Timing Chain Or Belt.

[Toyota Mickey]

Am I right in thinking that our 1800 vvt has a timing chain and not a belt?

[rf76]

Ya. The 1.8 1ZZ-FE VVTi engine is chain driven matey.

[funkyg]

I know the manuals will tell you that a cam chain will last the life of the engine, but would you trust that?

I'm looking to keep my car for a good few years yet, and I'm dubious as to how long the chain will last. I'm on 83K now.

Should I make space in my budget to replace it at some time?

Mike.

[215 compressor]

I know the manuals will tell you that a cam chain will last the life of the engine, but would you trust that?

I'm looking to keep my car for a good few years yet, and I'm dubious as to how long the chain will last. I'm on 83K now.

Should I make space in my budget to replace it at some time?

Mike.

i personaly wouldn,t worry about the timing chain they are very reliable only worry if you start to hear a rattle indicating chain worn but i dowt it will occur for many miles yet

[BIGRED]

I know the manuals will tell you that a cam chain will last the life of the engine, but would you trust that?

Should I make space in my budget to replace it at some time?

Mike.

Whats that old saying... better safe than sorry?

Just had my cam-belt replaced at 27000 miles on my 1999 CDX, at end of the day it isnt a huge and expensive job to do (unlike if your belt/chain brakes and tries to eat at everything within your engine bay)

If your wanting to keep the car for a while or just mechanicaly sympathetic like me i would definatley get it done sooner rether than later.

Mick.

[215 compressor]

i suppose if you want to play safe then change the chain but then you should also change sprockets tensioners and chain guides they ve all done the same mileage after all you dont change a cam belt without changing the tensioner so where do you stop. vehicles were fitted with chains as they are more reliable and require no maintainese .why change something thats designed to do alot more miles than a fibre cambelt at the end of the day 80,000 for a chain is not a lot .most cambelts are just coming up for replacing at that mileage or a bit earlier.i geuss the decission is yours.ps could always give the dealers a ring see what they advise

[funkyg]

Cheers guys, some good feedback there!

Bigred - Is your car a VVT or not? If the car has a belt (non VVT) then yes I would expect to change it regularly, but to change a chain at that milage does seem a little over catious even to me. My previous car (MK2 Mondeo TD) reccomended the cam belt be changed at 60K but my mechanic had seen loads break at 35-40K. That said, they were mainly taxis that had been thrashed.

215 compressor - I hear ya! I know that the chains are sooooooo much more reliable and that's why I'm not concerned about changing it..........yet.

As I said, I'm on 83K now and aside from a few niggly problems it's a good car that I'll be keeping for a few years yet. I do at least 20K a year so I expect to be keeping the car until around 150K or more if the rest of the car runs until then. I was just curious to see if a cam chain could be expected last that long, unlike a belt that you are expected to change regularly.

Good tip about listening for chain rattle, though. You don't get the same feedback on a cambelt do you? You can't really hear a cam belt wearing out until it actually breaks can you??!!

Like you say, I'll see what the highway men......sorry, dealers have to say on the matter.

Mike

[uumode]

does anyone know if the VVti is an interference or non interference engine?

so if the timing chain snaps will it actually cause damage?

the 1.8 timing belt version is non-interference so there will be no damage

http://autorepair.about.com/cs/doityoursel...imingbelts6.htm

[Black Knight]

Yeah the ZZ VVTi's are an interference engine, the older belt driven A-type was non-interference.

If the timing chain goes it will wipe out the engine. That being said you've got to look at the liklihood of the chain snapping. Fairly unlikely to happen whereas more common on belt driven engines.

At 83k then you should still have a fairly decent life left on the chain. Also you should get some warning that it's on the way because of the engine check light. As the chain stretches it starts to move the relative timing on the crank-cams which the ecu can pick up on and will throw a fault code

[uumode]

Yeah the ZZ VVTi's are an interference engine, the older belt driven A-type was non-interference.

If the timing chain goes it will wipe out the engine. That being said you've got to look at the liklihood of the chain snapping. Fairly unlikely to happen whereas more common on belt driven engines.

At 83k then you should still have a fairly decent life left on the chain. Also you should get some warning that it's on the way because of the engine check light. As the chain stretches it starts to move the relative timing on the crank-cams which the ecu can pick up on and will throw a fault code

Cheers for the snippets of info

especially on the ECU / fault code tip.

[BIGRED]

Bigred - Is your car a VVT or not? If the car has a belt (non VVT) then yes I would expect to change it regularly, but to change a chain at that milage does seem a little over catious even to me. My previous car (MK2 Mondeo TD) reccomended the cam belt be changed at 60K but my mechanic had seen loads break at 35-40K. That said, they were mainly taxis that had been thrashed.

Mike

I've got the cam-belt and the more reliable engine (not the oil eating thirsty lump VVT ) I know the cam-belt was changed at an early mileage but it was due for changing age wise, 60.000 miles or 5 years which ever comes first. I doubt i will hit 60.000 miles for at least another 5 years yet.

Safe driving all

[uumode]

Bigred - Is your car a VVT or not? If the car has a belt (non VVT) then yes I would expect to change it regularly, but to change a chain at that milage does seem a little over catious even to me. My previous car (MK2 Mondeo TD) reccomended the cam belt be changed at 60K but my mechanic had seen loads break at 35-40K. That said, they were mainly taxis that had been thrashed.

Mike

I've got the cam-belt and the more reliable engine (not the oil eating thirsty lump VVT ) I know the cam-belt was changed at an early mileage but it was due for changing age wise, 60.000 miles or 5 years which ever comes first. I doubt i will hit 60.000 miles for at least another 5 years yet.

Safe driving all

Not sure if Toyotas can use Contitech timing belts, but they last the lifetime of most vehicles 240,000 km

http://www.all4engineers.com/download.php;...20volkswagen%22

They are used by the VW group, my Polo had it, and on the service schedule there is only a requirement to visually check it with no replacement period specified. Although to some bad design choice, they used plastic tensioner rollers which were liable to shatter, so they needed to be replaced with metal ones just in case.