Timing belt & Chain. I am at 63k miles

C

Coopes

Member
I hit a lethal pot hole last week and I thought the n/s suspension was going to come through the bonnet anyway, it didn't, but whilst I had my head under the bonnet today I caught a glimpse of the Timing belt and thought it looked a bit ropey.

When is it the right time to change the belt? I'm on 63k miles. And when should the Chain belt be tweaked?

Thx for taking the time.
 
The belt is a 2 minute job, nearly as easy as topping up the water bottle.
Tensioner is just levered using i think a socket (might be Allen key) from memory and belt pulls off.
Reverse to refit.
 
OP if it looks ropey I'd change it. You really don't want a couple of feet of belt flapping around in the engine bay if it splits. :o

I don't think there is a specified service interval for the belt as age is probably as big a factor as mileage for deterioration of rubber parts.
 
flybobbie said:
Tensioner is just levered using i think a socket (might be Allen key) from memory and belt pulls off.
Click to expand...
T60 with a breaker bar... 5 minute job for us slow ppl.
 
I've got accessory belts with over 250k miles on which are still fine. In what way is it ropey? The only time I've done modern V-belts is when they've actually lost a rib, presumably due to swallowing a stone. Otherwise a little bit of cracking around the teeth when it's bent back on itself is normal.
 
There is a common failure mode on the N52 whereby the belt gets wrapped around the crankshaft and pieces of the belt get pulled though the front main seal and then your engine is toast.

The OP hasn’t specified what engine though….OP?
 
B21 said:
There is a common failure mode on the N52 whereby the belt gets wrapped around the crankshaft and pieces of the belt get pulled though the front main seal and then your engine is toast.
Click to expand...

Blurgh, he said having just gone and read up on that. The N-series engines make the M-series engines look ever better!
 
Timing chain on our engines so he must mean the rubber accessory drive belts either the main belt or the aircon belt. Always prudent to cast an eye on these when you have the bonnet open and check them for cracks appearing as they degrade and wear with age. Quite simple to replace them by letting the tension off them by levering the tensioner pully's off and taking the belts off. Be sure to make a note of the routing they take around the pully's so you put the replacements on correctly.
 
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