My daughter has a 1998 Accord 4 cyl, auto trans. V-Tech

We had the timing belt changed in Aug 2016 when it had 207,000 miles.
I heard every 100,000 mile or 5 years you need to change the timing belt. It cost about $600.
She has had this car for 8 years (with plenty of repair done by me). She is an easy driver, so the car is in decent shape.

My question is-
1) her car now has 248,000 miles- that means she has another 60,000 miles or 1.5 years left. So- could I take a chance and not replace the belt for2-3 more years? (because it still has 60,000 miles left).
In other words, go by the miles and not the years?

2) How hard is it to change the timing belt on this car? I have only done this once on a 2000 Nissan IS300. which wasn't too bad, since we could remove the bumper and front grill.

3) I looked at some video and they show that you have to remove the top cover. Is the really necessary?
I would think you just remove the serpentine belt, the timing belt cover, wheel, wheel well cover, then start on the timing belt.

Any other advice? The bottom line is I think this car is worth maybe $1000, and spending another $600 is almost making it not worth it.

 

Honda's recommendation is 105,000 miles or 7 years, which ever comes first.

 

Timing belt is 105k miles or 7 years (not 5).

1. What part of the country are you in? Lifespan of the timing belt can be shortened by real hot climate. Still, I think it's a gamble - you'll find people who go longer than 7 years, but sometimes their luck runs out.

2. Changing the belt isn't too bad. You've got the FSM, so the instructions in there are excellent. I've done it on a couple different Hondas (including 1998 4cyl) and the worst part is loosening the bolt for the crankshaft pulley. It's seriously tight and there's a couple different methods that can work. Holler at us when it's time to do it...

3. Yes, you have to remove the valve cover. The upper timing-belt cover is trapped under the edge of the valve cover. Removing the valve cover is absolutely trivially easy compared to the crankshaft pulley. Besides, it's a good opportunity to check the valve clearances.

While you're inside the timing cover, it's a good idea to replace the waterpump because it'll probably start leaking before ANOTHER 100k miles.

Depending on how good the car is otherwise, you have to consider not only what it's worth (if you were to sell it) but also consider what you'd have to spend to replace it with something newer.

 

GREAT !! That means we have at least 3 more years! By then I hope my daughter will get a better car.

I am thinking about encouraging her to get a 2010-2012 Accord. OR in 3 years get a 2013-2015.

 

Yup, it's not a bad job to do, just time consuming. Honda time specs the job at 4.5 hours, and the very first time I did one was 5.5 hours, and that included changing the water pump. Oh, and I had never done timing belts on a Honda before. I bought a belt and water pump kit from Rock Auto (105-125 with shipping), that included a very detailed set of instructions, both belts, timing tensioners, Honda tensioner springs, and Aisin water pump. I followed them, and with the pulley tool I got from the zone just did it. In my case I was in there changing a leaking water pump, and with a Honda service tech recommendation, changed the belt too. For me getting the tensioners adjusted right was the hard part, but like Jim said, getting the crank bolt loose was the hardest part of the job, as it's really on (torqued to 150 ftlbs), and the person before me also used loctite on that bolt. :O
I've since done that job 3 more times on my other 2 Honda Accords, and my son's Civic, hence why I ended up buying the pulley tool.

 

You say the hardest part was getting the tensioners adjusted right. I posted about a noise in 91 Honda Accord after new timing belt/water pump until up above 2 RPMs. Could this be the tensioners not geting adjusted right?

 

Its been a bunch of years, and my memory is... was... wait, what are we talking about???

Setting the tension is a little finicky. A new belt sometimes likes to set with a little kink, which leaves it a bit loose. There's a trick, namely making a hook out of wire to pull up on the tensioner before you tighten the bolt to lock it in place.

AZ91, was your mechanic familiar with Hondas? Unlike some other cars, the spring that's on the tensioner is only for setting the tension before you lock the tensioner in place with that bolt. The spring is not anywhere close to strong-enough to operate like a spring-loaded tensioner.

 

There is a good ericthecarguy video on youtube where he installs a timing belt on a civic engine before installing the engine into a vehicle. He shows how he set the tension in that video and it will directly apply to the accord.