Although many cars now use maintenance-free timing belts (in fact, they are steel timing belts). But there are still a lot of cars still using traditional rubber timing belts. This kind of thing is the same as the generator belt and compressor belt. It must be replaced regularly. If it is not replaced, it will even cause the entire engine to be scrapped. But the question is, how often is the timing belt changed?
Some people will tell you that it is changed every 80,000 kilometers. But it's actually not that simple.
The replacement cycle is different for different temperatures
Rubber is actually intolerant to low and high temperatures. Too high temperature will worsen rubber aging, and too low temperature will harden and brittle rubber. Both of these conditions may cause the timing belt to age prematurely.
Generally speaking, if your operating environment is at high temperature and the wind and sand are very high for a long time, we will recommend that you don't change it at 80,000 kilometers. Earlier, you should change it at 70,000 or 65,000 kilometers. And if you live in a low temperature environment for a long time, especially in winter, under extreme low temperature, the rubber aging rate will be greatly increased. Therefore, if it is in a low temperature environment, we recommend that you replace it at 50,000 kilometers.
How to tell if it is time to change?
There is a soil method commonly used by maintenance workers as a reference, but this method can only be used as a reference and does not have a very precise guiding significance. Find the timing belt and touch its surface with your hand to see if it has a feel like rough paper. If so, it is preliminarily proved that this belt is a bit aging, but it is still uncertain whether it should be replaced.
Illuminate the belt with a light source (mobile phone flashlight or something with a certain brightness) to see if the color is severely whitish. If there is only a small amount of whitening, it is okay to clean it with a hand, it's just dirt. If the edges that are not cleaned are whitish, it may be a bit hanging. If the whole belt is whitish and even some small cracks can be seen, then needless to say, drive to replace it!
The second is to press it with your hands. There is a misunderstanding here. It is not what some media said, "If the belt is tight, it will be fine and the belt should be replaced if it is loose." Because the belt must be very tight under normal circumstances, if it is loose, the belt itself will already have a problem, and your car may be slumped. The purpose of clicking is to feel its toughness.
This is difficult to describe in words. If you think it has good resilience and does not have the above-mentioned problems, you can leave it alone for the time being. But if you already feel that this belt has no toughness, it has a stick-like feel, even if it has no cracks and does not turn white, most of the belt is already aging and hard, so it's better to replace it.
All in all, for the sake of safety, I suggest that you replace the timing belt at about 60,000 kilometers. After all, the cost of changing it once is not high.
