Honda Car Forum

My timing belt is making a noise. I assume it is hitting the cover or something. Is the 1997 ACURA Cl vtec v6 an interference engine? I need to know so I will know if I need to park it until the belt is changed. I paid $2000 for the car and changed the cv joints which totalled $150.00 plus new brakes. All together I have $2200.00 in the car. Is it worth a timing belt or should I sell it? It runs good but I have a strut popping. Thanks for any answers.

the timming belt should have been changed about 80,000 miles...if you bought the car without it being changed then yes you oughta change it, IF you're going to keep the car.the car is 11 (12 if it was bought new in 1996) yrs old, you can't expect things on it to last forever, especially if you aren't the first owner and you don't have repair records to make sure things were taken care of.

Yes, Honda's J Series (SOHC, V6) engines are all 'interference' engines, where a broken belt will result in collision between a piston head & a valve.Only you can determine if the car is worth keeping. Changing the belt will run approx. $600+ range which should include chainging the water pump at the same time...that's a customary practice since the water pump is accessable during the timing belt change. So...for ~ $600 - $700 you'll gain another 90K miles of drivability on the new timing belt/water pump, compared to whaterver costs you'll incure if you go and buy another vehicle. Personally, if the car's in reasonably good shape, $2,200 for a CL seems like a rather good price. If you take care of it, it should last for some time.