Honda V6 AISIN TKH-002 Timing Belt Kit – My review

Maybe just me but I would never go to the trouble of doing a complete timing belt/water pump replacement and install a 10 year old belt, especially when my kit includes a brand new Mitsuboshi top shelf belt. Of course maybe the 7/08 refers to something other than manufacturing date.
 
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... Of course maybe the 7/08 refers to something other than manufacturing date.

Using oil filter boxes as an example, there the box date generally stands for when it (the box) was first printed, ie., box print edition date. The filter itself is made anytime from that point to current and has a manufacture date directly on the filter. That could be the case here. Another less likely possibility, date of manufacture could be on a stick on label on the outside of the box for timing belt.

So just to clarify, the Gates T329 belt sold at O'R or RA, Amazon, or ebay is made in Japan and would be OE, just may not say UNITTA anymore?

Honestly after reading this thread and looking at the pics of the AISIN kit, I'm thinking the Thai Mitsuboshi belt of is equivalent quality to OE imo.
 
Originally Posted By: artbuc
Maybe just me but I would never go to the trouble of doing a complete timing belt/water pump replacement and install a 10 year old belt, especially when my kit includes a brand new Mitsuboshi top shelf belt. Of course maybe the 7/08 refers to something other than manufacturing date.


There always has to be at least one wet blanket to rain on the parade...

Anyway, don't know the accuracy but here is an Amazon review that has a pic of a broken Mitsuboshi CD329 belt claimed to have broke after just 25k miles: "Bad quality timing belt DO NOT BUY" link -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revie...ASIN=B008EEYTRE

That provided enough reasonable doubt in my mind to pay $22.99 for the Gates/Unitta belt.
 
Wet blanket? Mitsuboshi is one of the best, if not the best manufacturer of timing belts in the world. Tens of thousands (or God knows how many) Japanese cars have left the factory with Mitsuboshi belts. If you are going to select a brand based on a single Amazon review you are going to make a lot of mistakes. Who knows how that belt was installed? Who knows if that belt was genuine? Counterfeit parts are everywhere these days. Buying from 3rd party sellers on Amazon is tricky business. You said you were going to ask Gates for date of manufacturer which is a good move. If you would rather install a ten year old NOS than a brand new Mitsuboshi it is perfectly ok with me.
 
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Originally Posted By: artbuc
Wet blanket? Mitsuboshi is one of the best, if not the best manufacturer of timing belts in the world. Tens of thousands (or God knows how many) Japanese cars have left the factory with Mitsuboshi belts. If you are going to select a brand based on a single Amazon review you are going to make a lot of mistakes. Who knows how that belt was installed? Who knows if that belt was genuine? Counterfeit parts are everywhere these days. Buying from 3rd party sellers on Amazon is tricky business. You said you were going to ask Gates for date of manufacturer which is a good move. If you would rather install a ten year old NOS than a brand new Mitsuboshi it is perfectly ok with me.


The question one might ask is why would Honda go out of their way using two vendors; Unitta for the timing belt and Mitsuboshi for the accessory drive belt? Who knows for sure but I'll take Honda's word on that.

The Amazon review link I posted above didn't translate over correctly. The pics are on page 3 of the customer reviews for anyone who wants to see them. I'll try to post them here later when I'm back at my home computer -> https://www.amazon.com/Aisin-TKH-002-Eng...uct_top?ie=UTF8
 
Sorry to say this but you really do not understand very much about car manufacturing supply chains. Honda has several suppliers. One car might come out with Mitsuboshi accessory belt and Gates Unitta timing belt. Another might come out exactly opposite. A third might come out with all Bando. Do what you want.
 
Honestly I wouldn't even give this a second thought. IMO the belt will be as good as the day it was made, if the cardboard box its in isn't deteriorating I doubt the tough rubber belt inside is.

