But from what's been said here, I've been saved from unnecessary worry that it would be probable that the thing is going to snap every time I drive to the grocery store until I can get it to the shop to have the replacement done next week. I suspect that I might very well get years more service out of it were I to leave it untouched, but the risk simply is not worth it. I'm going to ask the mechanic to keep the old timing belt when I have it changed on the 24th so that I can see what it actually looks like. It's about mental comfort level with prioritizing more than anything else. That's one of the reasons I solicit input as to what different people's real world experiences have been, realizing that there are distinct outliers on the service life curve with both early and much later than expected failure. And I had the car checked over immediately before the trip, including belts, as is my normal practice before particularly long drives. The serpentine belt on my 1989 Cadillac, now owned by a friend, that looked to be perfectly fine just snapped on an interstate drive to see the solar eclipse a couple of years ago. This comes to mind.would timing belt just break or snap without any cracks?Īny belt can, they seldom do, but they can. Plus on top of that you have idle time which is not nicely accounted for on non-commercial gear.įind a good mechanic or shop that does plenty of work on imports. You do need to make it a priority though so you need to save what you can each payday until you can afford to get it done. If your losing sleep about this I would not let it do that. No one talks about or remembers those cars or trucks! For every engine with 300K miles with the original timing belt time belt components their are 20 cars or trucks with 150K that killed the engine by not servicing the belt and associated components. They can give you an opinion based on personal observation with very small sample sizes at best. No one can tell you with any sort of certainty any number outside of what the manufacture recommends. Just like not having the money to change your oil does not change anything with regard to how long you can put it off if you half too!!! Sadly not knowing about the service interval or failing to plan ahead and put money aside for it are not valid reasons. I really wish it were either clear or had a "viewing window" in it. It doesn't help that you can't get a visual on them without removing the cover, either. Given how "unsubstantial" the timing belt is in terms of belt construction (compared to drive belts of other types) it's not surprising that the compounds dry and crack more easily. Belts are another thing entirely, and some seem to be "virtually indestructible" while others show their age pretty easily. If my car had a timing chain (and no other reported problems, like with timing chain tensioners like a Jag I once owned did) I would never even be thinking about whether one "really needed to change it" at 80K miles, regardless of age. And the determination on "wiggle room" regarding replacement is directly dependent on which is the primary factor. In my decades with cars I have learned that age is "the real killer" on certain things while wear is on others. This is actually one of the things I really wanted to know. It gives a far better idea of what "wiggle room" one actually has with regard to changing if one can't do it on time, for any reason.Ĭlick to expand.Not that I have not valued all of the insights offered, but I wanted to give a big and specific shout-out of thanks for this one! I am curious as to what "extended mileages" those who have either needed to, or chosen to, go beyond the recommended interval noted above have achieved, either completely without incident, or up through the point where tragedy struck and the belt broke. And many things will, in actual practice, have a service life well beyond the recommended change interval. The above being said, there are plenty of occasions where things have to be put off, and for good reasons. That interval for the first change is 90K or 108 months (9 years), whichever comes first. It's always best to follow the manufacturer service intervals if/when you can. Hello topic on the timing chain has brought questions to the top of my mind regarding the timing belt in the V6 VVT (3MZ-FE) engines, like the one in my '04 Solara SLE, that use one.īefore I continue any further, I do know what the recommended service interval is, and am not encouraging anyone to ignore it.
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