timing belt change necessary?

[USSEnterprise]

Greetings!

My T4R last had it's timing belt changed at around 65,000 miles, about 10 years ago. I had read that since the 5vz in not an Interference engine, changing the belt at the interval was not critical. The car now has around 180k and I was wondering if there are any other problems that could arise from such a long used belt, other than the thing snapping in the middle of a road trip.

 

[98OzarksRunner]

other than the thing snapping in the middle of a road trip.

Just that. And your water pump might start leaking anti-freeze on the floor of your garage. Usually the water pump 'goes' before the timing belt, and is normally changed with the timing belt (since you have to do a timing belt change to change the water pump).

 

[JWaldz]

^^ agreed. Snapping the timing belt theoretically doesn't hurt anything. Just spins and you wont move. Most people do the change somewhere around every 80-120k. I myself am running on the original at 170k. But plan on doing the maintenance soon and very thankful it's kept going this long. Having said that, with 120K more miles tacked on, I'd say yea maybe it's time for a refreshment. It's good maintenance for your rig and will keep it happy!