As far as Amazon reviews go when someones something like it broke in X amount of time or miles they tend to leave out the rest of the story.
My brother Bob the moron tightened the thing as tight as a bow string, it was only making a little noise so we figured it would stretch to fit, then it broke. Amazon review = Don't buy this piece of junk it broke in 25K.

49.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Honestly I wouldn't even give this a second thought. IMO the belt will be as good as the day it was made, if the cardboard box its in isn't deteriorating I doubt the tough rubber belt inside is.

As far as Amazon reviews go when someones something like it broke in X amount of time or miles they tend to leave out the rest of the story.
My brother Bob the moron tightened the thing as tight as a bow string, it was only making a little noise so we figured it would stretch to fit, then it broke. Amazon review = Don't buy this piece of junk it broke in 25K.

49.gif



Trav, if you eliminated all items from your life with Amazon negative reviews you would be living in the woods under a rock. Eg, I have two Samsung Smart TV’s, both a few years old and both with beautiful pictures and flawless performance. Got them both from Amazon even though they had 10-15% one star ratings from people who claimed these TVs are nothing but pure junk. So, who on this planet makes a better TV than Samsung? LG? Check out their Amazon reviews.

Re the belt, I was not arguing against the NOS Gates belt (unless it is really 10 years old)...just saying I would have used the Mitsuboshi belt already paid for in the kit. OP thinks because his vehicle came with Mitsuboshi accessory belt and Gates Unitta timing belt, Honda considers Mitsuboshi inferior for timing belt service. Totally erroneous conclusion imo. I would be more concerned about “set” in the NOS belt than rubber deterioration.
 
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Originally Posted By: GemStater
The question one might ask is why would Honda go out of their way using two vendors; Unitta for the timing belt and Mitsuboshi for the accessory drive belt? Who knows for sure but I'll take Honda's word on that.


There could be a myriad of reasons and not a single one may have to do with quality.

You used the tensioner included with this kit, yes ? If so, watch out....

"Installed in March 2017. Tensioner went bad within 6 months of install - belt slipped bending most of my valves. It looks like this belt is costing me well over a $1,000 - very disappointing to say the least."
 
You are right of course. Amazon reviews are pretty much meaningless unless its an overwhelming positive or negative number with all the same pro or con.
Personally I would have probably just used the belt in the kit but the one he used is fine. I guess he figured they made the original and it is made in Japan so its probably better.

I can understand that, its a safe approach when in doubt. As far as the review on the tensioner is concerned its not worth the breath to repeat IMO.
The unit was made by the OE supplier and in all probability the exact same unit he would get at the dealer.
Who knows what people do when installing stuff, was it a true failure of something uncle Joe did when he used a salad fork and tongues on it trying to shoehorn the thing in there after he pulled the pin like a hand grenade.

I don't see any issues with the OP's job or the parts he used and he did a nice write up. Kudos.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
You are right of course. Amazon reviews are pretty much meaningless unless its an overwhelming positive or negative number with all the same pro or con.
Personally I would have probably just used the belt in the kit but the one he used is fine. I guess he figured they made the original and it is made in Japan so its probably better.

I can understand that, its a safe approach when in doubt. As far as the review on the tensioner is concerned its not worth the breath to repeat IMO.
The unit was made by the OE supplier and in all probability the exact same unit he would get at the dealer.

He pick and chose reviews to justify his case of switching out the included belt. Same applies to the review of the belt that failed, does it not ?

I bought and used that same kit for our '05 Odyssey. Not sure how many miles we put on it before someone hit my wife in it and the insurance totaled it on us....
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
You are right of course. Amazon reviews are pretty much meaningless unless its an overwhelming positive or negative number with all the same pro or con.
Personally I would have probably just used the belt in the kit but the one he used is fine. I guess he figured they made the original and it is made in Japan so its probably better.

I can understand that, its a safe approach when in doubt. As far as the review on the tensioner is concerned its not worth the breath to repeat IMO.
The unit was made by the OE supplier and in all probability the exact same unit he would get at the dealer.
Who knows what people do when installing stuff, was it a true failure of something uncle Joe did when he used a salad fork and tongues on it trying to shoehorn the thing in there after he pulled the pin like a hand grenade.

