Pushing the envelope on timing belt change

Beano

Beano

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I have a lady friend and am helping her with her car. It has always been driven carefully...owned by an older lady for years.

She doesn't want to spend any more money.

The Dayco timing belt sticker on the engine says it was changed 5 years and 54,000 Ks ago. This 2005 Kia Cerato has belt change intervals of 96 to 160,000 Ks.

However the received wisdom is that timing belts should be changed every 5 years if that comes first.

Given that it is a Dayco, and not some inferior brand, and given the careful way it was driven (without fanging it around), what are peoples'

opinions about leaving it for a while ? In terms of kilometres, it has a lot to go. But on the downside, it is an interference engine:sick:
 
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Beano I'd check with the KIa handbook. They would give both a time/distance criteria from their maintenance and warranty view point.
Name brand timing belts can do a 'bit' extra but at what point does the rubber band go bang?
The GLW's Fiesta ran overtime and a little far and was changed when the water pump did wee's. The car doesn't really heat up as most of the drives are 15km or less so the belt is not heat cycled but Number One Kidult has a lead foot so stress then factors in.
:drink:
Brendan
 
The Kia handbook says that belt change intervals are 96,000 to 160,000 Ks.

It's only done 54,000 Ks since last changed.

Surely the equation is more skewed towards Ks than age ?
 
Two timing belt breaks in a BT50, one fatal to the engine at around 50,000 k's from change makes me nervous.
 
When it comes to timing belts, I'm conservative. Cost could come in to play, but I'd be focussed on the interval as well as the distance.
 
Go for the 96,000km interval, may last longer than the owner.
The Fiesta was 'pretty close' to failure according to my mechanic mate (Known Jeff since I was 16). It wasn't in the service manual and was told that it was a chain drive....Stupidly I didn't follow through.
:drink:
Brendan
PS Jeff has just retired and did the 'stuff' I didn't have time for or the equipment. Mutual respect. Hope he has a grand retirement chasing the Grand Kids around.
 
My intuition tells me to give it a year or a bit more. That's plenty of time to save up for a change and only about another 10,000 Ks
 
My opinion is that the belts I have seen have never gone bang before or after the distance recommended unless there is another serious reason ! The most common reason in my experience is oil leaks causing the belt "rubber" to softened and rot. the second one is another item at the front end has failed, like a fan belt or crank pulley or idler and taken the timing belt out in the chaos. If a timing belt had a straight tensile break then something has got into the belt cover area. IMHO
So my advice is check for these things and if all OK then continue on.
Jaahn
 
Just for a complete cover, on Renault engines the timing belt idler pulleys can and do fail at lowish Kms not far over the recommended Kms. The mode is by cracking of the hard plastic of the pulley OD and then shedding chunks if not found. This can lead to the belt jumping a few teeth or the bits breaking the belt, both mean bent valves and a head off rebuild. Just saying for completeness.
Jaahn
 
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My Grandmother's Daihatsu Charade (bought new in 1993) still had the original belt on it when she gave up her licence in 2014. I think it had about 30,000 km on it at the time.

Personally, I'd prefer to change them at about 5 years, but there's probably a lot of low mileage cars around with 10 year old timing belts on them.
 
My 2002 Renault Laguna V6 had its first timing belt change at 118,000 Km in 2016. Belt changes are at 120,000 Km intervals. There is no time stated anywhere I can find. It also has metal idler and metal belt tensioner, so no plastics to degrade over time with heat.
 
spose it could come into the same catagory as a sealed for life gearbox ,belt lasts the life of the engine, when the belt is stuffed so is the engine ,a visual inspection could help but in my experience not conclusive ,depends on what you think the cars worth compared to the belt replacement ,or coolent pump idlers and belt and be done with it ,
 
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