Is there anyway to tell if timing belt is going?

Since I'm the third owner of my car, I have no clue if the timing belt has been replaced. The last owner said they've never replaced it but have only had it for a year and then I bought it last year. Is there any way to tell if the timing belt needs to be replaced? Are there any symptoms to tell with?

It's just my car is getting really fucked up lately and hasn't been running to well.

well anytime i buy a honda thats an old car and i dont know when the timing belt been changed i do it myself and know that its good to go....

i dont think wear and tear on the belt is too noticeable to determine age

i'd replace it as soon as u can just to be safe. when i bought my civic the last owner put a sticky note on the manual with the mileage to change it which was nice

But there has to be some symptoms of notice?

jus asked dad, said no noticeable symptoms - the only symptom you'll see is when it breaks and ur engine quits lol

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it. Alright then, how much has anybody paid to get the timing belt replaced? I'm getting three paychecks this october and am already getting:
- New tires
- New rotors
- New spark plug wires
- Suspension alignment
- Wheel balancing
- PCV valve
- Spark plug seals replaced

If it's im price range then I'll add it to my list.

Don't know a price, but have them do the water pump while they are in there. It will save you some money down the road...good luck

I'll guess I'll get the mechanics at the local garage to check it when they do my seals and gasket. Will they charge me more to check it since the head will be off when they're replacing the seals?

And just out of curiosity, when you miss a tooth on the belt, what happens?

1 tooth, probably bugger all.

One tooth off is nothing. When I got my new Si it was a tooth off. I just fixed it yesterday. It will just make your car slow in the high rpms and it wont want to pull at all.

man, i'm seeing a lot of bad answers given out all over the civic/crx forum

"jus asked dad, said no noticeable symptoms - the only symptom you'll see is when it breaks and ur engine quits lol"

is one of them, sorry to say.

you can inspect the belt. look in between the teeth. if you see minor cracking it's a worn belt and you should consider changing it soon. if there are major crack i would fix it immediately.

here are the timing pages to give you an idea if its something you would like to fix yourself...
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-25.jpg
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-26.jpg
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-27.jpg
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-28.jpg
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/images/91-6-29.jpg

Cylinder head/ valve train section:
http://www.binghamtonlife.com/manual/2gsm/cylinder_head_valve_train.htm

Ami, your the best :thumbsup:

I just got my car going again about a week ago after my timing belt snapped a while back. As for symptoms it will start out with timing going off (broken teeth but belt still holding) giving uneven/unusual power and engine speed, surging, etc, possibly a code 8 meaning "TDC Timing Fault"... in the worst case scenario if enough teeth are stripped and the timing gets way off your valves will be making a strange metallic banging sound while they're getting smashed by the pistons... very bad...
if you're lucky like I was, and the belt snaps and the camshaft stops with all the valves closed then the valves will be ok but the car will just die, it might surge very erratically (hard accel, then lag, accel, lag...) just before it goes, and by the time you think 'wtf is happening?' it will just stop firing and freewheel like if you ran out of gas, probably with a few warning lights on also. A timing belt is cheap insurance, even if you can't replace it yourself go get someone else to do it for you.

and if you're unluck like me when shit breaks you'll bend every friggen valve in the head :eek7: