Replacing Timing Belt Before 100K Miles

usa591 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:41 pm

A previous post caught my eye and got me thinking.

I've got 82,500 miles on my rig. I drive 7K a year here in Los Angeles. I figured on waiting two more years until I got closer to 100K miles to replace the belt.

However, I'm picking up that because it's nine years old (2006 model year), I might want to proactively replace it.

I'm curious about hearing opinions on this & hearing from people who've broken theirs before 100K miles to gauge how far I might be able to push it.

I don't want to jinx it, but I was thinking of doing some traveling off road in a week or two and now I'm second guessing the wisdom of getting too far away from civilization.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2015 6:38 pm

Your timing belt is about 9 years old.
It's time to replace it.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:22 pm

Having lived thru the early days of gas engines with rubber band timing belts that let go like clockwork right about 75K miles I understand newer belts are much stronger so 100k is reasonable BUT I also believe age is a factor. Hence my TB was replaced in Dec. 2013 at just over 49K miles or ca. 7 years old (2 idlers were leaking grease). I"m retired and given how few miles I put on the CRD per year the next change is likely to be 2020 at about 65K miles.

Frankly I would not wait 2 more years on yours.

weeks101 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:29 pm **Posts:** 747

flash7210 wrote:

Your timing belt is about 9 years old.
It's time to replace it.

Agreed, not worth the risk of waiting. This is an interference engine. :grim:

silence · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:25 am

I changed mine at 9 years/90,000 miles and it still looked great. I do Non Destructive Testing for a living so I looked at it closely, but I might take the old belt and do some destructive testing on it and see how it does. Having said that, I believe the manual calls out for 100,000 km FWIW.

Billwill · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:22 am

silence wrote:

I changed mine at 9 years/90,000 miles and it still looked great. I do Non Destructive Testing for a living so I looked at it closely, but I might take the old belt and do some destructive testing on it and see how it does. Having said that, I believe the manual calls out for 100,000 km FWIW.

The manuals I have seen call for 100,000 miles or 160,000 kms.....for some or other reason the Dealers replaced mine at 80,000 km, at my cost, without asking me. I did not have the KJ knowledge I have now at that time so did not question it!

Like papaindigo I also am retired and do very little travel nowadays so recently had the timing belt and idlers replaced after only 35,000 kms of usage but at 7 years old it was time for a new belt I figured! :wink:

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:29 am

So clearly, regardless of mileage, the timing belt will deteriorate due to age and environmental factors. In the absence of any guidance from Chrysler I would seriously consider what the belt manufacturer recommends:

"Avoid Costly Engine Damage; Change Your Timing Belt At The Recommended Interval Or Every 72 Months, Which Ever Comes First."

http://www.gates.com/~/media/Files/Gate ... tGuide.pdf

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:01 pm

I changed mine at 94,000 miles in May last year. my belt was showing some wear. the smooth side was was starting to dry and show fine cracks if you looked closely. clearly about 8- 9 years is all you are reasonably safe with this belt. I'd plan to change it soon.

I also have all the old parts off mine when they were changed out.. I didn't ask the mechanic @ Susquehanna Dodge Jeep to return them but he did. I still have them in a box at home I can take and post pics of what mine looked like after about 8 years and 94,000 miles if anyone wants to see.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:08 pm

In addition to the 6yr/72 month Gates recommendation noted above Gates also says "To avoid costly engine repairs, follow the auto manufacturers’ mileage replacement recommendations or we recommend timing belt replacement at around 60,000 miles." Hence my conclusion, notwithstanding DCJ, is 6yrs or 100K miles whichever comes first. Belts are cheap, if you are handy job is not hard, rockers are not cheap/job is much harder/DCJ is not paying for it you are..

PS of the 2 belts I've seen at ca. 50K miles and 7-8 years old neither had noticeable cracking (bent belt backwards to look; off vehicle of course) but both were noticeably stiffer than a new belt and in one case both the idlers were leaking grease. The latter was a bit surprising as I would not expect time to matter to idlers as opposed to miles.

usa591 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:16 pm

mikey1273 wrote:

I still have them in a box at home I can take and post pics of what mine looked like after about 8 years and 94,000 miles if anyone wants to see.

I'd love to see a few pics.

