Rep Power: 0

Okay, so I just bought a 1998 Honda Civic DX (My first import vehicle ever so im new to Hondas) I know the previous owner very well. He bought the car at an auction, it has 184k on it but he has no idea when the timing belt was replaced. I pulled my valve cover off and looked at the part of the belt i could see and it doesnt look too bad. Car runs great and has tons of power. Should I replace the timing belt or not?

 
Rep Power: 209

timing belts generally do not show any signs of wear, that is why you must go by mileage and duration/years....7 years or 100k miles i believe is what is recommended for yours, check your owners manual,

a timing belt when due for replacement could still look brand new, that doesn't mean it will not snap tomorrow, when i replaced mine last time after 100k i could still clearly see and read the decals/writing on the belt, it still "looked fine"

the only way to check for wear is to remove the belt and bend it backwards to see if there are any cracks near the teeth.....this requires you to remove the belt, so at that point you might as well throw a new one on there anyways,

when in doubt replace it.....its alot cheaper then repairing the damage after it snaps, unless you like to gamble, and if you do gamble how often do you win?

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks. Yeah, i ended up replacing it anyway. All in all wouldnt have been to bad if the pivot bolt for the alternator wasnt stripped and siezed.