Hey guys, I come from the subaru world where I owned and STi and actually just sold it today. The car was perfect and I virtually refused to drive it during the winter so I picked up a coupe. Its a 2001 EX with the vtec. My question stems from the fact that the car came with no prior maint. history and it has 170k on it.

What should I be doing other than the 105k mile maint. from the dealer, I think that includes timing belt and water pump.

I will be changing the oil at home and checking through the brakes and all of the other basic stuff, but being new to hondas I dont want to jump into changing the timing belt myself.

What else do you guys recommend doing?

Thanks much!

 

Hmm... If I had no history on the car... changing all the fluids (oil, coolant, brakes, transmission) would be a must...

PCV valve should be changed ($4)
Maybe change the thermostat with a Honda one while the coolant is out?
Make sure the CV joints are in good shape and not slinging grease everywhere...
Air filter...

If you want to into the nitty griutty stuff... clean out the throttle body, intake manifold, IACV and FITV.

Timing belts jobs should run you under $700 for parts and labor, anything higher is a rip off.

 

Thanks for the heads up...my local dealer said just for the timing belt it would be about $625, is it worthwhile to check with some other shops?

I looked at a how-to and it doesnt seem that hard, but living in MI is not so great for working on cars right now (31 and snowing)

Should a transmission (AT) flush be in the book? Seems to me that for around $100 its a good bet. The trans seems to have a little hiccup when going from a stop and turning.

Thanks again

 

Yes if you plan on letting an outside mechanic do the T/B job you should check a few shops first. Its not that hard of a job at all,and that goes for draining the tranny as well,Me and my dad did a t/b change on a few cars,and it takes us no more than 3 hours.

Belt-45
labor-4hrs @ $80 an hr
W/P-60
misc-40

A decent shop shouldnt charge you more than this.

 

Right on... it's 30 here in MN... hello heated garage next weekend for suspension install!

Honda transmissions should not be "flushed" unless the Honda dealer does the flushing. A simple drain and refill of the transmission fluid is all you need. It's just like changing oil, just use Honda ATF-Z1, ~$6 at the dealer.

 

Ah good, drain and refill is much easier than hooking up the machine that some cars require. I'm considering using one of the walkthrough's on here to do the timing belt. Im pretty sure I remember reading that it takes 2 belts and maybe some tensioners?

I'm also assuming that my manual will list the capacity requirements for transmission fluid?

 

Two belts?

You need the belt, and the component kit,(Camshaft Belt Tensioner, Camshaft Belt Idler )

 

The 2nd belt is the balancer-shaft belt.

Wanna do all your own work? Get a shop manual from www.helminc.com for the ABSOLUTE BEST book. Pricey, but so much better than the Chilton or Haynes books.

Since the car has 170k already, Id take the VIN to a dealer to see if there is any record of the timing belt being done. They may be able to dig that up even if the last owner didnt save it.

 

Thanks for the help again. I'll check with the dealer to see if it has been done before. I know the subies had online service manuals here and there, I looked for some on this site, there were 3 links listed but none of them had the 01 accord ex. I would mainly only need the manual for torque specs.

Should I do both belts or is it not necessary?

I fully intend on doing the pcv, plugs, wires and ....windshield wipers...its snowing