Timing belt: Age vs. Mileage

I have a 1999 Accord with 28,000 on the clock.

When should I replace the timing belt?

 

Depending on when that car was built , it could be nearly seven years old.
Even though the miles are low if it was my car I would replace the belt. I
have always gone 5 years or 60,000 miles ans have no problems. Scott

 

Unless you live in an area of severe heat or severe cold, you are changing
it about half again more often than necessary. I would expect that you would
have no problems, except in the wallet.

 

I live In Phoenix summer highs 110 -120. And from his e-mail I think he
lives In Russia. One extreme to the Other

 

I'm in Houston, summer highs 95~99 and a long "summer" with 90º + temps
beginning in June and extending through early October some years.

My wife's car is a '96 Lexus LS400 w/55k miles on it (recommended
replacement at 90k). My dealer inspected the factory-original T-belt last
year at 52k miles and said "it's fine, let's look at it again in another
couple years if you get to 60k by then" ;^)

Manufacturer's "recommended" replacement intervals are always way
conservative, designed to avoid any problems long before you might expect
some.

I bought a used '91 Accord w/120k on the clock for my son when he first
started driving. The original owner kept meticulous records, but only
changed oil every 5k miles and had never put a T-belt on it. My son ran
the mileage out to 149k before driving it into 4-feet of water during
tropical storm Allison, (June 2001) ruining it.

 

Uh, maybe not. Hint: Google his "name" and "organization".

Dave

 

An alternate data point: I'm in Houston too, and the T-belt recently
broke on my '91 CRX with just under 115K on the clock. It had been
replaced at 60K per factory recommendation, but that had been almost
seven years ago. It had dry-rotted to the point where several teeth were
almost stripped off.

Fortunately, I was incredibly lucky and didn't suffer any top-end damage
as a result of the failure, but that experience made a believer out of
me when it comes to replacing the T-belt every five years regardless of
mileage, at least on the older Honda engines.

Dave

 

Hmmm, OK, have to ask, was the replacement belt OEM from the dealership or
one from the aftermarket? Rubber dry-rotting early smacks of a possible
quality issue. OZONE and U/V light (along with heat) are the enemies of
rubber products. We can probably rule out the sunlight, but good quality
belts are designed to withstand punishment. Sounds like the replacement
didn't measure up to the quality of the original.

 

Even "best quality" belts have a determinable Mean Time Between
Failure: Honda has figured theirs at comfortably more than
100,000miles OR 7years, lately.

It's an interference engine and the belt replacement is considerably
less expensive than a top-end engine rebuild: Why act foolishly?