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Timing Belt Replacement

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cyclone13

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2009
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I'm going for a road trip in the next couple of weeks. My car just turned 7 years old 2 months ago. Low mileage (50,000 mi). The recommendation in the manual says timing belt replacement at 7 years or 105,000 miles, whichever comes earlier.

Any suggestions whether I need to do it immediately. I'm still torn - it's $1k and since we're going for 2,700 miles road trip, it might be worth to have some peace of mind.

Thanks
 
The timing belt replacement costs 1k? Both my and my fiance's car have been replaced recently and it was definitely less than $200-$300 from what I remember.
 
I think I've heard with belts that time is more important than mileage because rubber decays. If it were me and I had the money I'd go ahead and do it but in all likelihood the odds are in your favor that you'd probably be fine if you didn't.
 
It depends on the car for how much it costs. I have a VW and you have to take (basically) take the front end off the car to do the job so it does cost about 1k for it. Lots of labor obviously. Also depending on the motor, if that timing belt breaks it can do serious damage to the motor.
 
Look for info on how to evaluate your timing belt online. If it is squeaking or cracked it is worn out. You should be able to check this yourself, and $1,000 to replace a fan belt would be about 12 hours of labor to install a $35-$60 part. Do not do it for that price. If you want to improve the operation of the car maybe have it tuned up with new wires, spark plugs, and fluids. Run some Sea Foam through your gas to clean the injectors, but if you are not throwing codes your car is operating fine. Also, check for leaks and inspect the cooling system. Just in case.
 
May be a dated belief, but if a car's timing belt breaks while the car is moving, the cost is 3-4 times higher. The camshaft/pistons are affected and it's a much bigger repair opposed to the belt breaking while idling, or just changing it as a preventive measure.

I would wait until it had 75-80K miles on the odometer
 
it might be that much because while thy have it apart you should replace your waterpump too. I had all of this done on my ford focus although it has 125,000 miles on it. just peace of mind and I hope to drive it many more years.
 
Yes, they will replace the waterpump too. It's a 2005 Honda Pilot. I think I'll just have it replaced, as it'll be no fun to have problems somewhere.
 
cyclone13 said:
Yes, they will replace the waterpump too. It's a 2005 Honda Pilot. I think I'll just have it replaced, as it'll be no fun to have problems somewhere.
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If you live in DM area call Tom Harger at Harger Auto 282-2821. Will be way less than $1,000 and he will not do the work if it doesn't need it. He only works on Honda's.
 
MadCy said:
It depends on the car for how much it costs. I have a VW and you have to take (basically) take the front end off the car to do the job so it does cost about 1k for it. Lots of labor obviously. Also depending on the motor, if that timing belt breaks it can do serious damage to the motor.
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We have a 2003 Jetta, and when we had the timing belt replaced last year, it was done for less than $400.
 
Yes, rubber oxidizes and becomes brittle with time. For metallic parts, you really only have to worry about use. With non-metallic parts, simple exposure to the ambient environment causes decay even without use. I'd change it.
 
Jambalaya said:
May be a dated belief, but if a car's timing belt breaks while the car is moving, the cost is 3-4 times higher. The camshaft/pistons are affected and it's a much bigger repair opposed to the belt breaking while idling, or just changing it as a preventive measure.

I would wait until it had 75-80K miles on the odometer
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this happened to one of my buddies...timing belt went out and pretty much destroyed his engine

luckily he had bought an extended warranty because it cost between 4 and 5k to repair all the damage done
 
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Jambalaya said:
May be a dated belief, but if a car's timing belt breaks while the car is moving, the cost is 3-4 times higher. The camshaft/pistons are affected and it's a much bigger repair opposed to the belt breaking while idling, or just changing it as a preventive measure.

I would wait until it had 75-80K miles on the odometer
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if the timing belt goes when you are driving, time for a new engine.

i've owned a honda, and $1k seems closer to the quotes than $200. replace the water pump too because if that goes, the timing belt will go as well, and when they have the timing belt off, the pump is easy to get at.
 
If it was me I'd take a look at the belt and unless it looked weathered, I'd wait. 50k miles is pretty low to be changing the belt. Our friends has a 2005 with 105K miles and they just changed theirs at 100k. I've never heard of one of these breaking with so low of miles.
 
dmclone said:
If it was me I'd take a look at the belt and unless it looked weathered, I'd wait. 50k miles is pretty low to be changing the belt. Our friends has a 2005 with 105K miles and they just changed theirs at 100k. I've never heard of one of these breaking with so low of miles.
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I agree. I guess I was assuming that this timing belt was not exposed to the elements, unlike a fan belt or some serpentine belts. Probably a bad assumption on my part.
 
I just changed the timing belt and pump on a 04 Accord with over 140,000 miles on the belt. I wouldn't be worried at all about the trip. I did it myself using a Haynes in about 4 hours and less than $200 in parts so $1000 seems extremely high. That included a new serpentine belt, new spark plugs, idler pulleys for both the serpentine belt and timing belt and anti-freeze. I even used the honda anti-freeze. If it is the same engine(3.1L), it is also not likely to be ruined if your belt snaps.
 
CyPride said:
if the timing belt goes when you are driving, time for a new engine.

i've owned a honda, and $1k seems closer to the quotes than $200. replace the water pump too because if that goes, the timing belt will go as well, and when they have the timing belt off, the pump is easy to get at.
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I had the timing belt go out on me while driving in a 93 Ford Escort twice, both on Highway 30 right before the cloverleaf. Didn't need a new engine. That car made it until last year, when I donated it to the local FDPT for training. I saw the flipping and smashing, but I missed the torching.


Edit: I'm pretty sure the Escort didn't have an interference engine, if this matters.
 
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