yep dealerships charge about 800 bucks for the timing belt service. if i'm not mistaken you're supposed to get a valve adjustment as part of the service as well. new valve cover and associated gaskets too. yes its pricey but for something as crucial as your timing belt, it may be worth the peace of mind getting factory OEM parts/fluid/service BUT...beware of douche bag service techs. some dealers have awesome tech training and hiring regimens, but you'd have to have an inside source at that dealership to know the quality of the crew working there.

if you have a local independent shop that you trust, and insist that they use OEM parts, you may only spend half or less of that 800 dollar price tag.

of course, if you're mechanically inclined you can do it yourself, but if its your first time, I wouldnt recommend it. unless you're surrounded by experienced honda guys with all the proper tools and know-how, then dont do it, a mistake in the install could mean much more $$$ than the money saved by not going to the dealer.

when i did the timing belt on my GF's CRV, the first hitch was the damn crank pulley bolt. after borrowing all sorts of tools from friends, i still couldnt get the damn thing loose. mind you, i have my own air compressor and impact guns of decent quality (snap-on). i ended up going to my old professor at the school i went to and borrowed his big ass impact gun. after 5-6 hours of delay i finally got the crank pulley bolt off.

then the pulley didnt want to come off. great, more delays. i eventually got that off and got water pump, belt tensioner, coolant in and it was time to put the belt on. i double checked to see if the teeth were lined up and all that and it looked good to me. mind you, it was 2am. i drive the car around the block and it wont accelerate. damn it was a tooth off.

luckily if its only 1-2 teeth off, no mechanical damage is done, but its definitely not good for the car.

anyway, i probably put in like 14-16 hours into the job, for a car that ran exactly the same as it did when it first pulled into my garage. the best part, i didnt get paid a dime. in fact i even bought the parts too. what a lucky gf i have haha.

the point is, in my opinion, sometimes paying extra is worth not dealing with the BS and hassles of doing it yourself in the first place.

the dealer would have finished the job in 4-6 hours with an average tech. I've done timing belts in shop environments in 3 hours, but thats with a car on the lift and all the correct tools at my disposal. the delays i had at home were tool related (crank pulley bolt, crank pulley puller, cam gear holders, etc), and not having a lift is a big time delay.