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Hello, I have a 2001 Honda Civic EX with 177,000 miles on her. I had a tire pop on me going downt he highway. It made me nervous that I have not been maintaing my car very well. I replaced all the tires and have had the exhaust re-worked. I change the oil every 3 - 4 thousand miles.

The one thing I do not know is if my timing belt has ever been replaced. I do not have the funds to take it to a shop. They quoted me at 800 dollars! lol get real. I have printed the DIY timing belt article from reddawnman and have read it a million times. The one tool I don't have is a Torque wrench. I am brute guy, def not weak lol. Is this ok? I know I can def torque the bolts enough.

Anyways the timing belt kit I have looked at is

http://www.amazon.com/Timing-Belt-Ho.../dp/B0036UMYVO


I am calling my local shops today to see if I can find anything now. I really wanna do it now. I am scared that it wont make it another two weeks. I wont have the time off from work for two weeks. so it is now or never. and i cannot loose me car. No car = No monies

if I have to order the kit I know i have to wait and will just baby my car down the highway to and from work till I get more time off. Funds are getting low and my cc is getting close to max right now. I don't get paid for another two weeks and even then that check is for the bills! I have maybe 2 - 3 hundred to work with that is left from my savings

 
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the torque wrench is not to help get them tight, it's to make sure they are not TOO tight, some of the bolts need to be tightened close to the point of failure by design.

get a torque wrench from harbor freight, or walmart, they are not great but better then nothing and usually cost around $20.

If you dont have much experience tightening bolts then you might want to get a small one as well, its far to easy to strip out a bolt if you over tighten it.

 
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lol, well will the kit work with my motor? I am not really concerned about the torque. I have yet to snap or strip a bolt or have anything fail by torquing with my hands. I am pretty sure I can borrow a wrench anyways adn save the hassle of buying one.


but my main concern is if that kit will work with my honda

 
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the description says "Timing Belt Kit Honda Civic 1.7 LX DX EX 2001-2005"
so yes... it will work, however cheap parts, are well... cheap.

For $20.79 more you can get all factory parts, and they are known quality, is it worth your time to do this twice? to have the down time since you depend on your car? it's only $21!!!

or for $.80 (thats 80 CENTS) more you can get all the parts but the small round gaskets (spark plug tube gaskets) and crank/cam seals in factory OEM, and if you end up needing the small gaskets napa sells them

that deal on amazon is not worth it, who knows who manufactures them.

I just purchased the cheaper of the two and they shipped it in two days and will take 4 business days to arrive.

OH, and you can rent the crank holder tool from most any parts store, autozone, advance auto, etc.


here are the two sets of parts from majestic honda
-part numbers are correct for your car.
(hondaautomotiveparts.com)

(without the spark plug tube gaskets) $197.78s shipped


and with the deluxe gasket kit $217.77 shipped

 
Rep Power: 205

I bought my timing belt kit from Amazon and pretty sure it will work.

Also, to reiterate what Phantomd said, the torque wrench is to make sure the bolt is not too loose or TOO TIGHT. Sounds like you make yourself to be strong but strength isn't everything.

Tightening them too hard may cause more harm than good especially on the engine that vibrates faster than your GF's *****. <--just messing.

Caught my drift?

 
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never knew that site existed. I just copied your part numbers and will go with that. Don't worry I already called my boss and I can borrow the torque wrench from work, so long as I bring it back un-damamged

36532-PLR-A01
36531-PLR-A01

Are those the two o2 sensors? The upstream and down stream for my car? I am debating just buying them. I don't like having my engine light on all the time. Never gonna know if it throws another code unless i check it constantly. Plus i know the clcip for the downstream is broken. The plastic shattered and I tied it back in place. Had to replace the exhaust on my car and weld it back together this past summer

 
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well the post cat 02 sensor is usually just there to make sure the cat is working, if it's not throwing a code then dont worry about it, all that happens when it fails is it throws a code, which could either be the sensor or the cat failing. I believe it throws different codes depending on what actually failed?? (if it's the sensor, I would be tempted to get a junk yard replacement)



I have read that the pre-cat o2 sensor really only lasts 30k miles or so of regular driving before it does not work AS WELL... and the pre-cat sensor is the one the ECU watches to control fueling and overall engine control, so there is some improvement to be had in replacing the pre-cat one.

I had a co-worker order from oxygensensors.com and have good results ($50.18 for the DENSO pre-cat sensor and $35.35 for the post cat.)

Oh,
Upstream = Pre-cat
Downstream = Post-cat

-Zach

 
Rep Power: 205

I just received my timing belt kit from Amazon and something doesn't look right to me.

What do you guys think? Shouldn't the sides be coated in that black thingamajig like the rest?

 
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I am far from an expert, but I would be worried about that.

That string could potentially come de-laminated from the belt and make all sorts of hell. I would return the amazon kit and buy from Majestic Honda.

OR, you could go to napa and just buy a new belt, they are about $17, but then I would be worrying about the quality of the other parts in the kit.

-Zach

 
Rep Power: 205

The timing belt is the exact same brand as the OEM, and the same part number I believe. It was just sold by a different smaller company who had a rating of 100%.

I just got an email (two to be exact) from the company and they just checked their stock of timing belts and she said they're all like that. She thought my email was suggesting a defect on all her timing belts so she went out to their location and checked the timing belts. Now, that's customer service.

So, I'm good to go. Thanks guys!