I just bought my first car! It's a black 2001 lx coupe automatic (no mods). Its at about 83,500 miles. When do I have to be worried about the timing belt breaking? (im in wisconsin) I see the manual says to change the timing belt at 110,000 miles or 84 months. I hear from people that you should change it at 90,000. I'm really hoping that i won't have to do that. $5,500 (after taxes) pretty much cleared me out. Is there anything else I should be worried about? Any tips to improve car or anything would be greatly appreciated.

 

You should pull the timing cover off and check for wear. If there arnt any mods you shouldnt have any problems but check just to be sure. Look for fraying in the belt, or discoloration like the threads showing through. Only things you should keep ontop of is tranny fluid brakes and oil changes (i recomend switching to mobil 1 if u havnt already)

 

well usually 90,000 miles...you should have a good 6 months, depending on how much you drive before getting to that many miles to save up some cash. and what do you mean by improve? what kind of mods do you have in mind (if any). Post some pics.

 

Okay, so if it looks good do you think it would be fine waiting until 110,000? I plan on driving it less than 2 years because i will need college money. :/ but who knows, maybe i'll take it with me.

 

You could wait some but I wouldn't go all the way to 110,000 miles because it's past the 7 years already. It's not a difficult DIY job if you have the proper tools.

 

around 90,000 miles is good, i changed mines at about 100,000. just a little note though, its better to spend the money and time now to change the timing belt than to wait a longer. because when the belt snaps your going to have a lot more engine problems than just the timing belt. so i guess change it between 90,000 and 100,000 miles. and you should give your car a major tune up at around 100,000

 

Also change the timing belt tensioner and water pump while you're in there