Timing Chain Replacement

[wai_pang2]

I changed my sparkplugs on may 19 and guess what I found? 3 NGK's and 1 autolite. I changed them for NGK's V-Power plugs. I went to advanced for spark plugs and that's what they gave me. Does it really matter if its not platinum spark plugs? The car does run smoother.

I think next on the agenda is a new Thermostat. I'm thinking of getting the fail-safe thermostate. I have the fail-safe thermostat in my Legacy. When I'm on the highway, I go to down-shift and hit it. I notice the temperature guage moves to the colder side of the gauge by maybe 1/8. after that is done, Timing chain and water pump gets done next.

[timot_one]

Platinum is a step down from the Iridium plugs that our cars came with.  You should be running Iridium plugs.  You're wasting your money if you're doing your timing chain.  It's not like the older Accords and the V6 Accords that have a timing belt that needs replacement at 90k or 7 years.  How many miles do you have on your car that makes you think your water pump needs to be replaced?

[wai_pang2]

The car has 125K miles on her but the motor has approximately 15K from what I was told. the motor was swapped out at approximately 120K miles due to piston/valve contact and I'm guessing that was because of a failed timing chain. that is why I was thinking of changing it because I don't know if the motor really has 15K miles on it. $500 on new timing chain and water pump is cheaper than buying a new motor.

The motor blew when my sister drove it. At the time, the car was already running strange and she said she had to rev the engine to keep it from stalling and then one day it just quite running and that when she took it to a garage to check out what is wrong. Yes, it was stupid on her part for waiting till the last minute to have the car checked out.

Lookie what I found. http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showt ... hp?t=16432.

obviously, his friends car took a dump as did mine both his and mine had approximately 120K miles on the clock.

[timot_one]

To avoid taking the spark plug thread off topic, I have split this and created a new thread.

Honda says that the timing chains do not need to be replaced for the life of the motor.  The only time you would replace it is if you were building your motor and doing a head swap, or if your timing chain was binding.  Of course, there are exceptions to the rule and sometimes things happen beyond normal wear and tear where you would need to replace it.  You've also mentioned that there were problems that were ignored and eventually led to the destruction of the motor.  Now you have a new motor with 20k on it and now you're going to the other extreme.  $500 on a timing chain and water pump may be less than another long block, but not by much.  It's your money, so you can do whatever you want.

When I quickly went through the thread you posted, it doesn't seem to help your case.  Did you only read the OP, or did you read the other posts?

[Skippy]

Here is my input on your situation:

I am not a technician, but I've done enough of their work and taken enough of the training to competently perform most of their routine tasks.  According to my training on K series motors, timing chains do not have a service interval.  The timing chain may be inspected by viewing the travel of the timing chain tensioner.  If the timing chain tensioner's piston is extended 14mm or more from the tensioner body, the chain is deemed to have stretched significantly and should be replaced.  Apart from that, there is no conventional timing belt type service for K series motors.  The valves are to be adjusted at 100k and only if noisy.

The water pump has the same non-existent maintenance schedule.  This confused me as well when I first looked at the K series maintenance schedule as it is the only honda motor that does not feature a replacement schedule.  I'm wary of it as well, but I keep tabs on honda's service news and they've made no mention of a change to the maintenance schedule.

[wai_pang2]

Thanks for spliting the timing chain from the spark plug thread for me. I was thinking of doing it but I got sidetracked. I know I know, "thinking" is not enough. But anyways, I'm just letting you know of the situation of what could happen even though the Timing chain has no service interval.

[Skippy]

Believe me, I know what can happen with a timing chain...you should see the handful of toasted K24/K20 franks that i've read about cranking, skipping teeth, and grenading...

[wai_pang2]

I'm not saying I don't believe you. Was that comment for Timot? anyways, you're talking about a franked motor. I'm talking about a stock K24. A timing chain for a stock K24 with no service interval should not give out at 120K. Hell, I've heard of Dodge Grand Caravans timing chains lasting well over 350K miles with no problems. I've never heard of any Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, or any japanese car manufacturers using Timing chains except for the nissan SR20DET. I'm wondering how many cases have there been for failed timing chains for the Accord.

[timot_one]

Not too many, considering how many K Series Accords and other K Series based Hondas and Acuras that are out there.  It's an uncommon occurrence that until now, I have never heard of on a stock K Series motor.  Don't forget that there was something wrong with the motor to begin with that was ignored, which most likely contributed to the failure of the motor.  If the owner/driver just ignored a problem that big, then who's to say that it wasn't caused by them to begin with?  Obviously, this was not a well maintained engine.  You should take that into consideration when forming your opinions and speculating about what happened.

[wai_pang2]

Just for everyone to know. Who's got the most miles on their stock Timing chain?

I'm not saying that it wasn't the owners fault for not maintaining the vehicle which contributed to the failure/destruction of the motor. What I was originally trying to find out is if there was a service interval on the timing chain and components which was answered already and that if there were other who experienced failure of the timing components. That's all I'm really trying to get at.

[Skippy]

I've seen several K series over 100k miles.  Since asking about car mileage is kinda in the same nether region as asking a girl how old she is, I'll let Timmy fill you in on his car's mileage, but he's up there.  Timing chains are no new news to the market, honda and acura have had them since the introduction of the K series in 2002, ford has had them for a great number of years, and nissan has them as well.  I know you are speaking of a stock motor instead of a frank, but I have seen zero timing chain failures in my time at acura...and trust me...I've seen some pretty destroyed K motors...

[ibcnunv]

Just for everyone to know. Who's got the most miles on their stock Timing chain?

121K on a 05CM5

[wtcii]

Just for everyone to know. Who's got the most miles on their stock Timing chain?

63K

[timot_one]

~140k on mine.

[wai_pang2]

Just for everyone to know. Who's got the most miles on their stock Timing chain?

63K

LOL, You don't count. you're not even in the 6 digits. J/K