Timing belt reliability

[Dave Sherman]

Feeling a little anxious about the Pilot's timing belt. Never had a vehicle with one before. I was of the opinion that the J35 is pretty widely used on various models, and it's been around for a while, so provided you stick to the replacement schedule you'll be OK. But I keep reading about fringe cases where it failed prematurely, or it was replaced and the replacement failed soon after. The latter I suppose could be attributed to faulty repairs or aftermarket parts that were not up to snuff.

Is it safe to say that the odds of it failing are probably no worse than having a serpentine belt break prematurely or having a timing chain break? Those happen too, but rarely. Maybe I'm overly paranoid after experiencing a plastic timing gear failure on a GM Iron Duke that left me stalled on the side of the highway. I suppose I could always take one of the upper guards off and eyeball the belt while rotating the engine through a few turns to make sure it looks healthy.

Let me guess, I should probably be more worried about the VCM!

 

[PimTac]

Timing belts fail mainly because of poor maintenance. Owners leave them in until they go then blame the manufacturer.

Check your owners manual and see when the belt needs replacing.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Timing belts fail mainly because of poor maintenance. Owners leave them in until they go then blame the manufacturer.

Check your owners manual and see when the belt needs replacing.


+1

 

[mclasser]

On the Pilot I've heard of the tensioner failing before the actual belt.

 

[Kestas]

I believe it's true for other cars, and not just the Pilot. More often than not, it's the idler or tensioner that gives out and not the belt itself. That's why the timing belt kits are so popular, which include the idler and tensioner.

 

[CharBaby]

With our experience of Honda Timing Belts, they last much longer than the MFG suggested replacement.
And for replacement, it is alway your best bet to use OE such a Aisin & Mitsuboshi(NOT Mitsubishi).

Aisin & Mitsuboshi are the OE suppliers for many(if not all) Honda/Acura & Toyota/Lexus models. Aisin water pumps & tensioners and Mitsuboshi timing belt & serpentine belts/pulleys.

The whole shabang comes in either the Aisin Kit or the Mitsuboshi Kit

 

[Chris142]

Timing belts dont usually break. The teeth fall off then the belt no longer grabs the gears.

 

[SnowDrifter]

It's easy to claim XYZ is unreliable when you use bottom barrel parts. Use OE kits for timing belts

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The difference is that a broken serpentine belt doesn't cause the catastrophic damage that can be done by a broken or stretched timing belt. And timing belts are much more difficult to replace than the serpentine belts as well.

Get the Aisin kit with the OEM components. I don't know enough about the Gates Racing blue timing belt, but maybe it might be stronger than OE.

Somebody should make a metal timing belt.

 

[benjy]

ANYTHING in the belt system along with the belt will have the same results $$$$$, so replace everything when doing the belt. people living in hotter climates report earlier failures due to more heat under the hood, so i opened my hood after a hot drive + put a short prop under it leaving it open a foot or less if in a "decent" area. pay me now or a lot $$$$$$$ more later if it goes while at speed + the valves get bent $$$$$$$$ most manufactures also have a time limit as well, better safe than sorry-very sorry $$$$$$$

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Timing belts fail mainly because of poor maintenance. Owners leave them in until they go then blame the manufacturer.

Check your owners manual and see when the belt needs replacing.


Unless I'm missing something, the only maintenance required is to replace the belt after a certain mileage threshold is reached, depends, somewhere between 60K and 100K miles. So if it breaks before then, its defective, not due to poor maintenance.

 

[KGMtech]

Replace at recommended mileage or time. Sleep well until it's due. FWIW...I've done VW, Toyota, Mazda, Honda belts at the recommended interval, and they all looked able to go much farther.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
The difference is that a broken serpentine belt doesn't cause the catastrophic damage that can be done by a broken or stretched timing belt. And timing belts are much more difficult to replace than the serpentine belts as well.

Get the Aisin kit with the OEM components. I don't know enough about the Gates Racing blue timing belt, but maybe it might be stronger than OE.

Somebody should make a metal timing belt.


