1500 miles on timing belt, do i need new one?

[Exodus_2pt0]

Only on R3V. It is sad that reusing a timing belt is actually being recommended by more than one person. And these same people joke about selling used timing belts, not so sure its a joke anymore.

[nando]

It has 1500 miles on it. If it were 15,000, then sure, replace it. Retensioning it isn't going to hurt a damn thing. Just because the dogma says your M20 will explode in a ball of fire if you look at the belt sideways, doesn't mean it's true.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Guess I feel like peace of mind is worth a couple bucks.

I hope you guys are at least making sure the belt goes back on the same direction.

[nando]

I feel like its a waste of time and money because i know it will be fine.

[kronus]

agreed, there's no point in changing the belt out if it's in the early part of its service period. are people in this thread not clear on what a wear item is?

[jeffnhiscars]

agreed, there's no point in changing the belt out if it's in the early part of its service period. are people in this thread not clear on what a wear item is?

So at what point in its service period is it not ok to reuse it and is there anything besides anecdote that supports the belief that re tensioning a belt doesn't shorten it's service life even of the manufacturer say don't do it

[kronus]

applying the tensioner does nothing special to the belt.

belts go at like 50k +- 10k miles, it's mostly a matter of how soon do you want to take the front of the motor apart again. if it's such a pain that you want to not do it again for as long as possible, sure, replace the belt while it's apart even if it's only got 1500 on it. if the belt is 8 years old, for fuck's sake replace the belt. if the belt is in visually good condition and you're going to have the engine torn apart for something else in the near future anyway, whatever.

[cpandrewschmidt]

wow, i actually had a thread that got to more than one page! :) I'm just going to end up getting a new belt. It's $16 at ORileys so no biggie on the money.

Thanks everyone for your discussion.

Andrew

[Stanley Rockafella]

It's $16 at ORileys so no biggie on the money.

what brand is this $16 belt? I sure hope it's conti.

Anything else....

[nando]

yeah, I'd rather have a 1500 mile used belt than a cheap Chinese POS..

[McGyver]

yeah, I'd rather have a 1500 mile used belt than a cheap Chinese POS..

QFTT. I cheap out on v-belts all day long and don't care, but would never consider any brand other than ContiTech (or maybe gates).

[cpandrewschmidt]

they said Gates over the phone