Need Timing Belt Walkthrough

Can anyone direct me to one? prefferably a civic. I've heard mixed responces on doing it yourself, so I want to see what it involves. Wonder if that would include the water pump instal too...

Best advice - buy a repair manual

Take every thing off the left side of engine
Valve cover
Assy. belts
Crank pulley - bolt can be hard to remove
Upper/lower timing cover
Motor mount

and your there, sure i could give better instructions but manuals are available & should be used if you don't know what your doing. Mess up a timing belt job and it could cost you an engine, I'm not being responsible for that.

Yes you should change the water pump during the timing belt replacement. It's almost senseless not to.

best repair manual is a factory manual - www.helminc.com

i agree, if youre going to do the work your self... but a helms service manual... it has everything you need (instructions, torque specs, pics) for anything you could ever do to your car.

I went to a local mechanic for an estimate, 700$!? no, says itll take 5 hours, I know newbies who did it in 4. Plus he said he might have to replace seals, sounds like bullsh*t. The dealer is offering 500$, since I dont want to risk damage to the engine, I'll take this offer.

book time is 3.5-5.0 hrs depending on assy's

Replacing seals is not bullshit, just like the water pump it's a good idea to replace leaking cam or crank seals while its all apart.

Auto repair places go by labor guides so prices are fair to the customer. Each job has it's own labor time, if the job calls for 5hrs & it only takes 3hrs you still pay 5hrs or if that 5hr job take 7hrs you still pay 5hrs.

Another good thing to do is a valve adjustment since it should be done/checked every 30K, the valve cover will be off any way.