In a previous post about 3 months ago when I sent my Fiesta for service, the foreman at the workshop assured me that the timing belt of my car's engine is still good for at least another 30k km. While I trust his judgement, it has been bothering me because even though my car's mileage is relatively low, it is already 6 years old and rubber will harden over time even though they are not used often. Not to mention, as far as the service schedule goes, all the engine beltings should've been change a year ago.
Tired of the nagging fear that the timing belt would snap while driving, I finally sent the car in to have the timing belt service done.
For non car-people reading this, car engines use timing belts or timing chains to synchronize valve actions and the combustion cycle. For some engines like mine, a snapped timing belt while the engine is running would be potentially catastrophic and usually a very expensive repair bill shall follow.
As usual, due to the cramped engine bay, replacing the timing belt involves removing quite a lot of stuffs including the coolant degas tank and headlamp. The auxiliary belt (commonly called the AC belt or fan belt) and coolant pump are also removed and will be replaced with new ones as part of this service.
All these labour involved is one of the reasons why the timing belt service for the Fiesta is so expensive.
With those components out of the way, the cam cover is opened to reveal the two cam gears and the belt.
This is the inside of the auxiliary belt. It's not bad but you can see the rubber is already cracking all over.
The timing belt looks fine at first glance, but I discovered that some surface cracks are already developing.
Because the water pump is also replaced, the old coolant is drained. So I took the opportunity to replace the radiator hoses as well. Also these hoses are quite difficult to access, might as well just get them out and put new ones in while everything is opened up.
The above picture shows everything that were replaced in this service:
- Timing belt
- Auxiliary belt
- Belt tensioner
- Water pump
- radiator inlet and outlet hoses
Last but not least, new coolant is refilled into the engine cooling system.
The grand total for this round is just under RM1,500 (about $360 USD). Pricey, but you can't put a price for a peace of mind. From start to finish the whole service took about 2.5 hours.