Timing belts?

[ablang]

I was wondering... How important is changing timing belts on a car?

It is recommended (Nissan) to change every 60,000 miles. I bought my car last year (a 1988 Nissan 300ZX) with like 31000 miles on it. The dealer is nagging me to change it based on age alone. But the best deal I can find is for $200.00

Should I do it, or let it ride?

[thekingofpain]

It could be premature unless there is a history of them failing at a higher rate, 200$ might be a good investment, if it breaks it can take 100's if not 1000's of dollars worth of parts out with it...

Bet yer buying a belt huh?

[desmocat]

Well, lets put it this way, MR timing belt breaks while going down the road, Mr. valve meets Mr.piston when this was never meant to be, and alas you are now out the money for a cylinder head and maybe a new block, as well as new pistons.

Take a look at the belts and if you see a lot of cracks or chunks missing,teeth gone etc,, go a head and change them.
The belts(if they are original) are 14 years old and I myself would go ahead and change them just to prevent any problems.

Can you ask the previous owner if they have ever had them changed?

[Warthog]

For my car ('86 bmw) it can cause about $1200-1500 in repair costs, so I've heard.

Buy the parts separately (if the shop will allow you to do so) and that will greatly reduce the cost

Of course, I did that for a front strut replacement deal (bought the front struts) and they end up replacing the wheel bearing at an exhorbant cost of $88 when one would cost $20 new..................

Anyway, typically cost a 200-300 to pay someone to do it. For my car, I saw an online guide and they said 5-8h of work. No thanks for me

Warthog

[daveleau]

My view on this is that I would not worry about it unless it is a car that is damaged when the TB goes. I had a Honda whose TB went and it tore up other components of the engine, totaling the car. My Toyota Celica TB went and did nothing to the engine. They just replaced the water pump (normal op procedure int his situation) and the TB. So, I would find out if the car is damaged if it goes out. If not, then I would let it go.
Dave

Nissans are bad about bending the valves when the belt snaps.

I would go ahead and replace it.

[samwichse]

I would do it at least every 100,000 miles. It's just way to critical to say "let it ride" and you can't inspect the belt because it's usually hidden under a gaurd that if you remove to look, it will be just an ounce more work to replace the belt.

I'd say do it!

Note my pushrod driven engine has no belt to break, it may be inefficient and loud , but I'm not too worried about binding a valve and a piston up at 3000 rpms (a awful noise if you ever heard it, not only becuase it's loud but because it's the sound of thepain your car is in)

[Kruzin]

Every 60k miles is what is generally reccommended, and I stick to that.
I used to work in car dealerships, and have seen too many heads trashed by a timing belt that goes bad. It can be an extremely expensive repair if you let it go.
My car recently hit 60k, and I did the timing belt. It showed expected wear, and could have easily broken in the next 10-20k miles. If it had, it would have easily cost me 10x what replacing the belt cost.

If you value your car, do it.

[Sweet]

The timing belt will break when your car reaches 60,001 !!! It was real expensive on my old prelude. My advice is to listen to Kruzin, it sounds like he knows best!!!!

Yep, Kruzin is about right. When I worked in a garage they broke at around 70k-80k miles.