Dunno--snap a serpentine and I bet a good number of people would keep on driving. "Don't know why it's beeping, all I know is that it's hard to steer!"

Metal timing belt? That could go a few ways... Timing chain, can can last long time. Or not. Or like the belt that they use in CVT's. Which we all know don't last long.

 

[Onetor]

A few years ago I changed a timing belt with over 100,000 miles and the belt still looked brand new. Follow the owner's manual and you will be golden. Although; anything mechanical can fail at anytime. Just follow what the engineers recommend.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Originally Posted by Dave Sherman
Feeling a little anxious about the Pilot's timing belt. Never had a vehicle with one before. I was of the opinion that the J35 is pretty widely used on various models, and it's been around for a while, so provided you stick to the replacement schedule you'll be OK. But I keep reading about fringe cases where it failed prematurely, or it was replaced and the replacement failed soon after. The latter I suppose could be attributed to faulty repairs or aftermarket parts that were not up to snuff.

Is it safe to say that the odds of it failing are probably no worse than having a serpentine belt break prematurely or having a timing chain break? Those happen too, but rarely. Maybe I'm overly paranoid after experiencing a plastic timing gear failure on a GM Iron Duke that left me stalled on the side of the highway. I suppose I could always take one of the upper guards off and eyeball the belt while rotating the engine through a few turns to make sure it looks healthy.

Let me guess, I should probably be more worried about the VCM!

The timing gear failure didn't take out your valves on that Iron Duke. It's a non interference engine. A timing belt that goes out on modern cars will trash your valves and head.

It's a maintenance item. How many miles on your car ? What does the owner's manual say [many can be found online if you don't have one]. Some say 60, 90 or 105,000 mile intervals.

Aveos had a 60,000 replacement schedule and would snap like clock work. Sometimes well before.

If it's worrying to you, have the belt, tensioner and water pump changed and keep on motoring worry free. It's pre-emptive maintenance.

 

[brages]

I bought a 2005 Odyssey (J35 engine) with around 125k miles. The seller said that the timing belt had been replaced.

I recently replaced the belt at a bit past 200k. I'm thinking the seller fibbed about the previous work... everything looked original to me.

The belt was perfectly fine. The water pump seemed great, too. The bearings in the idler and tensioner were noticeably loose. The hydraulic tensioner seemed to show some leakage.

I used an Aisin kit. I think the original water pump was Yamada... original looked a little better, actually.

Follow the replacement guidelines and you'll be fine. Most people don't, IMO.

Replace the hydraulic tensioner at the same time, too.

 

[nthach]

Timing belts will fail due to age(cracked, dry-rotted rubber) or neglect - some cars are known to eat tensioners and idler pulleys. A failed cam/crank seal or water pump however can take a timing belt in quick order. And some engines(Subaru and the Toyota UZ-series V8s with VVT-i) have a cam phaser that also drives the cam off the timing belt.

The belt itself is pretty strong with aramid cords running perpendicular to the teeth and I think the rubber used is SBR to better withstand some oil contamination but not a whole lot of it. Toyota calls for 90-105K timing belt replacement intervals, but there's anecdotes the OEM installed belt can go longer. I think timing belts are better than chains - just for the simple fact that it does require maintenance but unlike a chain system there's much less that can go wrong short of a failed belt or tensioner.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by KGMtech
Replace at recommended mileage or time. Sleep well until it's due. FWIW...I've done VW, Toyota, Mazda, Honda belts at the recommended interval, and they all looked able to go much farther.


^This.

 

[tcp71]

The original in our 2005 Sienna is still in it. only 30k miles on the van, but 13 years in age. I looked at it and it still looks new...pliable, no cracks and the writing on the top is legible.

 

[02SE]

The oldest timing belt I've seen, that hadn't failed, was the factory original T-belt on a Toyota T-100, with a 5VZ-FE engine. The truck had 360K miles on it, and the reason I saw the truck, is that the FIPG sealant used to seal the water pump to the block at the factory, had failed. The belt had some cracks in it, but it was still intact.

I wouldn't recommend that long of a replacement interval, even on a non-interference engine like the 5VZ-FE, but it is nice to know it's possible.