Timing belt change

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:34 pm

Hi all

I am looking to buy a 1995 NA8 and have found a literal "little old lady" car. She has owned the car for 8 years and it has low ks, it was a year since I last looked at it (she took it off the market but it is back on) and I thought it had about 170,000 on it but she kept saying 119,000 on the phone today.

Anyhow, she said the timing belt was done just before she bought it 8 years ago, so will be due for change, even though the car has hardly been dríven. What would the job cost to get done?

Dehamsta · Postby **Dehamsta** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:52 pm

~1k. Check mx5 mania's site for accurate prices.

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:59 pm

Dehamsta wrote:~1k. Check mx5 mania's site for accurate prices.

Eeek. Around the same as a Subaru. Thanks.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:41 pm

if you are good with the tools you can do it yourself for around $350 using all genuine parts (water pump, seals, belts, tensioners etc) should only take a few hours to do

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 4:48 pm

Regie wrote:if you are good with the tools you can do it yourself for around $350 using all genuine parts (water pump, seals, belts, tensioners etc) should only take a few hours to do

Sounds good to me. Thanks! Just about to go and have another look at the car now. Excited!

gslender · Postby **gslender** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:02 pm

I'll open a can of worms - the engines are non-interference and won't damage anything if it does snap. So another option is to just enjoy the car and prepare for a tow home if it ever does. Some have gone 200k without replacing the belt.

I have the tools and time, so I've just done the work myself, and I'd say it is easy compared to other cars I've worked on.

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:42 pm

That is great to know.

Had another look at the car tonight. The sticker says the belt was done 1 July 2005. She has only done 2000km on it a year since she bought it and yes, it has only covered 119797km.
The only other concerns were the clutch take up was quite high off the floor I think (only backed it out of the carport today) and the radiator tank is brown. Also the handbrake didn't work so well but that should be easily adjusted out.

gslender · Postby **gslender** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:18 pm

I'd replace the radiator well before the cam belt. The radiator will damage the engine if it fails while driving!

Trackphotos · Postby **Trackphotos** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:28 pm

gslender wrote:I'll open a can of worms - the engines are non-interference and won't damage anything if it does snap. So another option is to just enjoy the car and prepare for a tow home if it ever does. Some have gone 200k without replacing the belt.

I ran my first track day at 103,000km on the clock without ever having the belt changed, specifically because it's a non-interference engine. Didn't break, wouldn't have mattered if it did

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 9:32 pm

gslender wrote:I'd replace the radiator well before the cam belt. The radiator will damage the engine if it fails while driving!

Yeah, have to look into the aluminium ones...

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:01 pm

Nige wrote:Had another look at the car tonight. The sticker says the belt was done 1 July 2005. She has only done 2000km on it a year since she bought it and yes, it has only covered 119797km.
The only other concerns were the clutch take up was quite high off the floor I think (only backed it out of the carport today) and the radiator tank is brown. Also the handbrake didn't work so well but that should be easily adjusted out.

The belt wears with usage, not age, so there's probably 80,000kms left in it.
The handbrake has an adjustment screw at the base of the lever, so that's usually a 2 minute job.
Maybe the hydraulics haven't been changed for 8 years too. I'd flush and replace clutch and brake fluids asap. That could well fix the clutch problem.

Nige · Postby **Nige** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:05 pm

All very promising. Thanks all!!

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 10:46 pm

manga_blue wrote:Maybe the hydraulics haven't been changed for 8 years too. I'd flush and replace clutch and brake fluids asap. That could well fix the clutch problem.

Ooops, ignore that. Dodgy hydraulics mean you have to press the clutch pedal all the way to the floor to try to get it to release and take-up. Hopefully this car has wrongly adjusted clutch pedal free play rather than a dodgy clutch.