I should really go change my timing belt 
OEM Timing Belts - do they really break?
- Thread starter DIY4quality
- Start date
My only experience with a broken timing belt, happened with my wife's old Kia Sportage. This was about 8 years ago. She had a 2000 Sportage, and one day we were taking a ride down the Parkway. I was thinking to myself ,man this thing runs nice .Then not 2 minutes later, it quit running. I tried starting it several times on the side of the rode, no dice. What appears to happen was the timing belt broke. I looked in the owners manual and it says to change the belt every 60k miles. We never changed it ,and the Kia had 104k on it. It cost $650 to change it out. No engine damage because it wasn't a interference engine design.,,
No and no. I'm also a military vet. Thank you for your service.
This is very perplexing to me that you're older than 25, not new to cars, but you've never heard of a timing belt breaking. And likewise, tyfys as well.
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- Dec 26, 2022
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Maybe if it was a flying car. Definitely could happen with a meteorite.
Exactly.
My parents sold their '85 Accord to a friend in 1993 to be his son's college car. He drove it a couple of years, and the timing belt broke on the interstate. Trashed some valves, probably ruined some pistons. I never got the full story on the repair but it was not cheap.
I traded my '94 Eclipse on a 2000 Sentra. A small indie shop had done my timing belt about 20,000 miles prior. Some lady bought the car and the timing belt broke when she drove it home. The dealership called me to ask me if there was any warranty on the timing belt, to which I had to answer no. Bent valves.
My brother lived just east of Ft Worth (NRH) for 20 yrs. at times in the summer (Temps 80-105ish) the humidity was dang near bayou-esque.
then we drove from FW to Carlsbad Caverns in early June one year... Midland/Odessa were some where around110, with near zero humidity.
Trying to clean the windsheild on mom's car at the gas stop, the water was basically evaporating almost faster than I could swipe it across the glass.
DFW at times feels like the edge of a swamp,
while Midland/Odessa is basically Tatooine
My son’s VW Jetta broke its timing belt 6000 miles short of the recommended change. Also way short of the “time” for change.
Had one stretch on a 2000 4 cylinder Camry.
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- Jan 5, 2021
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I would research my vehicle to see if it was an interference motor.I would research the maintenance records if I bought the car used.I would study the owners manual for its recommendations for changing it.Now as the owner you can access your risk,not everyone or every car will be the same,there is probably no correct answer, but maybe a I wish I would of done things a bit differently. The belt,idller and parts are a system
This is a belt out of my brother's old Corolla. It's only a month or so old. A seized idler caused this. Luckily, the engine was non-interference.
I think failure of belt related parts is more of a risk than the belt itself.
The timing belt in the Legend has ~180k miles on it. Yeah, replacement is overdue. The current belt was replaced 22 years ago, at 266k miles. According to the P/N on the work order, the independent shop used OEM Honda timing belt parts. The OEM parts list shows Unita, which I think is Gates.
I think failure of belt related parts is more of a risk than the belt itself.
The timing belt in the Legend has ~180k miles on it. Yeah, replacement is overdue. The current belt was replaced 22 years ago, at 266k miles. According to the P/N on the work order, the independent shop used OEM Honda timing belt parts. The OEM parts list shows Unita, which I think is Gates.
The belts do not break on their own, they break because something else failed.
Water pump seized, belt tensioner failed, idler pulley failed...
The belts have cords inside of them like a tire.
They are made of a synthetic rubber that is designed for high heat and contamination. The engine bay is a very very not friendly place for fragile things.
Do I have proof of them not failing on their own? Nope. Nothing other than experience.
Water pump seized, belt tensioner failed, idler pulley failed...
The belts have cords inside of them like a tire.
They are made of a synthetic rubber that is designed for high heat and contamination. The engine bay is a very very not friendly place for fragile things.
Do I have proof of them not failing on their own? Nope. Nothing other than experience.
So that really makes a strong case to use a kit for the replacement instead of just the belt alone.
I've had two OEM timing belts fail. First was on my Acura at 130K miles. I was cleaning and inspecting my mill and noticed that the timing belt was hanging by one third of the threads. I slowly drove it strait to the shop. Lucked out on this interference engine. Second was on my Honda at 120K miles. Girlfriend was driving and she grenaded the engine but good. Belt was intact but some of the teeth rotted out of it.
It has happened. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peekskill_meteorite
One of my ex's mom's had the same car and the timing belt broke and left her stranded. That was probably around 2010. So probably still the original belt.
Replaced timing belt in my 1999 Mazda Protege ES at 100,000 miles. Tensioner spring ate thru metal “grommet” on tensioner bracket 24,000 miles later causing belt to slip off pulleys. Luckily 1.8 FP motor is NON-interference. Bought new tensioner from Mazda and all was good again. Apparently, Mazda found out there was a design flaw, because new tensioner had a much better different design.
