02 civic with over 100k miles here. Just had the timing belt blow out on me. I must say this is the first car that this has happened to me. I have owned many cars and trucks. Perhaps I have had cars/trucks with chains rather than belts or just real lucky? I never really paid attention however, I will never own a car with a rubber timing belt again if I can help it.

TKE402

 

You were suppose to change the timing belt already. If you had done this as you were suppose to, you wouldn't have had a problem. This isn't the car's fault.

 

My point is I never had to change this on my other cars. Perhaps because I had chains instead of a belt. I think because it's such a difficult part to get at it shouldn't be considered routine maintenance. It should be a part that can last the life of the engine. It's not like changing an oil filter etc. Unfortunately there are a lot of cars that use belts so it's not just a Civic issue. For some reason I seem to have found a post here in which someone mentioned that the new Civic design uses a chain? If so i applaud that design change and think all cars should be like that.

TKE402

 

I figure like a 50-70 dollar belt, and a couple hours of work, is definitely worth it to guarantee that your engine is going to last you. A timing belt isn't TOO hard to do. The water pump, however, was a pain (at least for me.)

 

tke.. chains stretch and break eventually, too, buddy. If you'd have followed the recommended maintenance schedule, the timing belt wouldn't have broken, considering it's supposed to be changed around 80k or 90k miles. And as far as it being hard to change, it's not.