The current timing belt in my 1990 Honda has 60,000 miles on it. The one it replaced broke about 6 years ago when I was going 75 mph on an interstate, which led to a total engine replacement which cost a lot of dineros. Should I replace the belt now?
If I were you, I would replace it now.
If (actually–WHEN) it snaps, the cost of repairing the resulting damage would be several times the book value of the car.
Or, in other words, if you continue to maintain the car properly, you can probably get several more years out of it. If you don’t replace the timing belt soon, you will likely need to replace the car when failure takes place. Your choice.
Just replace it. It’s easier. If 60K makes you feel comfortable, than use that as your interval. They may be rated for more, but as VDC said, and you already found out, an engine is so much more expensive.
There are a few Honda fans here, and they can probably give you the mileage (and importantly, the time) duration for those belts. It should also be in your manual somewhere. Time matters, as they’re mostly rubber, and can fall apart over time.
Yes, I’d replace it. Supposedly the new belts are good for 80k miles, but the original belt was a 60k mile replacement interval, and I tend to go with that anyway just for insurance. As you’ve discovered, a T-belt break on a Civic is catastrophic. I just helped on a t-belt job on a Del Sol a couple weeks ago, and the old belt broke when i put about 4 pounds of pull on it. You don’t want a belt like that standing between you and yet another engine.
Six years is the limit in my opinion, especially on an interference fit engine.
There are other factors besides mileage and time. Environmental conditions, the possibility of coolant or oil (even vapors) contaminating the belt, etc. can all lead to a shorter belt lifespan.
This means water pump and tensioners too.
wrichey, if it makes you feel any better, sometime around 2005 Honda (and others) saw the light and replaced the rubber belt with a steel chain which never requires replacement…
Yes, 60,000 miles is a good interval for timing belt replacement.
6 years would be right, but you should evaluate the vehicle first. You replaced the engine, I would guess that you got a remanufactured engine.
How much is the car worth to you. Do you fell that you will keep it for many years to come, then go ahead and replace the belt. If everything else on this vehicle is on its last legs, then don’t. Just drive it until something breaks and then replace the vehicle.
well, since you already know how much a new engine costs, compare that to the belt replacement cost and go from there
Thanks all of you for chiming in on my timing best replacement question. Unfortunately, it is no longer a car issue with me. Last month I was driving back to Colorado from Louisiana, was south of Branson, MO, and the Honda gave it up, disabling the tranny. I rolled to the side of the highway, locked it up, thumbed to a motel in Branson. Long story short, the Honda is now somewhere in Missouri, and I know not where.
So, I’m on the market for a vehicle, and since it will most likely be the vehicle that will be titled in my name when I die, I’m going to get a vehicle that I want, and I want a pickup truck, a small one, a 4 or 6 banger. Some past friends of mine have had Rangers, many of them were put to some hard use. I’m a veteran consumer of vehicles purchased out of driveways or the lawns of owners who are advertising. I’ve set my purchase price range at between $3,000-4000, which puts me in the Ranger years of the late 90’s, early 2010’s. Are there any hints at what I should look for as a potential mechanical problem on, say, a 1990 Ranger, when I go check it out and talk to the owner? Thanks.