Timing Belt
 

I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame on me,
but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing it or am I
flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while longer am I going to
ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also, has anyone ever gotten over
80K on a timing belt on a early Miata, like my '90?

"Gary" > wrote in message
news:RRQYc.10303$u94.4732@trndny06...
> I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame on
me,
> but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing it or am I
> flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while longer am I going
to
> ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also, has anyone ever gotten
over
> 80K on a timing belt on a early Miata, like my '90?
>
>
Based on previous discussions of the same issue, timing belts on California
miatae are warranted for 100K miles - same car same belts - so it would seem
the odds are in your favor. The miata has a non-interference engine so
should the timing belt break, you should just come to a stop, no damage. If
you really want to risk getting stranded somewhere, why not push it well
past 100K miles? Maybe 200K.

>I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame on me,
>but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing it or am I
>flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while longer am I going to
>ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also, has anyone ever gotten over
>80K on a timing belt on a early Miata, like my '90?
>
>
I changed mine out at 58,000 simply because I was beginning a very long trip.
Since it was close to 60,000 (recommended to change at that mileage according
to owner's manual) I decided to play it safe. Upon inspection of belt, it was
found to still be in great condition. I now have 100,000 miles and my belt
still looks good with 40,000 miles on it.

But, I would not push my luck, no matter what the warranty is......just MHO :)

Gary wrote:
>
> I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame
> on me, but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing
> it or am I flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while
> longer am I going to ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also,
> has anyone ever gotten over 80K on a timing belt on a early Miata,
> like my '90?

About a month ago my radiator blew out at 101,000 miles. Since I was
going to have to pull the radiator anyway, in order to save the cost of
doing that twice I decided that it would be a good time to replace the
serpentine belt, the timing belt, and also the water pump, which is
buried under all that stuff. A water pump is only about $80, and now I
won't have to worry about it going bad and costing me $200-$300 extra
for the labor to get into it. The old timing belt looked pretty good
despite having gone 41,000 miles past its scheduled replacement date.

Note also that in California the same timing belt is rated to be
replaced at 105,000 miles! So by that standard you should be good for
another 27,000 miles. But age makes belts deteriorate and your timing
belt is almost fifteen years old by now.

So I've heard, the Miata has a non-interfering engine, which means that
if your timing belt goes it won't eat any valves, your engine will just
suddenly turn off. I had a timing belt break on a Corolla at 180,000
miles when I was going down the Interstate in Tampa; I coasted down an
off-ramp right into the parking lot for a car mechanic's shop.

Yours WDK -



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"Gary" > wrote in message news:<RRQYc.10303$u94.4732@trndny06>...
> I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame on me,
> but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing it or am I
> flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while longer am I going to
> ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also, has anyone ever gotten over
> 80K on a timing belt on a early Miata, like my '90?

No risk of ruining anything but your day if you break the belt.

Bit of advice tho.. if you do have the belt replaced, make sure they
do the water pump too. I made the mistake of replacing the belt only
& not too much later the water pump died. You basically have to take
just as much apart to do one as the other.. and it's that
dis/re-assembly that makes the belt replacement cost so much. The
really annoying thing about that whole deal is that my belt probably
would've outlasted my water pump if I hadn't done the cautious thing
and had it replaced shortly after the 60k mile mark. (I think I was
somewhere in the 90k mile range when the water pump failed).

-Scott

"Scott" > wrote in message
om...
> "Gary" > wrote in message
news:<RRQYc.10303$u94.4732@trndny06>...
> > I have about 78K on a '90 and have never done the timing belt. Shame on
me,
> > but the car runs great. Can I get another 10K and delay doing it or am I
> > flirting with disaster? If I gamble by waiting a while longer am I going
to
> > ruin the engine if it finally goes on me? Also, has anyone ever gotten
over
> > 80K on a timing belt on a early Miata, like my '90?
>
> No risk of ruining anything but your day if you break the belt.
>
> Bit of advice tho.. if you do have the belt replaced, make sure they
> do the water pump too. I made the mistake of replacing the belt only
> & not too much later the water pump died. You basically have to take
> just as much apart to do one as the other.. and it's that
> dis/re-assembly that makes the belt replacement cost so much. The
> really annoying thing about that whole deal is that my belt probably
> would've outlasted my water pump if I hadn't done the cautious thing
> and had it replaced shortly after the 60k mile mark. (I think I was
> somewhere in the 90k mile range when the water pump failed).
>
> -Scott

My Mazda dealer's recommendation when doing my timing belt (at around 75,000
miles) was to inspect the water pump and replace only if there were signs of
wear or leakage. In the end, they didn't replace it. I think he said the
WP could easily go 200,000 miles. Surely he could have replaced it if he
had wanted to.

In article >,
"Frank Berger" > wrote:

> I think he said the
> WP could easily go 200,000 miles.

Mine started weeping at 114k...so I did my second timing belt
replacement a bit early.

Replacement timing is very much dependent upon one's tolerance for being
stranded.

--
Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
'94C
the alignment page:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html