Thanks for the responses, team… I'm detecting a trend here.

dirtmover · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:43 pm

mikey1273 wrote:

I changed mine at 94,000 miles in May last year. my belt was showing some wear. the smooth side was was starting to dry and show fine cracks if you looked closely. clearly about 8- 9 years is all you are reasonably safe with this belt.

The backing material is not too critical. It's the state of the tension members below the surface that will cause you problems. Unless you have drive issues that are causing unusual wear patterns you really can't tell much about the condition of the belt by visual inspection alone.

Auberon · **Posted:** Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:08 pm

I changed my timing belt at 52 000 km, (32 300 mi) seemingly long ago in early Nov 20013......so given mine was end of 2006 production I pushed it out to 7 years and felt uneasy about that.
A quantifiable onset of hardening was indeed the most notable change in the belt material on visual inspection and measurement (small durometer).
It was indeed time.

weeks101 · **Joined:** Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:29 pm **Posts:** 747

Belt aside, the bearings in the idlers and water pump tend to go bad.

IDParts has a fantastic price on a full timing belt kit, we rent the tools you need to do the job yourself and SirSam has how-to videos on YouTube. Don't push your luck. :2cents:

usa591 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:00 pm

weeks101 wrote:

Belt aside, the bearings in the idlers and water pump tend to go bad.

IDParts has a fantastic price on a full timing belt kit, we rent the tools you need to do the job yourself and SirSam has how-to videos on YouTube. Don't push your luck. :2cents:

wow. Looks like $400 all in. hmmm….

Tony P. · **Posted:** Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:37 pm

From personal experience, my dads 2006 CRD's timing belt went south due to an idler locking up... Last year I think Novemberish with almost 200k on the original belt. It is still parked in the yard after two or three rocker replacements etc..... Just changed my timing belt on my 2005 with 105,ish on the clock. One idler was weeping grease and wobbly, the water pump was squeaking while spinning it freely by hand. The belt visually looked good. I concur with everyone else posting, change the belt. Best of luck.

Tony

rotordriver · **Joined:** Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:35 pm **Posts:** 44

Tony P. wrote:

From personal experience, my dads 2006 CRD's timing belt went south due to an idler locking up... Last year I think Novemberish with almost 200k on the original belt. It is still parked in the yard after two or three rocker replacements etc..... Just changed my timing belt on my 2005 with 105,ish on the clock. One idler was weeping grease and wobbly, the water pump was squeaking while spinning it freely by hand. The belt visually looked good. I concur with everyone else posting, change the belt. Best of luck.

Tony

Mine made it to 174000 before taking a dump. Do your self a favor. Change it when it's due. A lot more work and money when it breaks.

SFHLibertyCRD · **Posted:** Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:41 pm

Geordi came to Los Angeles and did mine over a year ago. I think he's going to be up north soon for another West Coast trip. Maybe as far south as the Bay Area. If you don't want to do it yourself, consider having him do it.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:36 pm

Seems from some of the posts the belt might last considerably more than 100,000 miles but the idlers and water pump might take the belt out once those parts wear... I actually seen this in an old Isuzu I-mark I had years back. I changed the timing belt in it at 80,000 when the head gasket went and it also got a valve job while the head was off. thing is I didn't change any of the idler pulleys or the water pump of the engine at that time. I figured at under 100k why bother. well years and mile later at 132k the belt broke. Guess why... An Idler pulley seized up. so yes a full timing belt service can save you a lot of heartache and pain in the wallet later when done on time.

I also want to post some pics of the parts pulled from mine during the service

usa591 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:53 pm

usa591 wrote:

weeks101 wrote:

Belt aside, the bearings in the idlers and water pump tend to go bad.

IDParts has a fantastic price on a full timing belt kit, we rent the tools you need to do the job yourself and SirSam has how-to videos on YouTube. Don't push your luck. :2cents:

wow. Looks like $400 all in. hmmm….

As a point of reference, the dealer quoted me $247 for the belt and $434 for the water pump (parts #'s 5142579AA & 5142985AA). They couldn't give me a quote on potential work charges until their diesel tech gets back in a week or two.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 05, 2015 2:16 pm

the dealer I took mine to charged me $636.00 in Labor and taxes.. I provided the parts from IDpart.com the only thing the diesel mechanic questioned before taking the job was did I have the timing belt tensioner and idler pulleys to replace. He went over the parts with me when I dropped it off. the water pump he unboxed and looked at the just said it all looked good.

Replacing Timing Belt Before 100K Miles

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