I don't see any issues with the OP's job or the parts he used and he did a nice write up. Kudos.


Trav, I appreciate the kind words from you and the others here who found my write-up helpful to their upcoming timing belt project.

My main objective for my timing belt project was an attempt to use quality factory correct OEM parts and avoid paying the hefty premium for essentially the same parts in Honda packaging. I can't speak for others, but for my application, the AISIN kit is 90% Factory OEM, the only anomaly being the timing belt. By substituting the Gates/Unitta Japanese made belt I feel I bridged the gap to 100% factory OEM. Objective met! This is right for me. Other individuals are completely free to do whatever they please with their projects. No need for a heated debate. If this thread helps someone out, great! If not, that's okay too.
 
Regarding shelf life or storage of Timing Belts, I dug this up at Gates...

Originally Posted By: Gates RMA Bulletin IP-3-4 (1997)
"Storage policy is typically not applicable to synchronous belts since they are a positive drive system and the belts
use high modulus, low growth cords so tension loss is not seen in the belts." - LINK
 
Great looking kit!

I just put in a kit from Mizumo on Ebay with a Aisin pump, GMB tensioners and idlers, and a Mitsuboshi belt. But I think I paid a tad over $200. I wish I has seen this Aisin kit; I would have gone with it.

I think the Koyo idler and tensioner in this kit is probably a bit better than GMB.

In my 2005 Odyssey with 205k miles, the belt looked like the original. Water pump was a Honda-branded Yamata and looked better quality than the Aisin I put in. Original Koyo tensioner and idler were starting to show some play in the bearings...
 
Originally Posted By: GemStater
....My main objective for my timing belt project was an attempt to use quality factory correct OEM parts and avoid paying the hefty premium for essentially the same parts in Honda packaging......

And I would say, Mission Accomplished. Does exactly that with excellent comparison pics.

As for the belt debate, I could see where reading the one Amazon review might have left you questioning the Mitsu belt. Otoh, some of the other one star reviews left me wondering if the all important proper installation of parts a factor in them.

Still wondering if the Gates belt made in Japan from O'R is equivalent to or same as the Gates Unitta belt? Just updated box?

Extra Gates belt or not, the Aisin kit looks good to me and answered my questions about the other parts besides the water pump.
 
Okay, just got off the phone with Dale Colgan over at Gates.

There is a letter/number code on the box as well as some numbers on the belt. For example, on my box label is D1. D = April and 1 = 2011. So my belt was made in April 2011, according to Mr. Colgan.

Mr. Colgan said they do not use the letter O or I in their date codes. He also said this belt is getting up there in age at 7-years old but as long as it was stored in the original box and care was taken not to bend or contort the belt it should be fine. He also said that if the box is stored on it's side it can affect the high tensile cords in the belt as well.

Below is a pic of the box date code of the belt I viewed at O'Riley's. For example, it was made on August of 2017 = H7, as I understand it.

I'm not too concerned about using a belt made in 2011, however, if I had to do it over again, I'd buy the timing belt from a local parts house where I could confirm the date code myself and get the freshest belt possible. This makes sense and was a great piece of information for the future projects. O'Riley says they price match which may or may not include e-Bay, Amazon or other on-line sites?

27386952277_3ea7fe13b8_c.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: GemStater
There is a letter/number code on the box as well as some numbers on the belt. For example, on my box label is D1. D = April and 1 = 2011. So my belt was made in April 2011, according to Mr. Colgan.


Based on what you were told plus the fact that they manufacture enough belts in single runs that they generally know will last many, many years sitting on a shelf, there should be no need to worry.
 
No worries, that time does not include how long it is in service only storage before being used. Last year I changed a 110K 23 yr old original timing belt, it looked surprisingly good, no cracks or abnormal wear.
 
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