Honda Problems

ARE you feeling lucky, Linda? Even though you haven't done a high mileage, the timing belts still deteriorate over time. The consequences of breaking a belt on a Honda don't bear thinking about. The result will be expensive repairs to the engine's internals. I'd replace the belt as it's well over five years old.

THANKS for sharing your experience. Flashlube is one of many additives that can be added to unleaded fuel to protect against valve seat wear.

I'm afraid I take a conservative approach, so I would change the belt as Honda recommends. The belts do deteriorate as they age -- it's not just a question of mileage -- and the engine will sustain expensive damage if it breaks. Same goes for the Toyota. It should really be changed after about five years to avoid potentially expensive damage to the engine internals.

I can't explain the pricing policy of the fuel companies. But by law you are not permitted to use anything other than unleaded petrol in a car designed to use unleaded, that is, a car sold after 1986.

There have been problems with the timing belt breaking on the Astra engine, and the service interval has been cut from 120,000km to 60,000km. And there have been problems with the belt tensioner. Some have lost pressure and failed, and the belts have then broken.

Are all the pulleys turning as they should? It could be the belts are slipping because one of the pulleys isn't turning freely, or turning at all. Another possibility is that a slipping belt has worn a pulley to the point where it doesn't have a good grip. If that's the case, try scuffing the pulley with some sandpaper or similar abrasive material to rough the surface up a little. But I would check first for a pulley that isn't turning freely.

Your engine is an all-alloy unit with hardened valve-seat inserts in the cylinder head, so it will survive on a diet of unleaded fuel without a problem. If you're concerned about it, have your valve clearances adjusted to specification, then run the engine on unleaded for six months or so and recheck the clearances. If there's little change, a thousandth of an inch or so, it's fine and you can keep running on unleaded. If the clearances reduce significantly, by three or four thousandths of an inch, then go back to running it on LRP or have the head fitted with new, harder valve seats that are available at most cylinder head specialists.