Timing Belt Q's
 

Just bought an '02 P5 and it has 98k miles on it. Now I've never purchased a car with this many miles or from a dealer. My question is how do you know if your timing belt has been replaced?? :bigthumb: The dealer didn't know and it seems the car has been kept up fairly well. Just need some confirmation here...thx

I'm not sure myself.. but i do know mine needs changing.. (115k)

btw... welcome to the club. ;)

Well if there's no documentation of it, the only way to tell would be to pull the valve cover off and inspect the belt, seeing if it looks like ~40k miles of wear or ~98k miles of wear on it. I'm not sure if I could tell the difference but a dealer should be able to.

If it is still the original, make sure you replace the water pump when you do the timing belt... and might as well replace both accessory belts too since you'll have them off anyhow

Just replace at 105K miles (per manual).
I suggest doing the water pump while at it. Maybe now do a underdrive pulley, eh?

There is not an easy way to tell. You can inspect it, but that doesn't mean it won't break tomorrow. Replace it at 105K miles. It's not worth taking a chance. I always assume that the belt hasn't been replaced when I buy a used car. Unless it has a timing chain, like my current vehicle, lol. I have heard that these are not interference engines, but I have also heard that people have bent valves when their timing belt broke. To me, It's not worth taking a chance. At best you will be stranded somewhere if it does break. At the worst, bent valves or worse. Don't take a chance.

you guys are crazy. I ALWAYS do timing belts and pumps at 60k. MAybe it's overkill but with an interference engine its always wise to err on the preventive side.

p.s. here's what I'd do at the 60k service

timing belt
water pump
j-spec cams
thermostat
coolant flush with de-scaler
upper/lower rad hoses
accessory belts
valve cover gasket (proteges can be re-used several times)
oil change
tires
brake inspection
transmission flush
rear gear flush (if you have an awd/rwd)
spark plugs
plug wires (boots)
air filter
CAF
fuel filter (clean screen on proteges)
BG's 44K fuel system service w/ induction cleaner

steak dinner after you're done.

i'm replacing my timing belt today at 90k. I also bought the water pump. Both from Mazda. I would have waited to 115k but i have a mechanic friend with me and i may not have him again for awhile, he does it for me cheap.
Roddimus Prime has the right idea. Maintenance like that and the car will last and little chance of being stranded.

Well we don't have an interference engine (at least according to Mazda) so it's no issue.

Dayco (common aftermarket timing belt co) seems to think otherwise.. but I know who I trust more.

OK, I'm going to lend some support to Rodimus Prime on this. My understanding has always been that the timing belt should be replaced earlier than 105k. Maybe 60k is a little conservative, but I'm pushing 87k on the original timing belt, and I've been figuring that I'm on borrowed time.

This is the first I've heard anyone say the timing belt is good for 105k. Does the manual really say that, Da-P-Funk?

On a very related note, can we confirm that the 1.6L DOHC on my 2000 Protege LS is a non-interference engine? That was my understanding and that's a major part of why I'm willing to push the envelope a bit.

For normal useage. Inspect at 60K and replace 105K. The belt i swapped at 106K miles was fine. No cracking/issues.

when I had the accesory belt break(70k miles) on my p5 they suggested to change the timing belt too, the mazda dealer said it would tear up the inside of the engine. I changed my timing belt at another dealer they said if it broke the engine would just stop no damage, the bad thing was that neither dealer suggested changing the water pump, so if that goes, there goes another chunk of cash to have them dig in the engine again.

The mazda dealer lied to you. The FS-DE is non-interference, the inside of the engine would be fine. If the timing belt breaks, it's just a mild inconvenience because the engine will shut down and the car must be towed.

And yeah.. water pump with timing belt, since you must pull the timing belt to get near the water pump. I didn't, because I replaced my timing belt at 60k.. but I'm at 91k now and plan on doing the water pump before 100k because that would really ruin the day if it broke.