timming belt question.

the mazda dealership told me they change the timming belts on the cars every 60,000 miles, and they said they recomend me changing my timming belt because my car is at 80,000 miles. the thing is they havent looked at the timming belt, they just said to change it because it is regular procedure. do you think it is worth changing it and the water pump for 700 or just forget about it? thanks guys...

Start saving up and replace the belt and h2o pump at 90k. You might be able to get a better deal than $700, but if it breaks and leaves you stranded some where, you'll probably pay more when you factor in the towing and all that other nonsense.

yeah, 60k miles is about the norm. They told you this without looking at the belt because that's a pretty widely accepted mileage for a timing belt replacement. Look in your manual, on the maintenance schedule it says R on the timing belt.
In the case of a timing belt, the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" saying does NOT apply. If it breaks, you will have to pay a lot more than $700 to repair the damage.

My maintenance schedule says the timing belt is due for replacement at 105,000 miles. And the P5 engine is non-interference, so if the belt breaks no damage will be done. You'll just need a tow.

Yeah I seriously wouldn't bother thinking about it until you hit 80k miles or so. If the belt breaks, it is just an inconvenience. I wouldn't go to the dealership to get it done though. If you aren't on one, find a local car enthusiast forum in your area and see where they recommend going. 700 dollars? Wow. The OEM timing belt part is around 45 dollars from OnlineMazdaParts.com (a very good new vendor on here), and the water pump ..
The first price listed is the price the dealership will tell you it cost, the second is the price on onlinemazdaparts.com (Montgomery Mazda in North Carolina)

water pump, Protege, 2.0L 01-03 $103.95 $83.16
GASKET, Protege, 1.8L, 2.0L 99-03 $7.10 $6.04

timing belt, Protege, 2.0L, Tsubakimoto - 1.6L, 1.8L, 2.0L 01-03 $48.60 $41.31

Grand Total: $130.51

I think shipping is free. When the parts are in just take them to a decent place and see how much they will charge for the labor (probably at least two hours I would think). The timing belt job isn't a "fun" thing to do, and I definitely don't recommend doing it if you aren't comfortable retiming your cams and stuff.

alright guys, thanks for the tips!

memo79 said:

yeah, 60k miles is about the norm. They told you this without looking at the belt because that's a pretty widely accepted mileage for a timing belt replacement. Look in your manual, on the maintenance schedule it says R on the timing belt.
In the case of a timing belt, the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" saying does NOT apply. If it breaks, you will have to pay a lot more than $700 to repair the damage.

Click to expand...

Actually, in our motors if the timing belt goes, its not catastrophic, your car will just stop, and not turn back on.. but like u said, i do recommend getting it done, and screw the dealership, find a mazda specialist, or import specialist mechanic in your area, its a pretty common repair so if you bring them your car and the parts, im sure they can do it for 400 or less.