Based on my recent timing belt experience, most mechanic says that I was lucky. In general, whenever your car’s timing belt snaps, your piston, valve, camshaft, crankshaft, etc will have problem too. This translate to expensive costs of repairing the engine, some cars need to replace most part of the engine. In view of this, I was lucky enough to get away with just a timing belt snap. Phew!

However, the expensive repair costs does not necessarily true for all kind of car. It would also depend on the type of engine you have. Based on my readings there are two types of engine namely “interference” and “non-interference”. In my case, it is a non-interference engine, so if the timing belt breaks on a non-interference design, there is enough clearance between the pistons and valves to prevent damaging contact. On the other hand, an interference design does not have sufficient clearance between those parts and engine damage would result from a broken timing belt, thus, expensive repair costs.

But why do you need to replace your timing belt?

Basically, the purpose of a timing belt is to provide a quiet, flexible connection between the camshaft and crankshaft to keep the valves opening and closing in phase with the movement of the pistons.

As a way forward and a good lesson for all, I would recommend replacement at 60,000-mile intervals - better safe than sorry right! Again, breakage is not the only reason to replace your timing belt. Looseness and wear will allow the timing belt to slip and change valve timing resulting in very poor performance, a no-start condition, or engine damage.

So, change your timing belt regularly.

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