On Wednesday, July 20, 1994 at 4:15:51 PM UTC-5, Owen Lee wrote:
> I have a timing-belt-conspiracy-theory, please read and comment:
> (I'd like to compile some data and will post the results later)
>
> I had a 1983 Honda Civic, with a 5 sp. It went ~170k miles without
> ever breaking the timing belt. My Uncle's 1986 Buick Park Avenue has
> over 100k miles (Automatic), without breaking the timing belt. None
> of my friends (work and social) has every broken a timing belt. In
> fact, the only sources of broken timing belt stories a auto-shops,
> dealerships, and friend of a friend of a friend who has a broken one
> once.
>
> Harley Davidson uses a similar belt to drive its 800 pound motorcycles
> in place of a chain. Now if a rubber belt is stong enough to drive a
> 800 pound bike for usually 10's of thousands of miles, wouldn't you think
> it's strong enough to last for a life time when used to drive a couple
> of cam shaft, which probably offer resistance equivalent to about 20 pounds?
>
> My theory is that timing belt breaking is a scare story cooked up by
> people who want you to spend $2-300 every 60k miles, so that the auto-
> service industry can have a few billion dollars more business. After all,
> the timing and valves were supposed to be adjusted anyway, why not add one
> more item while the valve cover is off.
>
> I want to know if you have had a timing belt broken before, if so,
> which car was it (make, model, year, etc), transmission type (which
> affects engine rpm), mileage (highway miles, local miles, average
> speed), whether you are throttle happy, how high do you rev your
> engine before shifting, climate (hot air presumably makes plastic
> deteriorate faster), etc. All the variables that you think may
> effect the life of a timing belt.
>
> It's important that that you respond even if you have not had a broken
> timing belt, especially if your car has gone over the magical 60k mile
> mark without replacing the timing belt. Also, please include all cars
> in your family so that I can have a big database. Otherwise I will
> get only broken timing belt stories.
>
>
> And please be honest.

Breaking timing belts are not a myth.

I was driving to work when my timing belt broke.

Car died and I had to go over a curb to get off the road.

Timing chains may not break but rubber belts do !!

Andy