I have a 2007 Honda Accord that stopped running, brought it into the dealer ship and they told me the timing chain has skipped some teeth, but the rest of the engine looks fine. They quoted me $2,525 to put it back on, this price seems really high to me since they are not replacing any parts. What should the pricing on a job like this be?

 

That seems very high to me. Where are you located? Call around shops that specialize in hondas or foreign cars to get quotes.

 

Thanks, that's what I thought. I'm in Maryland, I called into another Honda dealership and they only want $1,500 to completely replace it. I'm trying to get a hold of the service guy who gave me the quote so that he can give me the written estimate but he won't call me back.

 

Just talked to the mechanic, he said the pricing is going to be so high because it jumped 9 teeth and they need to take the front off the engine in order to inspect it. Does this make sense?

 

I'm more suprised a Honda Accord has a timing chain instead of a timing belt.
Anywho I think the job should be no more than $400.00.

 

It makes sense that there could be valve damage due to the chain jumping teeth. How many miles are on your accord?

 

I'm around 100,000 miles they said they don't see any valve damage but they want to check it to make sure and that's why the price is so high. They said they have to take the top of the engine off to inspect it. If there is valve damage they said it would be an additional $400 per valve.

 

Did you change the oil regularly? Do you have records of the service?

If so, you may want to call Honda of America to see if they will help. A timing chain has no maintenance interval and shouldn't jump like that.

 

Oil was change almost every 3,000 if not a little after. Waiting on getting the records from the dealership, which might be hard because they are making it difficult to get the actual quote for the work. Is it common for a large dealership to not be able to email the quote?

 

first, i think there's some misunderstandings that are already derailing your search for answers...

one, i'm almost certain we're talking about your timing BELT, not chain.

two, the issue of "jumped teeth" should be an issue of "missing/damaged teeth" on the actual belt causing timing assembly pulleys to turn out-of-time as the belt slips. typically, this slippage causes bent valves as most of these engines are "interference' type. that said...

it is likely that they are quoting you a price that involves removing the head from the engine ("the top of the engine ") and testing it for bent valves (using a machine shop or in-house machining).

but they can do a simple COMPRESSION CHECK to find out if your timing assembley issue (i.e. - bad belt) has indeed led to bent valves. compression within spec would indicate NO; severely low compression would indicate YES.

seriously: it just sounds like they're trying to sell you a repair you MAY or MAY NOT need, and either way, you pay $2525.00.

if you have no bent valves, this repair (timing belt replacement) shouldn't be more than $300-$400. if you have bent valves, i would find $1100-$1600 to be reasonable for this repair (bent valves repair), depending on the full extent of damage and work to be performed during repair. a dealer would likely charge 30%-40% more for the same repair. as to the price of "$400 per valve"...typically, machine shops charge $10-$20 per valve replacement...not sure where they're getting $400...