[Shotimes] Timing belt life

[George Fourchy]

On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 18:59:01 -0400, snapper@bellsouth.net wrote:

>I always wonder how you really know they changed it?

A worn timing belt will have three main signs you can read....the ends of the teeth
will begin to be rounded at the very tops, it can stretch, and after it has been in
there for 50 or 60K miles, you won't be able to read the writing on the
backside....the tensioner will finally rub it out.   A belt that I had that went 45K
was still readable, however....YMMV.

As long as it hasn't stretched, and the teeth are NOT rounded, it is still
servicable.  A street car that isn't taken to redline every day will keep its belt
servicable for at least 135K....that's how far my first one went, and it would have
gone farther.  You can check for stretching by taking the upper timing belt cover
off...easy to do, just remove the end of the intake with the DIS on it, and then
take the 7 or so small bolts out.  Then rotate the engine to TDC with a wrench on
the crank bolt (or the alternator nut!!!!!!!!!), and see where the marks on the cam
sprockets are compared to the marks on the metal backing plate.  If they are nowhere
near, rotate the engine one more time around.  If they line up and the teeth are not
rounded off, put it back together and drive it.

George