timing belt change

[djdanny5000]

hey guys i'm a bit confused because the owners manual says to inspect the timing belt at 60,000 miles and replace at 105,000 miles. Yet i see people saying that there changing their timing belts at 60,000 miles. so which one is it 60,000 or 100,000 miles? I had my brother changed my valve cover gasket cause it was worn out and he said he didn't see any cracks or anything on the timing belt. also i have 75,000 miles on my P5 at the moment

 

[Magus]

I currently have a P5 2002 with 97,287 miles. I have yet to change the timing belt. I am ramping up to change the belt, water pump, and tensioner soon. You should be just fine. Unless your turboing your car, putting extra stress on the belt, I would not see why you would need to change it any sooner. I think it will be time for new spark plugs and maybe change the tranny fluild too. I got the car at 45,000 and have not done anything major other than oil , tire and spark plug changes.


Magus

 

[Reitrof]

105K change it. Do the water pump at the same time, plus all the other belts.

IMHO it's a waste of money to change at 60k.

 

[GNO]

Wait until 100k to change. I have no idea why some folks change it at 60,000miles, unless they actually saw some wear when inspecting. I doubt that. I pulled my engine at 120k. When I tore apart the motor to discard, I found the original belt did have quite a few cracks in it, so don't go too far past 100k.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Also, this is a non-interference engine, meaning in a worst-case scenerio the valves and pistons will never collide. So even if it were to break, nothing should get bent/broken.... you'll just be stranded.
However, just as a related curiosity does anybody know what controls the electronic distibutors? Is there a cam sensor of some kind? I assume it's ECU controlled in the end, but surely something mechanical trips it. Only reason I ask is that in an older car w/ a cam-driven distributor, lsoing the connections between crank/cam would do nothing b/c the distributor would get no power to fire. However w/ this, it could be disasterous if it kept firing w/o the cam moving.

 

[GNO]

However, just as a related curiosity does anybody know what controls the electronic distibutors? Is there a cam sensor of some kind? I assume it's ECU controlled in the end, but surely something mechanical trips it. Only reason I ask is that in an older car w/ a cam-driven distributor, lsoing the connections between crank/cam would do nothing b/c the distributor would get no power to fire. However w/ this, it could be disasterous if it kept firing w/o the cam moving.

There's a crank position sensor, but I don't believe there are cam position sensors. I don't think it'd be disasterous if it continued to spark. With the valves stuck in an open position, you wouldn't be able to get compression. With the vavles stuck shut the cylinder wouldn't get the A/F mix to support combustion.

 

[MyZmZm]

hmmm, this is making me rethink a couple things... my car is at nearly 100k km (ie, 60k miles) and in the maintenance booklet it recommends to change the timing belt. i don't baby my car, but i don't abuse it either. i was going to change the timing belt this spring when i did the clutch, flywheel and a few other goodies, but now i'm not so sure...

 

[Daddybluwagon]

How difficult is it to change the t/blt on the p5? I changed the t/blt on my eagletalon and it was quite difficult.

 

[Kansei]

There's a crank position sensor, but I don't believe there are cam position sensors. I don't think it'd be disasterous if it continued to spark. With the valves stuck in an open position, you wouldn't be able to get compression. With the vavles stuck shut the cylinder wouldn't get the A/F mix to support combustion.

There's a cam position sensor on the exhaust cam. Look on the left side of the valve cover near the front of the engine to see it.

 

[jjac28]

Im at 106k on my P5 right now , and still havent changed my timing belt. I was told by a mechanic not to do it at 96k, he laughed and said its a waste of money, instead ,check for any wear and tear on the belt itself.
I'll do my belt at around 115k or so...

 

[ChopstickHero]

My old Protege5 had it's belt changed at 145,000km. Mech said it was slightly worn, but could still be used for another 30,000km or so.