I was wondering how old cam belts really last. I own a 75 DinoGt4 #10500 that I have had for 27 years. I only drive her only about 100 miles a year as of late. Total miles are about 48,000. Last changes around 30,000 mi. thanks Howard
I put belts on my 328 last summer. I have no clue how old they are. What is shelf life? Do they have a best before date?
I've stretch my luck to 9 years with my 308. When I replaced them they still looked very good and not dry. The tensionners were bad but VERY old, maybe 25 years. But I wouldn't do that again.
Three years and about a thousand miles for mine. Next year I intend to put some miles on her and will have the belts done at the end of the driving season.
Mine are about 5 years old and I am planning on opening the engine for some mods so they will be fresh soon. I just did a major and then some on a 85 Euro QV that had a note on the belt cover indicating the last belt job done 10/93 and only one of the tensioner bearings were replaced. The car only covered 1000 mi in 20 years time. The service ended up going very deep from old varnished fuel bad plug wires, burned extenders and so on. There were no cracks in the belts but they did appear to be discoloring and had a dry feel to them. It was more work thus more expensive then just a belt change. Not driving them is harder then letting them sit.
Pffft.. Daily! and with liberal use of olive oil to insure it doesn't dry out. That's the only way to avoid catastrophic engine failure, just as the factory intended.
Mine are 3 1/2 years and 2000 miles. I'm wondering if after the impending failure if I would be able to tell if it was the old worn belts or the sodium filled valves were the culprit!
year and a half here, but the tensioners weren't replaced and are in unknown condition (belts done right before I bought it). I'll probably do the whole job correctly with some Hills at the 3yr mark. after that I may stretch the replacement schedule.
I am a three year guy by the book. Both are due again next spring. Last was spring 2011. This was actually the first thing I did when I bought my car back in 97. I have replaced my belts/tensioners about 6 times now I believe. Why take a chance? I am not critical of those who push past 3 yrs, I just don't feel good about doing it myself. (off the record, I can't imagine why they can't be trusted 6-8 years on a car being used regularly, but who knows)
Has anyone here ever had a cam belt break? If so, what was the belt age/mileage? Please report the gory details.
I replace mine every 5 years. Mileage accumulated in the 5 years is less than 5K miles. I do not replace the tensioners at each belt change.
The Lotus 907 and early 912 engines used in the Esprit use the same type of belt and bearing. The Lotus factory recommendation was 24,000 miles for the belt. They never specified any timescale in years as far as I know and I have never heard of these being changed by time (which is just as well as they are an absolute pig to change and the 3x8 is a piece of P by comparison ). The timescale thing seems to be a Ferrari-only spec but better to be over cautious I suppose. Factory recommendation by Lotus on tensioner bearing was 90,000 miles or if found to be worn on inspection.
3 1/2 years and about 6k miles. I'll change them next spring, and I don't think I drive it enough. Sheesh some of you really need to drive more.
It seems to me that the design exposes the belts to contaminants far more than most engines, but it is difficult to see that this exposure causes the belts to fail +4X faster than the belts in other engines. I am in the category of the belts being over 5 years old but only a few tho miles on them and the tensioners, and they look perfect. Constantly weighing the looming fear of impending doom against fixing actual problems!
My belts where done 3 years ago. But the car was started about 10 months ago. These belts have a life span of 60,000 miles. Maybe more?? I got about 400 miles on her now. Ill report back when I hit the halfway point. Image Unavailable, Please Login
