Vehicle is an 08 Hyundai Accent 1.6L three door (hatchback) with 20,197 miles. This car was born on Oct. 16, 2007 and purchased in April of 2008. I told the owner to call the dealer and find out about when they should replace the timing belt as I had looked it up at the Gates site and found that it is an interference motor and also these Hyundai have some kind of lengthy warranty. When the tech or whoever she spoke to at the dealership asked about the mileage, they told her that she does not need to worry about the belt for about another five years, were rude and sounded inconvenienced by her calling. This leaves her with a bad taste in her mouth and more importantly, mis-informed.
I get the “Maintenance Log” out of the glove box and upon trying to decipher the timing belt interval, it states that the first course of action is an “inspection” at 30,000 miles or 24 months. How is a timing belt inspected? From what I have seen, a belt can look perfect today and snap tomorrow. But anyway, the next entry for severe service is replacement at 37,500 miles or 30 months which means this belt should have been replaced in October of 2010. Next entry is normal change at 60,000 miles or 48 months which puts us at April of 2012. After this it goes to 75,000 miles or 60 months.
I have already picked up the kit for changing the belt, tensioner, idler, and the two seals. How critical is it to change the spring as that was not included in the kit I got? I’m planning to do this job here in the next couple days as from what I can figure from the above log, It’s way over due. I was reading some Hyundai forums and one stated that the 2011 model with the exact same engine calls for the first replacement due at 90,000 miles. How’s this possible? Seems like these people (engineers) don’t have all their stuff in one bag…