Thought I'd garner a few opinions on the matter of changing a timing belt based on age. I have a 2008 Kangoo with a 1.6 16v petrol engine. The handbook calls for a timing belt change every 120 000km or 5 years. According to the service receipts I have, the belt was last changed in the autumn of 2019 at about 130 000km. I have no information regarding possible changes prior to that date. It's possible that this was the first time it was changed.
Current mileage is about 170 000km i.e. the car has only done 40 000km since the last change but obviously according to the handbook I should be changing the belt as a result of age, not mileage. It just seems a little strange to change a belt that has done only a third of it's rated mileage just because five years have passed.
The other thing I find interesting is how different manufacturers can offer so wildly different change intervals. It is not the manufacturers themselves that make the belts and I imagine they are all made of fairly similar stuff.
Another reason for posing the question is one of cost. I use the Kangoo as my second car for transporting dogs, going to the tip etc.; It's a general dogsbody car basically. I paid around 20 000SEK for the car and it has cost me very little to run. I do all my own servicing (minimun oil and filter change every year) and in the last five years it has been totally reliable. Unfortunately changing the belt is a faff of a job and I have been quoted nearly 10 000SEK to get it changed (including water pump) by two good independant garages that I trust. This is nearly half what the car is worth! (As an aside I also asked the local main dealer for a price and was quoted the laughable sum of 22 000SEK!)
Anyway enough of my ramblings I have booked the car in at one of the independent garages in January. But I have this nagging sensation that I might be wasting my money.
Opinions?
CS
Current mileage is about 170 000km i.e. the car has only done 40 000km since the last change but obviously according to the handbook I should be changing the belt as a result of age, not mileage. It just seems a little strange to change a belt that has done only a third of it's rated mileage just because five years have passed.
The other thing I find interesting is how different manufacturers can offer so wildly different change intervals. It is not the manufacturers themselves that make the belts and I imagine they are all made of fairly similar stuff.
Another reason for posing the question is one of cost. I use the Kangoo as my second car for transporting dogs, going to the tip etc.; It's a general dogsbody car basically. I paid around 20 000SEK for the car and it has cost me very little to run. I do all my own servicing (minimun oil and filter change every year) and in the last five years it has been totally reliable. Unfortunately changing the belt is a faff of a job and I have been quoted nearly 10 000SEK to get it changed (including water pump) by two good independant garages that I trust. This is nearly half what the car is worth! (As an aside I also asked the local main dealer for a price and was quoted the laughable sum of 22 000SEK!)
Anyway enough of my ramblings I have booked the car in at one of the independent garages in January. But I have this nagging sensation that I might be wasting my money.
Opinions?
CS
