While I understand your approach, oldtimer, the true value of a vehicle to the owner is often much higher than its resale value. A car might have a $500 market value, but of spending $600 to get the timing belt changed gives the owner another four years of transportation to work, the actual value to the owner was IMHO far higher than its market value.
When my old pickup had 200,000 miles on it, the timing chain system started clattering. Some people said “it isn’t worth changing at that age and mileage. The market value is only $1,000”. I changed it anyway. It was reliable for another 138,000 miles… until it got crashed into. If it had not been, my daughter (who I gave it to) would probably still be driving it.
The OP may only have $600 to spend.
Unless there are known serious issues that you are sure need attention…I’d spend that money on the car I know some history about. Spending that… last of your money…on a $600 heap that you know nothing about would be foolish.
RIMDToyota. I removed the upper timing cover to inspect, although my intention was to replace the belt. The front pulley was on so tight that I could not get it off with my tools. It took a 3/4" impact wrench with 1200 ft lb rating to loosen it. This is the only car I have not been able to change the timing belt on. I took the pictures just to share here for those who ask “How long can I go?”
Oldtimer, the value of a vehicle is not what some will pay you for it but what it brings to you. Your van was obviously worth more than the $200 that someone was going to give you for it, that is why you kept it. I usually look at the economics, if there are no other know issues, spending $600 is a lot less than 3-4 years of car payments or $3-4000 for a decent replacement used car with potentially the same issue.
I tend to spend money on repairing vehicles I like.
Case in point my wife’s 180k Subaru Legacy turbo wagon had a value of around $5000 if in decent condition. It ended up burning a valve so I spent close to $3000 fixing burned valve and replacing all sort of (wear) items in the process basically for the parts prices with little labor.
Our new approach has been simply change the oil since all major maintenance was done for the next 60k miles at least. It has been trouble free and runs quite strong for the last 6 months. My wife feels if we get one year without other repairs we have done well considering the replacement of vehicle.
I’m still driving my '88 Toyota. It has a timing belt and 295,000 miles on her. It’s due for another timing belt this summer, changed every 60,000 miles or 7 years, and I would not hesitate to do it. It’s given me too many years without a car payment to simply give up on basic maintenance.
Anyways, I highly advise you to avoid the bad parts of town from now on. Would you like to call the auto club, when there’s a bunch of thugs around, eyeing you and the car, and not in a friendly manner?
And if you show them your piece, who’s to say they’re not packing heat, also?
Okay, forget the bad part of town . . . what if it breaks on the way to work, and you don’t make it in, or you’re really late?
I don’t know about you, but some people have bosses that are not very understanding of even the slightest things. I’ll bet you lunch there are plenty of bosses out there that would fire you for something like this. And the reasoning would be “The timing belt broke, because you knowingly chose to ignore the manufacturers’ guidelines for replacement. If you had followed the guidelines, you would have changed it 2 years ago, and you would have shown up to work.”
And then the boss would use himself as an example. He would say he does everything by the book, and he leaves early, to allow himself time for an unforeseen traffic jam, bad weather, etc.
For your sake, I hope there are no bad consequences for you, when it does break.
@auto-owner, to each their own but what if that belt snaps in 70 MPH freeway traffic and the last thing you see is a rear view mirror full of Freightliner grill…???
It might be me, but I am always envisioning myself on the railroad tracks with a train approaching and my belt snaps. Granted there are half a dozen or more reasons to be stuck on the railroad tracks.
@auto-owner–You, like so many people, seem to envision breakdowns taking place only in your own driveway, or in a well-lit parking lot, at a convenient time, and during ideal weather conditions.
I sincerely hope that your maintenance-averse policy leads only to breakdowns in places like that, and at times like that, but it is much more likely that your timing belt will break when you are on the interstate, in the midst of a bunch of 18 wheelers…or when trying to beat that train to the RR crossing…or when rushing your critically ill child to the ER…or when driving through the bad section of town…or simply when you are trying to get to work for a meeting that you cannot miss without losing your job.
auto-owner, did you not read of my experience with a broken belt in my first post on this thread? Everyone I know that has had a broke timing belt, it broke during very cold weather, mostly during ice storms. Cold weather makes the belt more brittle.
My advice to you, don’t drive during ice storms or get out of cell phone range during very cold weather, or carry a winter rated sleeping bag.
RIMDToyota ;
Here’s an equation for you…
IF…you are at the point of wondering so heavily about this…
and investing all this time searching for info…
and
IF you are set to invest all the time it will take just to check it…
You may as weel just replace it already and be done with it by now.
done
fixed
finished
To everyone scolding me for running my old timing belt into its catastrophic failure, well, it’s not my primary driver, is used almost entirely for short trips around town (small town–no particularly scary neighborhoods), and by my estimation is highly unlikely to cause me any huge problems when it finally breaks.
Also, I might give in and change it if and when I reach a point where I feel like I’m really pushing it.