by Richard Serra

Created on: January 01, 2010   Last Updated: January 02, 2010

I doubt that there are very many car owners who give a second thought to a timing belt for its replacement. Only those who perhaps have suffered the consequences of one that breaks, and caused damage to the engine as a result of trying to keep starting it after it stalled. Why I say this is because it happened to me, and I had to replace the entire engine as a result of not knowing that if you try to restart the engine without the belt intact, your engine is trashed.

What actually happens to cause it to be worthless I'll never know, but I got the same answer from several mechanics. Could this be a way of getting you to agree to an engine replacement? I'm not sure of that either, but we are at the mercy of those who are in the business to give us a fair assessment of what the problem is.

How in the world are we, inexperienced, in the world of auto repair able to know that if the car suddenly stops running, that we shouldn't try to restart it? Since we don't, or just plain can't know, it's better to know at least when the belt should be replaced. Most likely the best time is when you are having some engine work done, such as replacing a water pump, or anything else relative to removing what hides the timing belt.

In this way, it's just a matter of the extra labor and cost of the belt, rather than a job from scratch. In other words, it's combining a couple of fixes for one price. It's the labor that costs, and whatever the initial labor would be to get to the belt if it were the only item you were bringing in the car for, would be saved by having it replaced when you are having other work done in that area.

The average recommendation is about 60,000 to 75,000 miles for replacing. This is based on averages of known failures.

Since it's not visible, you'll have to understand that the belt is crucial for engine performance as well as for keeping you from being stranded if it should fail.

It’s made of extremely durable rubber, but is prone to exhaustion from heat, constant tension and getting cracks as a result which eventually will cause it to break and then its too late.

When you replace the belt, it’s also good to have the water pump replaced as well, since they both fail around the same mileage. Doing so prevents paying double the amount in many cases as the labor is the same. The parts themselves cost a lot less than the labor.

As I've said, getting two fixes at the same time for prevention of future failures is cheaper in the long run, as a failure can come at any time. So it's best to be safe than sorry.

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