2004 Xterra, t-belt broken at 101k miles

[Geoff Welsh]

a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.

He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.

doh!!

GW

[Your Name]

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
... of course, like anything else, some won't last that long and other
could last much longer.


From http://voices.yahoo.com/what-timing-belt-replaced-566846.html?cat=27 ...

If you have trouble finding out when exactly the belt should
be changed; you could consult either a local mechanic or
contact a dealership for the exact number. A good general
rule of thumb is that a timing belt should be changed every
60,000 to 75,000 miles, although some belts are designed to
last up to 100,000 miles before requiring a change.
Regardless though, it is best not to let a belt go more than
80,000 miles or so, even if the recommended change point is
a lot higher.


That 80,000 miles is just over 128,000km.

[Geoff Welsh]

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

GW

[Your Name]

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

[Geoff Welsh]

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

I didn't ask anything. I told a short true story of an engine that
didn't make it to the manufacturers recommended service mileage for the
timing belt.

GW

[Your Name]

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

I didn't ask anything. I told a short true story of an engine that
didn't make it to the manufacturers recommended service mileage for the
timing belt.

As I said, most manufacturers say to replace the belt at 100,000km ...
including Nissan (which is the main manufacturer I've dealt with for
decades and various car models).

[H. Ford]

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

I didn't ask anything. I told a short true story of an engine that
didn't make it to the manufacturers recommended service mileage for the
timing belt.
GW

Nothing has been said about the service history of the vehicle. Since
the vehicle was 8 years old when it was purchased, it is entirely
possible that the original timing belt had already been replaced by
someone who may have done less than a good job with questionable parts.
It is not unusual for repair customers to be told "we always recommend
changing the timing belt at 60,000 miles".

[Your Name]

Post by H. Ford

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I
did. Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every
100,000km ...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

I didn't ask anything. I told a short true story of an engine that
didn't make it to the manufacturers recommended service mileage for the
timing belt.

Nothing has been said about the service history of the vehicle. Since
the vehicle was 8 years old when it was purchased, it is entirely
possible that the original timing belt had already been replaced by
someone who may have done less than a good job with questionable parts.
It is not unusual for repair customers to be told "we always recommend
changing the timing belt at 60,000 miles".

Yep, 60,000 miles or 100,000km is the usual timeframe (which is the same
distance, just rounded to a nice easy number, rather than say 62 137.1192
miles).

They do so because even though the belt may last longer (and may even last
a lot longer) than 100,000km / 60,000 miles, it becomes a MUCH more
expensive repair if the belt breaks, so it's always better to do it
earlier rather than too late.

Of course, the belt is one of the things they should be checking at the
car's regular service for signs of premature wear, especially as it gets
close to that 60,000 mile / 100,000km distance.

[Geoff Welsh]

Post by H. Ford

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh

Post by Your Name

Post by Geoff Welsh
a friend of mine bought a 2004 Xterra last year with 80k miles. He
asked me to look up the recommended mileage for the timing belt. I did.
Both the Autodata book, and the Gates PDF online say 105k.
He called me the other day, it broke at 101k.
doh!!

Most manufactures say to replace the cambelt / timing belt every 100,000km
...

no, they don't. They all have different recommendations. That's why we
look them up. Every car, every time.

You asked, I gave you an answer ... if you don't like that answer it's not
my problem. :-\

I didn't ask anything. I told a short true story of an engine that
didn't make it to the manufacturers recommended service mileage for the
timing belt.
GW

Nothing has been said about the service history of the vehicle. Since
the vehicle was 8 years old when it was purchased, it is entirely
possible that the original timing belt had already been replaced by
someone who may have done less than a good job with questionable parts.
It is not unusual for repair customers to be told "we always recommend
changing the timing belt at 60,000 miles".

The published books like Gates, and Autodata say "when the manufacturer
doesn't specify we recommend 60K miles. But most vehicles listed do
have manufacturer recommended intervals and they are mostly of 90K mi or
60K mi.. The 105K listed for the Nissan VG33E engines surprised me,
that's why I looked it up TWICE.

I also looked and found a dealer web site that has this at:

http://www.vadennissanservicecontracts.com/maintenance/nissan/maintenance-schedule-105000-miles-84-months.html

but I notice the 105K mi svc also says 84 months. I've never seen the
time interval listed in the books, so that's certainly a good secondary
indicator to use.

GW

[Your Name]

Post by Geoff Welsh
The published books like Gates, and Autodata say "when the manufacturer
doesn't specify we recommend 60K miles. But most vehicles listed do
have manufacturer recommended intervals and they are mostly of 90K mi or
60K mi.. The 105K listed for the Nissan VG33E engines surprised me,
that's why I looked it up TWICE.
http://www.vadennissanservicecontracts.com/maintenance/nissan/maintenance-sche
dule-105000-miles-84-months.html
but I notice the 105K mi svc also says 84 months. I've never seen the
time interval listed in the books, so that's certainly a good secondary
indicator to use.

From an article in the "MotorTimes" car section of yesterday's local
newspaper about replacing cambelts ...

... Cambelts keep the internal components of your
engine turning in a synchronised order, but need
to be replaced every 100,000 kms or five years,
whichever comes first. If a cambelt breaks, it can
practically destroy the car's engine and cost you
an arm and a leg to fix.

A typical repair as a result of a cambelt failure
can be between NZ$3000 and NZ$4000 - which
is why it is recmommended that you get the
cambelt checked regularly.


Replacing it every fve years if you're only doing a minimal mileage is
of course overkill, but it should still be checked at the regular
servicing.