I feel like I came incredibly close to losing my car (well, the engine at least)..
A couple weeks ago, I took my '91 into Autowave for its second timing belt service. I was going to wait a few more months (until my next oil-change) before doing it, but since I was leaving for a week, I decided to get it taken care of so I wouldn't have to give up my daily driver later. The car has about 145k miles on it.
While paying for the service, Shane told me he was very glad that we took care of it sooner rather than later - that the water-pump had been previously replaced, but the timing belt looked like it was the original! And it was starting to come apart! I was shocked, realizing immediately what sort of damage I was risking all this time!
It was my understanding that the timing belt had already been replaced according to schedule. During the car's PPI at Autowave when I bought the car, we called Acura of Sacramento, who had serviced the car prior. Among other repairs, they said the car had its timing belt done at 74k, and had the 75k and 90k mile scheduled services.
Autowave is very reputable and knowledgable, so I'm inclined to believe that the timing belt was the original. The possible explanations for this scenario that I can think of are:
- The installer who was supposed to replace the timing belt didn't do so, possibly pocketing the part?
-There's some issue with my car that caused the timing belt to prematurely age and wear, causing it to look like it was the original?
-Acura of Sacramento told me bad information (mistakenly or otherwise)? The other information they gave regarding the car seemed to match up with the vehicle, but I suppose it's possible that they were reading service records for some other car..
Anyway, I suppose the lesson here is to hold in high esteem hard-copies of service records - since if I had those, I could more solidly determine what was going on. I don't think the timing belt is usually one of the items checked during a PPI due to the difficulty of checking it. So it would seem like you just have to trust your information. With the consequences of failure being death of your car, perhaps it is worth adding this one to the checklist? I feel like I got lucky - I'm very fortunate to still have a car to drive around!
It may be impressive that the timing belt lasted twice the recommended replacement interval. But clearly the belt isnt designed to break after 72 months, since it must last at a minimum 72. Timing belt longevity is not something we need to figure out, just get it replaced! This is not an experiment worth repeating!
-Josh
A couple weeks ago, I took my '91 into Autowave for its second timing belt service. I was going to wait a few more months (until my next oil-change) before doing it, but since I was leaving for a week, I decided to get it taken care of so I wouldn't have to give up my daily driver later. The car has about 145k miles on it.
While paying for the service, Shane told me he was very glad that we took care of it sooner rather than later - that the water-pump had been previously replaced, but the timing belt looked like it was the original! And it was starting to come apart! I was shocked, realizing immediately what sort of damage I was risking all this time!
It was my understanding that the timing belt had already been replaced according to schedule. During the car's PPI at Autowave when I bought the car, we called Acura of Sacramento, who had serviced the car prior. Among other repairs, they said the car had its timing belt done at 74k, and had the 75k and 90k mile scheduled services.
Autowave is very reputable and knowledgable, so I'm inclined to believe that the timing belt was the original. The possible explanations for this scenario that I can think of are:
- The installer who was supposed to replace the timing belt didn't do so, possibly pocketing the part?
-There's some issue with my car that caused the timing belt to prematurely age and wear, causing it to look like it was the original?
-Acura of Sacramento told me bad information (mistakenly or otherwise)? The other information they gave regarding the car seemed to match up with the vehicle, but I suppose it's possible that they were reading service records for some other car..
Anyway, I suppose the lesson here is to hold in high esteem hard-copies of service records - since if I had those, I could more solidly determine what was going on. I don't think the timing belt is usually one of the items checked during a PPI due to the difficulty of checking it. So it would seem like you just have to trust your information. With the consequences of failure being death of your car, perhaps it is worth adding this one to the checklist? I feel like I got lucky - I'm very fortunate to still have a car to drive around!
It may be impressive that the timing belt lasted twice the recommended replacement interval. But clearly the belt isnt designed to break after 72 months, since it must last at a minimum 72. Timing belt longevity is not something we need to figure out, just get it replaced! This is not an experiment worth repeating!
-Josh
