Timing Belt Replacement

I just bought a 98 Prelude and the only thing the mechanic i took it to before buying it was cautious about was the timing belt. Its getting old and said i should probably replace it. I was thinking about replacing it before hand anywas and doing an entire timing belt kit replacement but was just wondering where the best place to get it would be. I was also wondering how hard it was to do yourself. I've got access to pretty much all of the tools that would seem to be neccessary so would I need to lift/drop the engine to get at anything or is it a relatively simple job?

I just bought a 98 Prelude and the only thing the mechanic i took it to before buying it was cautious about was the timing belt. Its getting old and said i should probably replace it. I was thinking about replacing it before hand anywas and doing an entire timing belt kit replacement but was just wondering where the best place to get it would be. I was also wondering how hard it was to do yourself. I've got access to pretty much all of the tools that would seem to be neccessary so would I need to lift/drop the engine to get at anything or is it a relatively simple job?

yea that mechanic was telling the truth and definately wouldnt want you to have the unfortunate experience of breaking a timing belt. been there and its not fun. anyway, im not quite sure how the engine bay is set up in the newer ludes, but i know that in my 91 lude i was gonna replace it cuz i dont know when the previous owner replaced it, if ever... but then i got to tearing it down, and looked deeper into it... and i just about shit my pants when i realized how much work had to be done to get to it. In mine i would just about have to drop the motor to do it cuz theres maybe an inch or so of clearance between the timing belt cover and the metal part of the wheel well. so yea it sucked and i didnt bother with it. i'd recommend checking autozone.com or if u have one locally, just stop by there and check their prices... ive found that they are usually the cheapest anywhere. also, if you dont already have the service manual for ur car, go here and download it, and see what it says you gotta do to replace the belt and such: http://www.hondahookup.com/manuals/

my computer is being dumb and wont even let me open that page but i know thats where i found my free online manual, plus its got just bout all the honda cars manuals that you could ever want, so im just assuming that your year of lude would be on there. if not, at least go out and buy one. lol. hope this helps, peace

mike

Ok cool, thanks man. BTW i think i may have found an oil leak. Which really pisses me off because the dealership i took it too didnt find anything.

Ok cool, thanks man. BTW i think i may have found an oil leak. Which really pisses me off because the dealership i took it too didnt find anything.


no prob. glad i could help... where at was the leak?? and yea thats also one reason why i dont like dealerships... they often times just give a quick glance around when they say they are checking the car/motor and then if they dont see anything major right away they just say oh yea its fine, etc, then later when it gets worse then you get to pay them more money to fix more stuff, lol. its an evil business, i swear they are all out to get us. :-P anyway good luck!

mike