Timing belt: did you change it, did it break on you?

Those cheap/free dealer oil change package deals are nothing but service department marketing tools. They work VERY well for dealers by the way.

It's hard to sell you a laundry list of stuff that 'needs' to be done if your not there...

Erik

Take it from a guy with some RR experience. Nothing is, nor ever has been reliable about them. They're much more snob than quality, and generally a giant PUTA to just keep running.

Toyota Tercel (1982). 120,000 miles (approx). No warning, never changed it before it broke.

1993 Eagle Vision TSi (Chrysler 3.5L v6) Changed the timing belt 3 times- once at 100,000 miles, again at 115,000 miles when the water pump I put in at 100,000 miles failed and shredded the belt (I knew I should have bought a NAPA pump, stupid mistake to buy at Autozone!) and again a little past 200k miles. 229,000 miles on the engine now. At 100k and 200k, the old belts looked practically new- i'm sure you could push it to around 150k on that engine with no problem. But its REALLY easy to change the belt on that engine- about a 1-1/2 hour job including a shower afterward. Not at all like working on most FWD cars.

When the waterpump seized, the belt continued sliding on the WP pulley and the cams never jumped time. The engine did overheat (wifey was driving and limped it home) and the belt smelled really nasty as it burned on the seized WP pulley, but no damage was done. The engine is a non-interference type, even if the belt had broken it would have been fine. I hear that the 2nd generation (aluminum) 3.5 is an interference engine, but given how easy this engine design is on timing belts (provided you use quality water pumps!) I wouldn't be too worried.

Kiran wrote:

1987 Nissan Sentra. Snapped at about 110k miles. No warning or strange noises.

Yes, I changed it. Sold the car before it had 120k miles on it.

-------------- Alex

Neither. Get the Toyota factory service manual. It will pay for itself in no time.

-------------- Alex

I've changed a handful of timing belts, and none has evern jumped a tooth after I changed it. I wonder if you didn't get a bad belt.

----------------- Alex

They're made in England! What do you expect from a country that gave us Lucas Disease?!

Hi, I was wondering the difference between the auto transmission for 4 cyclinder 92 and 95 camrys transmission. Are they same or different, if they are different what is the difference? I have a transmission from 1992 camry and I want to buy a camry that needs transmission 1995 camry 4 cyclinder, Any comments??? Thank you very much, Erkan

83 Nissan Sentra. Unsure about the miles because it was a used car. No warning, just a refusal to run. Fortunately it happened only 1/4 mile from home, so we could push it back.

We replaced it ourselves. Actually, husband did the nasty work and I fetch+carried.

Ditto. One or the other is better for each model, but you don't know which until you buy both of them, so you might as well buy them both at once.

I haven't seen Clymer manuals for a long time. Anybody know if they're still around?

I hadn't thought about Clymer in a while. It looks as though they're still around

but seem to have bailed out ofthe automobile market in favor of concentrating on other sorts ofvehicles and engines, as well as various trade publications, mostlyconcerning electrical gear. Pity; they used to be one of the classacts in aftermarket car-repair manuals.My experience has been that buying one or both aftermarket manuals (Iguess the USAmerican choices are now down to Chilton and Haynes) isnecessary if you rely solely on them for anything more advanced thanoil changes and so forth... and helpful even if you are serious enoughabout it to shell out for the "real" shop manual for your car. They all cover different things in different ways -- and sometimes the aftermarket ones catch a running change that eluded your particular edition of the dead-tree shop manual, or show/explain things for the beginner that would be taken for granted in a book written for a pro. It's just nice to have the different perspectives, especially when dealing with a kind of repair you've never done before, or with some weirdness specific to a year or a body style.

If I could only have one, of course, it would be the shop manual(s), which are more authoritative, more comprehensive, and less confused by attempts to cover a range of models and years as the aftermarket manuals usually do.

--Joe

I haven't either!! I used to use them to rebuild motorcycles. I'd have a Clymer's and the Yamaha manual, and, like I mentioned before, one covered better what the other didn't. And I started COLD; I had very little mechanical training (I was an electronics technician)and NO Motorcycle experience at all. The Clymer's were really pretty good, I had one for an '80 Corolla and it was good.

What about Bentley's?

I have seen two of them, and from what I've seen, you could almost take the car apart and put it back together using one of these!

We met Floyd Clymer when had an Indian dealership (sadly reduced to the cute-as-hell Little (or maybe Li'l) Indian, a tiny jewel for 6-year-olds) and manual shop (I think) in Los Angeles a long time ago. Voila:

> My experience has been that buying one or both aftermarket manuals (I> guess the USAmerican choices are now down to Chilton and Haynes) is> necessary if you rely solely on them for anything more advanced than> oil changes and so forth... and helpful even if you are serious enough> about it to shell out for the "real" shop manual for your car. The Clymer 'vintage' manual is $29. How much are REAL shop manuals now?

Forgot about them -- my bad -- probably because I haven't seen one in a bricks-and-mortar store for a long time, if ever. They're very much still around:

--Joe

They are also sold through Beck Arnley, in the back of the late model part catalog.

Bernard

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 04:54:30 GMT, Kiran (Kiran ) wrote (in ):

Yes, only once at 155,813 miles. There was no warning; I was waiting to make a turn at an intersection when it suddenly went dead. Fortunately, it was downhill to the nearest parking lot. [snipped]

^^^^^^^^^ So you're saying that it was sabatoge then ;)