Timing Belt

Hey, know what’s scary? Most vehicles’ timing belts fail without a lot of warning. And that can leave you stranded somewhere you don’t want to be. So check your vehicle owner’s manual’s suggested mileage for timing belt replacement and talk with the experts at Heritage Service Centre.

The failure of a timing belt is one of the most common reasons why cars break down. If you are familiar with a timing belt functions and how to tell when something is wrong with it, then you can prevent more serious damage. Knowledge about timing belt symptoms will save you from being stranded by the side of a road because of a broken timing belt.

Simply put, a timing belt is a chain or belt that control the opening and closing of a car’s valves. Without a properly functioning timing belt, an engine’s pistons would cease to function and your car would be unable to run. Worn / old timing belts can no longer perform their job properly and why they can lead to performance problems with your car.

There are a number of timing belt symptoms that you can watch for:

• if your car starts belching more exhaust than usual,
• if the car’s engine vibrates so much that it causes the entire car to shake,
• if you experience difficulty in starting the car or
• if you hear strange noises coming from the car’s engine.

These are just some of the common timing belt symptoms. If you experience one or more of these it would be an ideal time to consult with a Heritage mechanic as soon as possible. Again, its important to repeat that a timing belt may fail WITHOUT displaying any of these symptoms.

If you’ve ignored the symptoms and your car stops running it will probably be too late. By this point the belt has likely broken. The amount of collateral damage to the other parts of the engine could be severe and include valve damage which is decidedly more expensive than the belt replacement alone would have been.

Either way, Heritage will be happy to work on it.