Here's my timing belt

[westernb4]

Just got my timing belt changed (local Acura dealer). My car is a 1993, with 56000 miles. I've owned it for about 2 1/2 years, and driven it about 20000 miles.
Changed it for the following reasons:

1. car/belt are about 10 years old.

2. frightening posts about how my irresponsible attitude toward maintaining the car put me at risk for belt breakage and resultant serious engine damage.

Overall, I'm probably happy that I did the repair now, with the reduced anxiety factor over the belt potentially breaking.

However, the look/feel/smell of the old belt clearly suggests that I could have waited longer; probably a lot longer. There is no apparent wear. I have seen posts on this site which warn against drawing conclusions based on the outward appearance of the belt, and that a failing belt has microscopic internal fiber damage or something; after handling my 10 year old belt I strongly doubt that anything like this is happening to the belt. It has the look of something that could have easily gone several more years and many tens of thousands of more miles.

I realize that these comments are largely subjective and that I could be wrong; maybe the old belt would have failed next week had I left it in place. I also realize that the picture is lousy.

Perhaps these comments will help those of you who are sweating over whether to replace your belt.

 

[tosugrad]

The sweat for me was worth every penny to replace. The damage the belt breaking would cause is severe. Consider it insurance!

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I too am getting my belt changed this week....along with the engine rebuild.

 

[gheba_nsx]

The misterious case of 92NSX...

 

[4AU4LIFE]

yeah.

 

[ChopsJazz]

You're right, the belt appears fine. My biggest concern would be how that quarter got in the engine!

 

[4AU4LIFE]

You're right, the belt appears fine. My biggest concern would be how that quarter got in the engine!

LMAO!!
I never thought of that. Good questions though !

 

[Zipy]

I just had mine changed about 3 months ago. Its a 91 w/ 84,000. My mechanic said it looked fine. Except, he said it was somewhat streched, making the timing , for lack of a better term, sloppy. I could tell the difference once it was changed. It seemed more responsive.

 

[sjs]

Besides comparing the shape of the teeth to a new one (preferably with a magnifying glass), the best way to examine it is to bend it teeth-out on a tight radius and look very closely at the base of the teeth and the peak of the bend for tiny cracks.

As noted above, stretch also comes into play, but I wouldn't bet on feeling the difference unless it also feels faster after reducing the wind resistance with a good wax job.

But, even after close examination you can't say for sure that it did not need to be replaced.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I just had mine changed about 3 months ago. Its a 91 w/ 84,000. My mechanic said it looked fine. Except, he said it was somewhat streched, making the timing , for lack of a better term, sloppy. I could tell the difference once it was changed. It seemed more responsive.

I wonder if that holds true to all engines? I just changed the one in my Integra not to long ago. Didn't really notice anything but then again, not a lot there to begin with.

 

[westernb4]

I could tell the difference once it was changed. It seemed more responsive. [/B][/QUOTE]


This is very interesting. As I mentioned above, I just had my timing belt changed. At the same service, I had the valves adjusted. Since the service, there is a DEFINITE increase in power and engine smoothness, which I had attributed only to the valve adjustment.

I wonder if some of the improved performance is from replacement of a sloppy/stretched belt. If so, this would be a good reason for earlier belt replacement. Probably a better reason than avoiding the risk of belt breakage, which I personally think is remote.

Does anybody know for sure if replacing the timing belt would be expected to improve performance?