How long have you had them ?

if you don't know when they were last changed it may pay, for piece of mind, to get them changed regardless of when the recommended change interval is.


Trev

Timing belts age the same as anything else. Our old 750 threw the belt at 42,000 miles, but it had probably been on there since new

They're not that hard to change, TBH.. I got a new belt for £13 and fitted it in a couple of hours, with nothing more than mild profanity and a couple of scraped knuckles. If your timing belt is still intact, it should be even quicker..

Cheers,

Plug

To be Honest it's not really that much of a worry as they are non interferance engines, BUT if your not sure change them anyway. It'll cost you far more for a recovery truck than two panda cambelts...

If you do change the belt, take a good look at the tensioner roller. If you feel any roughness when you turn it or you can feel any slack in the bearings, replace it. If the roller fails it will take out the belt as well.

I can remember the exact mileage, but know it's X number of miles or 7 years, what ever comes sooner

Jon.

SPIRITO DE PANDA said:

Many thanks for your replies. So i take it that if the timing belt fails on a Panda it doesn't risk damaging the engine which once happened to me on a vauxhall cavalier, cost me an arm & a leg!

Click to expand...

The theory is it won't damage the engine as the piston can be fully up with valve fully down and there should still be a clearance gap, but I wouldnt like to test it flat out.

Our 750 threw its cambelt at tickover, whilst sat outside the house. Couldn't have been in a more convenient place..

It still never ran as well afterwards though, however this could have been due to my less than perfect attempts to re-time it.

Preventative maintenance is by far the better option than disaster recovery..

Cheers,

Plug