[bikeit02]

Hello I own a o6 accord v6 with 98000 miles. I pulled the front timing cover off to check the belt. The belt looks like new, then I checked to see if the belt was tight.aranoid: The belt has 3/8 inch of slack off the inboard side of cam pulley. Do I need a belt keeper. thanks for any help with this belt. Dale.

 

[BLCKFLSH]

Don't know what you mean by "keeper", but I would go ahead and change the belt (along with water pump, tensioner, and pulleys) as soon as possible, since it will be due soon anyway (105k miles).

 

[t-rd]

There is a hydraulic tensioner down below for the timing belt, the grease inside is probably leaking out of that, thus not keeping tension anymore. You are at 98000 miles, why not just get the timing belt, tensioner, pulleys, and water pump all changed in one service? While you try to get to the belt tensioner, you need to remove everything anyway to get to it.

 

[Ryan_W]

Don't ever rely on the appearance of the belt - as the timing belt rarely shows wear at all - they just snap.

Given the car's age and mileage, I'd replace the belt, tensioner and W/P.

 

[bikeit02]

loose belt

I was thinking that this car would not need to be worked on as it has not had a hard life. the belt tensioner must be a week link. I ordered the parts for when I will need them. looks like it will be now and not later. Thanks for the input. Dale.

 

[BLCKFLSH]

I would change the pulleys too, if not the seals. When I did my timing belt I fully expected to see my old tensioner had begun to leak. There was a loud rattle for the first few minutes at cold start, so I figured the tensioner was leaking and allowing slack in the timing belt. But when I took the old tensioner out, it had no signs of leaks, and still tested good. I could tell the belt was slipping on the idler and adjuster pulleys though because they had dark black streaks on them. Since there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the tensioner, I assume the pulley bearings were going bad because when I opened them up there was a surprising lack of grease inside, and what grease was there was mostly dried up and flakey. I changed the tensioner, and both pulleys, and the noise is gone since then. So, in the end, what I'm saying is don't just assume the tensioner is the problem, and if I were you I would change the pulleys.

 

[gwiffer]

My auto-tensioner was leaking at 102k/5.5yrs. I replaced the timing belt, auto-tensioner, tensioner pulley, idler pulley, water pump, thermostat and coolant. I'll definitely do the crank oil seal and maybe the cam seals at the next TB change.

 

[Accordman]

I was thinking that this car would not need to be worked on as it has not had a hard life. the belt tensioner must be a week link. I ordered the parts for when I will need them. looks like it will be now and not later. Thanks for the input. Dale.

These are the wear items on the engine and they are due any way at 105K. The belt should be fairly taught tensioned. If there is a slack, I think a disaster is waiting to happen when the cam gear jumps timing. I'd order the entire timing belt kit (belt, tensioner, ilder and tensioner pulleys, water pump) and do them all. With the 4-5 hours of time that you will spend on this job, it does not make sense to skimp on a few parts. Plus, you would want replace the coolant and a new serpentine belt too since you are going to drain it / remove it any way to get to the rest. You will need few new tools that you may not have in your tool box to do this properly. Watch a video on youtube and get a sense for what the job will entail. If it is too hard to DIY, just get the parts and bring it to your trust mechanics. You will save at least $500 from dealer asking price.