Timing Belts and Today's Cars

by Kris Jones - Proud owner of 1st Choice Auto Service

To an auto technician interference motor means possibly big engine trouble if the timing belt breaks; to the customer that means a big repair bill that could have been avoided. You don’t think about it until it happens to you, and now you're stuck with a nasty repair bill, and that money should be your vacation money.

Interference motor means possibly bent valves and/or damage to pistons. It goes like this: if the timing belt breaks, the camshaft and crankshaft will be out of time and the valves that are run by the camshaft will be open, so when the piston comes up it will hit the valves, and something has to give - generally it’s the valves. So if you're lucky you bent the valves, and that means pulling the heads off and having them repaired; if you're unlucky you put a hole into the piston - and now you need a motor.

Please save yourself money and refer to your owners manual for regular interval of timing belt replacement.