So the other day one of my friends T belts snapped while he was driving.
Luckily no damage occured as a result but it got me to thinking.....

My caR has less than 30k miles on it BUT it is going on 7 years old.

Does a T belt have a life expectancy or a shelf life to it?

I realize that I won't reach 90k miles anytime soon so should I be worried that it might break due to its age?

thanks.

 

The t-belt should last between 8-10 years... But then again it depends on driving style, weather its submitted too....

 

i'd change it for peace of mind


when mine was 5 years old, it only had 15k on it, but i made sure it was done

 

That's a great question that I've been wondering. My '97 has 78k and an original belt so I know I'm playing with fire. I'll be sure to change it before the Expo.

Anyone want to help (?), I'm in Raleigh.

 

I believe its 60k or 72 months.... Im chaning mine this weekend.

 

i'm hitting 88k soon so i know i will have to get the timing belt and water pump done soon.

 

As a rule of thumb most dealers will start recommending them @ 60k, though in rare instances they will break before that ( i.e. not changing your oil and the cam seizes.) Many manufacturers say you wont need it till 100,000 if you look in the owners manual or on acura.com's maintance schedule for the Type R, mainly because any car under 100k is usually no more than 4-5 years old and within powertrain warrenty depending on the manufacturer. Anyway its a safe bet to do it a 60k. Time wise its kinda up in the air. A belt that doesnt expand and contract will just dry rot and make it weak, basically if you havent replace it in a while and you dont drive alot then pop the cover off and inspect it.

 

The recommended maintenance schedule in the owner's manual and the service manual say that you should replace the timing belt every 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first.

The severe conditions part says to use the same interval, but also notes that you should replace it after 60K miles if it is regularly driven in very hot temperatures (over 110F) or very cold temperatures (below -20F).

When you replace the timing belt, it's a good idea to replace the water pump. And when you replace the water pump, it's a good idea to replace the cooling system hoses (at least the big ones, if not all of them).

 

the half life of a timing belt it about...

8 years

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The recommended maintenance schedule in the owner's manual and the service manual say that you should replace the timing belt every 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first.
The severe conditions part says to use the same interval, but also notes that you should replace it after 60K miles if it is regularly driven in very hot temperatures (over 110F) or very cold temperatures (below -20F).

When you replace the timing belt, it's a good idea to replace the water pump. And when you replace the water pump, it's a good idea to replace the cooling system hoses (at least the big ones, if not all of them).</TD></TR></TABLE>


You da man, Ken. thanks.

Now that I'm home and sitting in my favorite chair. According to the owner's manual on pg 195 it says to replace at 60k if you drive under severe conditions and that's it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITR 00-0477 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Now that I'm home and sitting in my favorite chair. According to the owner's manual on pg 195 it says to replace at 60k if you drive under severe conditions and that's it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not exactly...

What I quoted above is from the 1998 Integra service manual, which applies to all 1998-2001 Integras. The maintenance schedule in the service manual gives mileage and time intervals for all maintenance services. On pages 4-4 and 4-5, it gives the intervals for "normal conditions", and on pages 4-6 and 4-7, it gives the intervals for "severe conditions". In BOTH charts, for normal conditions and for severe conditions, it specifies replacing the timing belt at 105K miles or 7 years, whichever comes first. So according to the service manual, even in the more general "severe conditions" - short trips, stop-and-go driving, dusty conditions, etc - the 105K/7 recommendation still applies. The 60K recommendation is mentioned ONLY in a footnote (footnote 3 on page 4-6) and it specifies only the extreme temperatures I mentioned in my previous post.

My 2001 owner's manual says the exact same thing as the 1998 service manual; they just don't put it all neatly in one place. You have to read closely to see what they mean. Where they have the maintenance schedule, they show the two charts of intervals, one for normal conditions and one for severe conditions, and BOTH say 105K miles / 7 years. On the following page (page 167), they summarize the maintenance recommendations in another chart. There, it says "60K miles / 4 years" and mentions the timing belt replacement with an asterisk. At the bottom of that page, it explains the asterisk as "See page 197, timing belt". When you go to page 197, it has the same information as in the service manual, noting that the shorter 60K interval is only if the car is driven in extreme hot (over 110) or extreme cold (under -20) temperatures. (The page numbers must be different in your 2000 owner's manual from in my 2001, but I bet yours says exactly the same thing if you look closely.)

Bottom line, I think, is that the 60K mileage interval only applies if you're driving your car a lot in a place with extreme heat, like Las Vegas or Phoenix, or one with extreme cold, like Alaska or Canada or maybe northern Minnesota or Montana. Even in Chicago and Omaha, you can stick with the 105K/7 recommendation; it's pretty darn rare that the temperature gets colder than -20. (The all-time record low temperature is -27 in Chicago, and -23 in Omaha.)

 

Yeah, my 00 owners manual has a silver cover and my page #'s dont appear to match yours at all.

What appears to be the most important is the time limit of 7 years.

 

7 years or 60k is recommended by both the Acura and Honda dealerships I've worked for. This goes for all DOHC motors. Although 60k is on the conservative side, 90k makes us nervous about both the timing belt and the waterpump condition. The Mileage interval has been a culmination of years of experience with snapping belts and the expensive valvetrain repair that they typically generate. Seriously, changing your waterpump and T-belt 15k ahead of the owner's manual is cheap insurance. Especially if you are revving your motor up in the 8k range.

 

mine says 60k miles or 5 years


to be perfectly honest if i tried to leave it for 100k or 7 years i would be parnoid about it breaking, even if the service manual said it was fine


for the sake of however much it costs to replace it, is it REALLY worth trying to string it out?

 

It's worth noting that the downside to changing it too soon is paying the cost of a timing belt replacement more frequently than necessary. That cost is a lot less than the cost of a timing belt failure.

Whether you change it more frequently than recommended in the manual or not is your option. Whatever you do, I recommend not letting it go any longer than those recommendations, for both mileage and time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's worth noting that the downside to changing it too soon is paying the cost of a timing belt replacement more frequently than necessary. That cost is a lot less than the cost of a timing belt failure.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea, thats kind of what i was getting it, extra security as it were. i'd rather pay the money for a belt change and have piece of mind, than it snap at 8,000rpm and have to pay for all that to be repaired

 

I couldn't agree more an ounce of prevention goes a looong way.
Looks like I'll add a timing belt to my list of 2007 maintenance projects.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITR 00-0477 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I couldn't agree more an ounce of prevention goes a looong way.
Looks like I'll add a timing belt to my list of 2007 maintenance projects.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd just go ahead and ante up the cash and get it done. After experiencing early timing belt failure on my wife's old 99' VW Beetle Turbo, I'm a replace every 60,000 miles type of guy Its worth doing early for the piece of mind that you know you have a fresh one.

 

I replace my timing belt every time I build a new motor for my R. Which means 25k is the most miles it will see It's about due again; I am thinking about going with a 92mm crank.
As to timing belt life, 5 years is the most I would personally go, although I have seen timing belts that looked o.k. after 10 years. One thing that kills timing belts is being too loose; it puts a tremendous amount of stress on the teeth as it snaps back and forth. Timing belts stretch, so after 40,000 miles or so, it's not a bad idea to readjust the tension to help extend belt life.

 

I had a 88 crx with 238,000 with the original belt...... [




Looked at the R belt this past weekend, the car will be 7 years old in July. 21,000 miles and still looks newer then another honda i own with 5,000 miles on it. Go figure.




Modified by Hooch'n at 1:12 PM 1/18/2007