Honda Legend Acura RL Timing belt & Water Pump ..

[Alistair McClure]

Just bought a 162,000 mile Honda Legend, its the same as the Acura RL in the USA, they just call them Hondas in the UK. It is the MKIII and was built in 1999. It is in generally excellent condition and drives like a new car, but it came without any maintenance paperwork as the previous owner but one died and her sister sold it to the guy I bought it off… Anyway, it appears to have had the timing belt renewed but I don’t know when. The mild weather in the UK means that Honda say its OK for the belt to be changed at 105,000 mile intervals or every 7 years. I think the belt was changed more than 7 years ago, presumably with the water pump as well.

Best case it has another 40,000 miles left in it, worst is that it knows it is more than 7 years old and is waiting to explode when I am away in the boonies of the north coast. Is there any way to test the belt to see how likely it is to fail?

The car cost me about $1200, so it is a cheapie, but a nice ride none the less.

Should I replace the belts and water-pump or just the belts?

What happened to the Acura RL timing belt video that ETCG made but didn’t put on YouTube because of the music used as a background, is it published elsewhere?

Thanks in advance.

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

In general if your going through the trouble to change out the timing belt it is a ” might as well ” decision to replace the water pump tensioner(s)
and follower(s).
As to if you should…
With no records and considering the age.
Also if you plan on keeping the vehicle it would be a wise decision to do the work.
JMHO

[Alistair McClure]

Yes, been thinking, there isn’t really a way round it. I will have to do it or spend the money and get it done professionally. Thanks.

[Alistair McClure]

Did the job, took 14 hours but that included cleaning a bunch of gunk off the engine where the pump face fits, going over alot of rusted fasteners with a die to clean them, torquing everything to spec, adjusting the drive belts and bleeding the coolant system. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Author]

Replies