The cam belt on my 97 UK turbo is roughly 2 years old now and has only done 2000 miles on the car at most. This was all replaced when the engine was rebuilt back then. I'm wanting to change it due to age rather than wear and am wondering if I'd be wise to change any idlers and tensioners or just replace the belt itself?

 

Funny you should mention it, my windscreen is cracked and I've had the rear quarters repaired too.

 

Great input by the way.

 

Did you ever change the belt on yours yet?

 

In short. You don't need to do it. By changing things too much you can do more harm then good. You will curse when you strip a thread or bugger something up when you didn't really need to do it. Just follow the service schedule.

 

That's all I was asking. Thanks.

 

I believe that it's 3 years or 36,000miles. But don't qoute me. Later cars were 5 years and 50,000 I think!

But even at 3 years if you have only done 3000miles and the belt looks fine it will almost certainly do another year. Obviously to be safe go for the three years prescribed.

 

My belts and idlers were changed 9k ago, just had them done with new idlers and tensioner with a hks race belt about 9 mile ago

 

I was just thinking it would be a smaller bill paying for a belt than a rebuild. I don't know what standard belts are made from but we all know what happens to rubber parts that are stood for a while. The car sat for a year after a rebuild until I bought it.

 

Up to you mate. But the head gaskets go a lot more often then the cambelts. So by that logic you could change them every few years. As it would be cheaper then a rebuild. But where do you draw the line? If age has caused it to crack then fair enough. But two years is not long... If you are going to do it then you want to change all idlers, tensioner etc just to be sure. Then what about the oil pump? It's a weak link on these engines... it's getting a bit like the posts above.

At any point in time any of your sensors could fail and cause bad readings which ruin your engine. At any point a pipe could pop of or split causing extra boost blowing your engine. At any time any of the internal engine components could fail. At any time the oil pump valve could fail ruining the engine. The ECU could develope a fault again ruining the engine. There are soooooooo many things that could go wrong at literally any second. There is nothing you can do other then keep the service intervals up and look after it the way you are supposed to (ie the way Subaru who spent millions developing it tell you to). I too worry about all sorts but you can drive yourself mad.
You need to stop worrying and have fun.

 

^^^^ What he said^^^^

 

Im on my 4th belt,2nd tensioner at 113k. Never had an idler on mine. Id wait till the 3 years is up and fit a belt just checking the idles and tensioner

 

Agree with above, but your tyres are made of rubber,steel & canvas, when were they last changed?

 

I'll hang on for a year then!

Tyres need changed now, rears are pretty low and some cracking showing here and there. Plus I think the size/profile is too small.