skip 105k maintenance for a little bit?

ok so i'm at 104k mi on my legacy 2.5i. i just did my oil change today and was thinking of waiting one more oil change (at around 109k-110k miles) before i do my timing belt. what are the chances of my timing belt snapping and making my engine go boom?

 

i popped the timing covers and the belt looks fine. also the tensioners/pulleys aren't making noises.

 

also i'm planning on doing clutch and headgaskets, maybe some upgrades, so i plan on pulling the motor/trans. this is a big project that i want to tackle myself. also another reason why i rather not do this right now is i just got a new job, so i want to push it off til i settle in.

 

what do you guys think?

You are WAY ahead of the game. I'd have no problems waiting until then, especially if the belt physically looks good. Most of the time dry rot/age gets to the belts before 100k does. You have a newer car (10 plus years newer than anything I have...) I wouldn't be worried at all.

I'm a week late, but I changed the original timing belt & tensioner at 114k. the timing belt was showing just a little signs wear a that time on my LGT.

 

Head gaskets are not a problem in 4th Gen. 2.5L legacy's. If it's not showing signs of head gaskets failure, IMO if not broken, don't mess with it. But in the end, it's your money & your own piece of mine. I'm north of 200k on my LGT

 

Good luck ,

 

Mike

good to know. but my headgaskets are weeping. they have been since 60k mi. i'm sure it will be fine til 150k but i rather get it done now.

I had my belt changed at 100K miles - I hadn't checked it, but the mechanic showed it to me and there were cracks!

I personally wouldn't wait to change it, its not worth the risk to me. The t-belt is not something that gives you a warning when its about to go, it just lets loose. If our cars were a no interfearence motors it wouldn't be so bad.

You'll be fine for awhile longer.

 

It's almost never the T-belt itself that fails. They generally get taken out by a bad water pump, weak tensioner, wobbly/seizing pulley, or by being soaked with oil. I have never seen a T-belt (or serpentine belt for that matter) fail, where all it's associated components were perfect.

 

The EJ253 isn't really known to have issues in this regard. I've never heard of a maintained EJ253 grenade due to a T-belt issue at ~105K.

 

Joel

I wouldn't wait. The risks far outweigh the rewards of waiting.

 

As others have said, very rarely is the belt itself the problem. The tensioner is the #1 failure point. It looses tension and you skip a tooth, then you are doing a valve job.

 

-Mike Paisan

 

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