Timing belt maintanence interval

[MikeWoodBooks]

My mechanic stated that the specs for the Baja say that the timing belt needs to be changed every 30 months. He said he'd never heard of an engine that had that frequent of a changing interval. Since my car has 51,000 miles, is a 2003 and has never had it done, I told him to go ahead and do it. Has anyone else heard of a 30 month interval on the timing belt change?

[bulwnkl]

I don't have an '03, and mine's a turbo. Having said that, I think perhaps your mechanic mis-read, or has been given bogus info.

[Sabber]

yea...not so much. according to the haynes manual you should INSPECT the timing belt every 30 months (or 30,000 miles) not change it. Granted if it needs to be replaced it needs to be replaced, but you dont HAVE to replace it at 30 months.

[illanrob]

2003 Baja timing belt changes at 100Kmiles, a 1993 Legacy changes at 70Km.
I have replaced the 180Km Legacy belt twice, when the water pump failed at 120K I kept the same timing belt.

Robert Illan
Huntsville, AL

[FromTheKing]

66k mine jumped 5 teeth.......100k my azz

[bulwnkl]

It jumped? If that's what happened, it wasn't a timing belt problem, it was something else like a tensioner, seized water pump or pulley, or something mechanically locked inside the engine.

Having said that, I admit to hating both timing belts and interference engines.