My 2012 Civic with R18 engine is coming up on 100K miles. The manual, dealer, and others recommend a 100,000 mile valve check since the engine does not have hydraulic lifters.
My Honda dealer charges about a grand for this check including replacing the water pump and a new drive belt. This is outrageous in my opinion. If I wanted, and I don't, I could check the valves myself, it isn't hard to do. The water pump is pumping coolant just find and the drive belt has no signs of cracking or any other kind of wear. When I point this out to the service advisor their standard comeback is "that's just what we do at 100K miles as standard practice". When I ask about replacing a perfectly good water pump they answer that it's going to go out eventually any way.
My independent shop says that unless your valve train is making ticking noises, leave it alone and the water pumps are known for lasting a long time. They said they very seldom replace them or do valve checks as they point to two Hondas, one with 400K+ miles and another with 300K+ plus miles on it, both with no valve check done.
Question for those qualified to answer: does a valve check really have any value (other than an expensive peace of mind) if the car runs like new and the engine has no valve train noise? Thank you very much.
My Honda dealer charges about a grand for this check including replacing the water pump and a new drive belt. This is outrageous in my opinion. If I wanted, and I don't, I could check the valves myself, it isn't hard to do. The water pump is pumping coolant just find and the drive belt has no signs of cracking or any other kind of wear. When I point this out to the service advisor their standard comeback is "that's just what we do at 100K miles as standard practice". When I ask about replacing a perfectly good water pump they answer that it's going to go out eventually any way.
My independent shop says that unless your valve train is making ticking noises, leave it alone and the water pumps are known for lasting a long time. They said they very seldom replace them or do valve checks as they point to two Hondas, one with 400K+ miles and another with 300K+ plus miles on it, both with no valve check done.
Question for those qualified to answer: does a valve check really have any value (other than an expensive peace of mind) if the car runs like new and the engine has no valve train noise? Thank you very much.