From what I have heard, you dont HAVE to replace the timing belt. My car is @ 82,000 miles.

My grandpa is at 240,000 miles on his Honda Civic and he only has done oil changes every 3000 miles..

What do you guys think?

 

You don't HAVE to do anything. But if you want to decrease the risk of completely blowing your motor, you have to change your timing belt. Oil changes every 3000 are a must.

 

For an guiltless/worriless drive, follow the maintenance schedule.

I've put 165k miles on the original Timing Belt. I swear, every mile since 105k when it was recommended to be replaced, I've been passively concerned with it breaking on me and bending up all kinds of stuff in the multi-valve engine. I now have the parts sitting on my desk at home. But they still won't do any good until they get on the car.

I also just did CV joints. I've seen toooo many cars on the side of the interstate with broken axles. So I made sure I did those within 3 weeks of the "clicking" noise.

Oil needs to be changed regularly. I mean, your engine shouldn't be burning oil, so it's not like there isn't going to be ANY oil in the engine if you don't change at 3000 to 3750 miles. But the quality of the oil does breakdown over time. That's why you wanna keep fresh oil in there. I mean, that's alot of precision metal stuff in the engine rubbing very, very close together. Old broken down oil won't kill the engine immediately, but it will deteriorate the life of the engine in the long run.

Are there any tell tale signs of a dying timing belt? I don't know. I'm starting to think my engine isn't performing at top notch. But then again, your mine also starts telling you crazy stuff too out of guilt/fear.

My honest advice: Do as much of the scheduled maintenance as you can afford. Don't skip a rent/mortgage/car payment for the sake of a timing belt change--it's not THAT serious. But at the same time, don't do like I did--throw away potential servicing dollars on Car Stereo.

 

The tell-tale signs of a dying timing belt are hairline cracks at the root of the teeth on the belt. Then about 30 seconds later all your valves are bent.

I put a new belt on my '95 GS-R last fall because I was getting more nervous about it going. My dad had a belt go on his '73 Fiat (well, it was a long time ago). There was NO warning whatsoever.

 

This are the basic items I have done on my cars for the last 20 years. I have never brought one of my cars for Service for any of these easy to do yourself items.

Oil changes every 3-5K miles or every 6 months

Air Filter - every 2 years

Coolant Flush - every 2-3 years

Spark Plugs - every 30K miles or so

Rotate Tires - every 8-10K miles

Other than that, I check the belts & hoses every so often for any wear or breakdown & keep an eye on the brake pads so they don't score the rotors.

Timing Belt - I would follow manufacturer's recommendation within reason & just check around for who has the best price
to replace.

Tom