how long should a cam belt last????

jeannieblue

goldspanners wrote: »

and dont forget the ford zetec engine,not sure about every size but i know the ford focus last 100,000 miles for first change.

Can't generalise on the Focus - they all vary, annoyingly. You have to look up the model, year and engine size etc.

Bit of a pain. I've not checked on my latest one, previous one was 60k - I think! You'd think they'd all be the same but they are not.

jeannieblue

zeon999 wrote: »

It all depends on the car some last 40,000 some last 80,000. Some cars its 3 years some cars its 6 years.

The other thing of course is if the engine has had any oil leaks on the belt then this will reduce the lifespan of the belt.

Without knowing the vehicle and also checking the condition of the belt it is imposiable to say.

If you go to the trouble to check the belt and tensioners - at great time and expense (depending on vehicle) might as well change it 'whilst in there' surely.

There should be a sticker to say when cam belt has been changed - if no sticker, one could assume that it has not been done.

anewman

tomstickland wrote: »

Timing chains might be stronger, but they are a lot more expensive in terms of manufacture: they need guides, oil feeds etc whilst a timing belt is happy with a few pulleys and some rubber belt.

Overall cost to consumer is less though. Skoda were a budget brand of car (before VW bought them) and their engines used timing chains. Only problem was they did not add any kind of pre-tensioner which means the engines end up a bit noisy after 100,000 miles. Will still go on and on but will be quietened with a new chain.

Hintza

Timing belt change intervals are in the main being reduced by manufacturers due to the number of failures. I think it is madness to think it will last with certainty to 75k-80k miles. Personally once the car was out of warranty I would be considering changing it.

Having had one go on FSH Golf at 33,000 miles.

blue_haddock

I wish people would realise that even timing chains can cause problems - over time they can stretch and become very noisy - despite theoretically never needing to be changed i have known of several older mercedes and bmws having to have the chain replaced and its not cheap when you have it done.

Also the oh so reliable Nissan Almera and Micra also suffer from chain failure which pretty much means a whole new engine.

Belnahua

My Vectra goes in next week for its Timing Belt - it's done 39K and 3 years since it was last replaced. (Total mileage 129K and 11 years old!)

Quoted £230; which is complete VX belt kit, including tensioners, and waterpump and coolant change (which is well overdue too!).

I've always been advised to do the waterpump at the same time, as they cost pennies, but to replace means the timing belt has to come off anyway, so why not do a little more preventative maintenance for a few extra quid, as most of the cost is the garage's time?

anewman

blue_haddock wrote: »

I wish people would realise that even timing chains can cause problems - over time they can stretch and become very noisy - despite theoretically never needing to be changed i have known of several older mercedes and bmws having to have the chain replaced and its not cheap when you have it done.

Depends on accessibility of the chain. On many old Skoda engines with a timing chain it's a £200 job at the dealers as it's very accessible, no doubt much cheaper than a cam belt change. Most manufacturers put in pretensioners to take up chain slack as the chain wears so whether chain stretching affects the car depends very much on the design and manufacture of the engine. My Skoda is on about 120k miles and is a bit noisy but the chain has never been touched. If it gets really noisy will probably give the job a go myself as apparently it isn't too difficult and the main problem is getting the distributor timing right.

PasturesNew

Based just on the facts that your last one was replaced 6 years ago and that you've probably done 30,000-35,000 miles in that time, not to mention the fact it's been mentioned by a garage, I'd have it done immediately.

I had one snap once, I'd just driven 26 miles to work, got 200 yards short and there was a roundabout. Pulled up there and the car died. If I'd still been on the motorway it would have wrecked my engine. As it was it cost me about £30 to replace (1986 Opal Manta; 1996 prices)

I'm now over-eager to check and replace them as it's not worth the hassle of it breaking for what can be a very reasonable cost.

avhation

I think it is high time that consumers avoided car brands which utilize cambelts which invariably require routine replacement, are intolerant of contamination and cause many breakdowns, some of which can be very expensive to fix (interference engines). Furthermore, some car manufacturers have misled buyers by stating long intervals between replacements for new models, then reducing the interval to generate trade for dealers. My VW dealer wanted over £900 to change my 2000 Passat's belt after 6 years. ( There is no calendar limit mentioned in the handbook. ) My 1997 Nissan Almera's chain is silent after 92,000 miles. My 1986 Peugeot 205 chain outlasted the car which was crushed at 150,000 miles - I believe this to be typical of chains. It's a brave person who will find out if a cambelt will outlast an engine! I want my next car to have a timing chain - does anyone have a definitive list of engines with timing chains?

Wig

No, but the newer Vauxhalls have chains. I was quite surprised to find my 03 Corsa 1.2 had a chain.