Hello,

after a two-day long distance trip and putting 650 miles on my honda accord EX, I took it today to Monro Mufflers for oil change. They were doing brake inspection and tire rotation for free with oil change. Well, anyway, after the oil change and everything, they said that the brakes have some more life left, but the belts in the car seem all original and for a car that has 198K miles on it, they would need to be changed soon. I do know about the timing belt that it needs to be replaced every 60K miles. I bought the car when it had 188K miles and the previous owner did not know when the timing belt was changed last. But other that the timing belt, what other belts are there and do you think I should spend money changing them or is it the mechanic's attempt to scare customers and make them spend money on services they don't really need?
Also, my A/C broke down recently and I might have damaged it more by putting 1 can of R134a, which leaked out of the system within less than 8 hrs. leaving the A/C system empty. The mechanic said I would have to spend 200 bucks just to find where the leak is or if any of the components are shot. Makes me wonder if it will be worth spending so much money into this car when it has so many miles ... so close to 200K.

appreciate any responses

thanks

 

The money you want to spend depends on how long you want to keep the car. If the timing belt breaks, you are out a lot of money to get the cylinder head rebuilt. You should try to find out when the timing belt was done from the dealership (if the previous owner took his accord there).

As for the outer two belts (alternator and power steering belt), feel the inside for cracks or chips in the belt. If the outer two belts snap, you won't be out too much money to fix them. Its pretty easy to change them out yourself. See DIY section ACC 5th GEN... thread. You can download the shop manual for your car as pdfs (spit into chapters at the bottom of that site).

If the R143a leaked out quickly and you didn't turn on your a/c, then your a/c system is likely ok. You should never charge a system without putting a pressure manifold on there to find out how much freon is actually in the system. You definitely have a leak somewhere and should find the source. A/C work isn't that difficult once you get some basic tools (manifold and vacuum pump). To find the source of the leak, you should feel around any joints on the hard lines for oil or dirt. The leak is likely caused by a bad o-ring. Sometimes the leak comes from inside the evaporator and you have to dig a bit behind the gove box to remove it.

 

Thanks for the reply, PAHonda. The problem is the previous owner was in some other state and there is no way to find out about the timing belt replacement by asking someone as the car was maintained by someone working out of their house, not a dealership or a big car mechanic place. I think in such case, the only way is to just replace the belt, isn't it? Is there any way to find out about it ?

About the A/C, I have made mistakes sort of knowingly.... I knew that I should not recharge it without vacuuming the system. However, I desperately needed it for my long-distance drive. As far as the pressure is concerned, there was none in the system, I put almost one whole 24 oz can that u get in Walmart, with a built-in pressure guage. I think I might have introduced extra oil and some moisture too.

 

Inspecting a timing belt is really NOT reliable. Should go by miles. Since you really dont know, I agree you should just replace it.

External drive belts have to be removed to get at the timing belt, so its kind of silly to put the old ones back on just to save $15 after spending all the money on a timing-belt job.

 

To add to the above, the timing belt on your car needs to be changed every 90k miles, not 60k.

If I were you, I would go ahead andsave some money to have the timing belt changed. When the shop changes the timing belt, have them change the external belts as well as the Water Pump and the oil seals.

Your options include:
1) Take it to a dealer and getting ripped off
2) Take it to a Honda Certified mechanic shop (I recommend this)
3) Take it to a shop that says they can do it. If you do this you risk them not knowing exactly what they are doing and possibly messing something up. I would not go this route unlessI personally knew one of the mechanics there and I trusted him(i.e. - I had a long time family mechanic replace all of that on my V6 Accord. I brought him the parts and paid him around $300.)

If I were you I would call around town to get price quotes from all of the above I mentioned. The pricecan range anywhere from $300to $1,000. Expect to pay around $600 for quality work.