timing belt age as a sole replacement indicator

[Richard van der Hoff]

Interesting that this should come up. My B5 S4 was in for a service a 
few weeks ago, and the shop owner pointed out that the recommended 
timing belt replacement interval was 60 months, or (I think) 60k miles. 
It was last done over 6 years ago, so I figured I would take a couple of 
weekends to do the job myself and replace some seals and gaskets while I 
was in there.

Perhaps I'm being over-cautious. Really didn't fancy having to get 30 
valves repaired though ;)



On 22/04/14 12:40, Grant Lenahan wrote:
> Rubber dry rots.  So yes, age is a determinant as well.
>
> But i’m fairly convinced that the belt itself is rarely the issue in our cars.  More often it is a tensioner or water pump that is failing, placing more drag not he belt, and then poof.
>
> That said, after 8-9 years, although i will only have  50-55k on my belt, I’ll do another nose job on my C5
>
> Grant
> On Apr 21, 2014, at 10:14 PM, DeWitt Harrison <dewitt635 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Some time ago, in fact quite a long time ago, a veteran, very active
>> q-lister by the name of Phil Payne expressed the idea that timing belts can
>> become dangerously damaged by the simple passage of time, mileage
>> notwithstanding. The belt on my venerable 5ktq is in that situation now
>> with maybe one or two hundred miles of use but several years -- I hate to
>> think how many: ten? -- on the clock.
>>
>> I would be very interested to learn what this group thinks about (the
>> late?) Mr. Payne's opinion on this matter.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> DeWitt Harrison
>> 1988 5000CS
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