Drive belts

[turbomangt]

I posted this twice because I think it is important for all to know about. My son's 95 Sonata had the driving belt snap while on the highway. after we towed the car in we found out as a result of that, the engine was blown. maybe the gear heads will understand this more. evidently when the belt goes, the values are still open, and the pistons are smashing against the valves 3,000 times a minute. This has me concerned about the drive belts in our cars, I looked in manual and it says at 90,000 to replace it. I would hate to have it snap and toast the engine. his car had 120,000 miles, if I had replaced it at 90,000 as suggested, he would still have the car. they also showed me what the belt looks like and I was suprised to see how small the groves are that catch the gears. If our Cruisers have belts like the one I seen, I'd be afraid to go over 30 MPH. Gary

[quicksilverdon]

The PT has a "non-interference" design. The piston won't hit the valves when the cam belt breaks. The car is disabled, but the engine shouldn't be toast.

[MX-5]

QSD is mostly correct.
The engine is listed as a non-interference design.
The pistons will not hit the valves.

HOWEVER,
The valves CAN hit each other if the cam timing gets screwed up from a belt breakage!

All timing belts must be replaced on a regular maintenance schedule.
Every owners manual and repair manual makes this very clear.

A scheduled belt change can cost as little as 10% of the cost of a broken belt and destroyed engine.

[purple04]

Yup, what they said. If you are concerned about driving with a belt, look around. Most 4 cylinders and many V6s use them. The standard used to be 60k, many are 100k now. If you change it out within the schedule, you should be fine. If the shop recommends a tensioner or water pump (depending on design), it is likely a good idea. The added labor is small or none, as opposed to doing the whole job again. Some designs are very picky about proper belt installation, others are less so. Another thing that may be brought up is replacing the drive belts at the same time. Depending on your own service, this may be a good idea. Kind of like replacing all your batteries at home (smoke detector and remotes) at the time change. You always know when they were done.

[comPuTer]

Everyone,

Is the rule concerning replacement of the drive belts a mileage measurement only? For those of us that don't have many miles on our Cruisers, it will take quite a while to reach 90K miles. Is there a "time" factor as well (like is recommended for oil changes: 3 months or 3,000 miles - whichever is first)??

[Espresso]

If you have any thing get on the belt like coolant from a leaking water pump. Cam seals leaking oil, ect.. You SHOULD have it replaced. It is very cheap insurance. When you do a timing belt. You should( regardless of vehicle) change the water pump, tensioner & idler pulley. There are kits out there( if you believe in ebay you can get one for about $250) that have the WP, TB, pulley, ect..
I have changed more belts than I care to count( working at 5 dealerships, just to namce a few places I have done it) & ALWAYS recommend the things I said get replaced. Nothing worse than paying for a timing belt replacement only to have the WP go a few thousand miles down the road & have to pay all over again.