My CD5 VTI

I have researched and read poor things about Gold Coast Honda dealership service departments...

But might have to give it a shot I guess?

I too am not convinced by the Honda Service Centre up here, as with all mechanics, there are good ones and bad ones. Its human nature in business.

However, Im working on the theory that the Honda Service Centre has a workshop manual for a CD5 at their fingertips.

True... but any mechanic worth their salt will either have it or Google at hand...

hey troy,

haven't had this problem with a honda at all yet, but I have with a couple of other cars... it could be (but is not limited to) 1 of 2 things -

1) The belt is too tight (and needs to be loosened a fraction),

or

2) The belt, all-be-it the correct one, has come out of the factory a mm or 2 too wide (happens occasionally) and althought it fits, the sides are rubbing against the pulleys... however I doubt that it is this problem because as the mechanic said leave it for a while and it might go away, but it hasn't... i don't necessarily think that he was dodgy or trying to palm you off, as this is a common problem with belts in various models, but once again, clearly not this problem as it still hasn't gone away...

Hope this helps...

Mechanic was trying to palm me off LOL!

My dad did it :)

So I took it in to the Honda dealer today to get a quote on proper tensioning of the timing belt. He looked my car up and it hasn't been to a Honda dealer in over 10 years!

Apparently a long time back Honda issued a recall on some seals/gaskets or whatever behind the timing belt, so they have ordered the parts from Melbourne and we've booked it in next week.

So I guess that's a plus for taking it to a dealer regularly, they keep full records of the vehicle's history!

That's good to hear. For 5 years, I kept forgetting to bring my log book in when I was getting service done!

Car is at the dealers, didn't get finished yesterday as they found some more seals in desperate need of replacement. Gave them the go ahead while they had it in parts.

I hope I get it back tomorrow, all nice and quiet and running happy that is.

P.S. updated first post quite a bit.

Car back today, noise seems to still be there but noticeably quieter than before. They say it is running really good now so that's the main thing.

Next up is to get some smash repairs quotes, how much to finish up the front end and make it look clean again. Pending on cost is whether I seriously consider doing this car up a bit or not.

So the noise is practically gone now. Still there if I'm really listening for it. I think it will be completely gone soon enough. Very interesting, it seems the theory is true for me that the belt will stretch just a bit more and the whine will go away.

Had a client come in the other day and I fixed his computer. Turns out he runs a smash repairs shop very close to my work. He had a quick look and said $400-500 would most likely cover the lot to be completely finished up properly. I am very tempted. It's a bit embarrassing driving such a nice car around in the current state. I think it deserves a bit better!

Then I can move on with improving handling. Anyone got any info on what suspension mods they have done to their CD5? Sway bars? Coilovers? Anything else, like I am researching and finding that I need to put extra bracing on the subframe before adding sways/coilovers?

It depends how much improvement you want from your car

My suggestion is good Tyres, good coilovers and solid sway bars

And replace all your tired bushings with polyurethane bushes while your at it too

Thanks sugz. At them moment I am running fairly new tyres. They are Bridgestone Turanza, forget the exact model and size right now, maybe ER300?. But I have been very impressed with them. I have just hit 5000 k's on them and had a rotation/balance check on the weekend.

Do you have any recommended places to buy suspension parts to suit the CD5? Looking to add sway bars soon, possibly replaces bushes as you have said. Any sort of subframe bracing to suit as I have seen others talking about?

Then once all that's sorted would have to save up again and get coilovers. It sounds like the right order to do it in, get the bars and bushes all sorted so that the last thing to do is coilovers and then I know it's all done right. Rather than have the coilovers installed and then have other problems crop up.

To put it in a nutshell I want it to handle just excellent. For a weekend bash up and down the mountain. Right now I am not too bothered about power. Stock engine pulls strong (esp. with A/C OFF) and when pushed it can keep up reasonably well. I think I'd like to get the handling sorted first. That and of course it is going to need a brake service soon. As we skimmed the discs last time I think I will be up for new rotors. Looking at upgrading at least the fronts to some slotted for better performance.

Cheers