I called a guy today that was referred to me by my brother-in-law to see if he would loosen that crank pulley bolt for me in his shop and then put it back on secure enough for me to get home about 5 miles. He said he would do it for 20 bucks. Then he said he would do the whole job for $150 labor. So I think I'm going to defer this one to him since he works on Honda's a lot. I'm supposed to let him know tomorrow if I want him to do it. Does this rate sound reasonable?

 

For labor, that sounds quite reasonable. I don't recommend driving it after it is loosened though. If the crank pulley falls off and you lose that crank key, the job becomes much more of a pain.

I recommend going for an OEM timing belt, water pump, and tensioner. It adds a few dollars to the parts price, but they're good parts that will last for a long time.

 

$20 to undo the bolt sounds good to me. Other than the bolt, everything else is pretty easy and you should be able to do it yourself. I wouldn't spend $150 myself to have it done if I can do it myself.

 

I wouldn't start the engine without the bolt fully tight. There's a reason why it's that tight, it's not just to inconvenience people trying to change the timing belt. When the pulley comes off while running it is prone to ruin the pulley and the end of the crankshaft.

 

You might as well let him change it for you for $150 labor, so let say u wana do it youself (if you want DIY and learn, that would be me) and for $20 to loosen and another $20 for him to tighten it.. it already cost $40 on DIY, another $110 will save you time and trouble, much worth it.

 

Went ahead and made the appointment to get it done next Tuesday. I'm going to stick to the brake jobs, oil changes, ignition switch harnesses, fuel filters and whatever else comes my way for now. Not that I don't think I would have been able to do this. It's because I would probably end up spending very close to that much in getting whatever tools or whatever I needed to do the job. Not to mention it would probably take my whole Saturday to do it. This way more time with the kids and wife on the weekend. Thanks for the ideas and inputs.