hey ladies & gents,

I'm curious to find out when your timing belt broke, and how many miles were on the car at the time. My car is approaching 100,000 and there's no problems (knock on wood), but it's on my mind.

Thanks.

 

i think by the time it breaks...it's too late. fix it now so it's NOT on your mind.
pay a little now..or a lot more later. your choice.

 

yeah...what he said

 

I had 130,000 miles on my last belt, but 95% of the miles were hwy. i started to get nervous when I noticed fluid dripping off the power steering pump tensioner. The fluid was not red...hint hint, it was brown therefore the only possibilty could be the rear cam seal. Once oil gets onto the belt you are in dangerous territry because the teeth an the belt begin to errode. The belt never actually breaks, rather the teeth shread off and advance the timing so much that the pistons impact the valves... by this time it is too late and you need an engine rebuild. Moral of the story unless you pulled the timing belt covers recently and feel 100% that the teeth are not beginning to crack, then I would say change the damn belt. At least you will be able to sleep easier at night. This is an easy DIY project so I suggest you spend five hours on a weekend and change the belt..aslo the H2O pump, thermostat, rear cam seal, tensioner, and crank seal. The parts will run about $100.

 

Yep, what they said

The Mercury Villager can survice a broken timing belt. It uses a modified VG engine. Ford required Nissan to modify the engine before they would use it. Our cars cannot survive a broken belt.