my timing belt and water pump change today and wanted to share with results,

i have honda civic 2005 and 125,000 miles on it, i bought it brand new and took good care of the car so far, today i took it to garage and had my timing belt and water pump replaced because due to mileage and years i thought it was time, i asked for mechanic to keep all old parts cause i was curious to see if they were damaged and needed the replacement, i paid $550 for the whole job, anyways here are the results, i looked at the old timing belt and it looked like it had many years of service in it, also old water pump looked really good too, you can check attached pictures, as you can see the timing belt still has all teeth even after 6 years ad 125K miles, the manual says to change belt at 110K, but think i could have driven my car up to 200k with this timing belt, oh well, anywayz, now that i have new belt and water pump in, im not gettin them replaced til i put 200K on them LOL, anyone went with timing belt beyond what manual recommends? thinking back i wouldnt changed my belt now lol

 

They say that a timing belt can look great today and break tomorrow. I personally still have the original timing belt on my '01 142,xxx but I'm quite worried about it. If it breaks it will do major damage to the engine. I'm trying to figure out how to change it myself but I have little engine knowledge and not enough cash to have someone else do it.

 

i changed mine at 120k to be safe, but it looked fine and my girlfriends 99 civic has almost 160k and the original timing belt looks fine with no cracks, frays, or broken teeth.

 

but had you not changed it, you would have never known, now you have peace of mind which is worth it

 

got2run: i took the old belt and pulled it hard to try to rip it or damage it with my hands, i couldnt, it was still in good condition, so im not sure if time makes the belt go bad, i think i could have easily driven my timing belt up to 200K and then replaces

HugeCow: true, piece of mind is a great thing, i wanted to change timing belt a year ago, but didn't have money, it is an expensive maintenance! now i feel save and learned that even though factory recommends to change it at 120K, u dont really have to, may be because honda civic has small engine and not alot of heavy gear to pull for the belt oppose to bigger cars?

 

Not if you know how to do it yourself....