Timing belt vs timing chain waranties install#

A 100K belt may look new when it comes to signs of wear and break a week later. If you do remove the timing cover to inspect, a visual inspection is usually worthless as an old belt and a new belt are typically virtually indistinguishable if not coated in oil.

You’re not going to find any independent shop or dealership tearing down an engine to inspect the timing belt in any used car inspection. On most vehicles the timing belt is not easily accessible to inspect without disassembly. When this happens the engine must be disassembled and the costs can be many times more than a similar timing belt replacement, in fact many engines require removal to fix.ĭuring our pre-purchase inspections we always check the accessory belt(s) and do what all that we can to determine whether the timing belt was replaced. In general, vehicles equipped with timing chains require less costly and frequent maintenance unless the chain, guides or tensioner develop a problem. Simply put timing belts require replacement at manufacture specified intervals timing chains do not require replacement unless a problem develops. Obviously the usual disclaimer applies, not all shops are the same, so be sure to ask.We’ve been getting a lot of questions about this lately. I'm posting this in case anyone else was curious as to shop warranty information. Now I purposely omitted the shop's name and the company they get the parts from so I modified the quote a bit.

Timing belt vs timing chain waranties install#

Of course he said 'Well it covers the timing belt, water pump and hydraulic tensioners' I said 'Yeah, I realize that, but let's say I were to drive the vehicle and three months later my timing belt snapped, which resulted in warping and bending my cylinder heads rendering my engine inoperable, would the warranty cover that?' He said 'Yes, since it was caused by the timing belt.' He said that 'What happens, is I contact the company I bought the parts for and tell them they had a defective timing belt and at that point they will send me a new engine to install in your vehicle which of course we would do free of charge.' I asked the shop what the warranty covers. As I said I got my timing service done today. I realize that is too broad, as there are thousands of mechanic shops, I'm asking for those who worked for a shop and would they have covered something like that or is the warranty just for the timing belt even though the poor mechanic job caused the damaged heads? Would the mechanic shop warranty cover that? Suppose again I have an interference engine, which I think I do and the cylinder heads get damaged as a result of bad timing belt mechanic work. I'm curious what exactly that covers.įor example, let's suppose I get the timing belt service and it was done wrong and three months later my belt breaks on the highway. As you are aware, whenever mechanic shops, especially well known ones perform services on vehicles they warranty their work. Now this is preventive maintenance, there isn't anything wrong with my belt, I just know it is a good idea to get a timing belt service every so often. I have a Dodge Journey and I'm about to do a timing belt service which replaces the timing belt, water pump, and the hydraulic tensioners.