This is from the Euro ITR shop manual:



http://www.imagestation.com/pi...g.jpg


And this is from the USDM ITR Helms manual:



http://www.imagestation.com/pi...g.jpg

What I don't understand is why the difference is so big regarding the timing belt replacement schedule:
USDM: every 105k miles
Euro: every 60k miles

 

Yes I have noticed this as well, but why stretch the interval on such a vital part on your engine? ( maybe I'm a bit biased as I have just had a timing belt failure on my VW Bus )

 

I wonder if the US people really follow the US ITR maintenance schedule for the timing belt.

 

That is the 'normal condition' schedule.
I went with the 'severe conditions' schedule myself.

T-belt:
105,000 miles or 84 months (*)

(*)
replace the timing belt at 60,000 miles
if:
-the car is driven in very high temps (110F+)
(and/or)
-the car is driven is very low temps (under -20F)


Mine was swapped at 72,460 miles... just because I wanted to do it.
and track use is the same as driving the car under the 110F+ condition...

 

I had mine done at 36K as it was 5 yrs old. Dont know if it was age but it was getting noisy. The difference the new one made was very obvious. I cant say I would like to run the timing belt to 105K, that seems well over the top. Climate perhaps in Europe, a long shot but dont have any other explanation.

 

I replaced my USDM GS-R (same schedule as the ITR as I recall) at ~80-85K. The stock belt was still in perfect shape. no noise, no nothing. I did check it when I did the valves and retension if needed though.

 

It looks like USDM Severe conditions = Euro Normal conditions. More or less.

 

the difference may have to do with the type of mileage...

many US cars tend to accumulate more highway mileage

whereas many Asian and European cars accumulate city driving mileage, which is more abusive than highway driving

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spikey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the difference may have to do with the type of mileage...

many US cars tend to accumulate more highway mileage

whereas many Asian and European cars accumulate city driving mileage, which is more abusive than highway driving</TD></TR></TABLE>
It also depends what kind of highway it is. The Autobahn is a special kind of highway.

 

Im going to change my timing belt his week. Only 18K on my '98 R but its over 6 years old now !

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Euro98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im going to change my timing belt his week. Only 18K on my '98 R but its over 6 years old now !</TD></TR></TABLE>
Wow 18K is not much, either km or miles. Which one is it?

 

Sorry for the late reply ! Its Miles here in Malta.

 

Strepto, on the board here, ran 13 years/160k km on the timing belt on his old b16a before it broke if I remember correctly.

So I belive Handa has put in quite a bit of a margin in regard to the timingbelt change.

My ITR has currently 83kkm/5 years on it and the timingbelt has started to squeel a bit every now and then. Does that mean it's urgent to change it, or is it no big deal?? I plan changing it soon anyway.

 

It's not the belt that squeals, but most likely the tensioner or your water pump. It's no biggie, I have had that squeal myself and mine have rolled 120k km's (belt changed @ 100k). As I'm doing an engine build now it will be all new parts when i get it up and running as I did not change the tensioner and waterpump last year when doing the belt,