I have a nice 1983 245DL. I do not use it much and need to take it on a 500 mile trip (one-way) pulling a trailer in a couple weeks. The car has 136K miles on it. I changed the timing belt 4 years ago (in a Holiday Inn parking lot)and it now has 10K miles on it. It is run at least 4 times a year. I read (or dreamed?) somewhere that age effects timing belts. Should I change the timing belt before the trip because of it's age?

Thanks

Good rule of thumb for timing belts is 5 years or 50k. Belts are cheap and fairly easy to change. I wouldn't worry.

Don't worry about it. Oh I suppose it won't hurt for the sake of your peace of mind to take the cover off so that you can see for yourself that the belt is in good shape. But the factory recommendation is 50K miles, which a lot of people don't hit for 6 or 7 years or more. And that's also allowing for a huge margin of safety in the failure of the belt. Especially if it's a Volvo belt on there, it could easily last another 10 years and 100K miles (but don't try to test that theory!).

So no way would a 4 year old belt be a concern unless you had oil leaks or other such damage.

A friend of mine had a belt failure a few months ago on a '83 240. It was about 7 years old, but the car was parked for 1-2yr at at time at least twice during that period. Teeth were stripped off the belt, but it didn't actually break. It had a split in it, and it showed a lot of cracking. If it's heavily cracked, or shows oil contamination, I'd change it soon.
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forums.turbobricks.com

Take the timing belt cover off and look at the belt. If it has any cracking or signs of age or covered with oil just replace it and the oil seals if leaking. If it looks good don't worry about it. Dan
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85 245 M46 194K, 92 245 A70 122K

I guess if I agreed with richink it would help with your decision - but, with all due respect, I don't.

We've had our 83 for 21 years and 156k mi. I just put on its fourth timing belt. I got 70k mi and 8 yrs out of the factory original and replaced it because I felt I was stretching (Ho!) things. It looked fine. The second went 40k mi and 6 or so yrs, as did the third. Both were changed because I had the front of the engine apart for other things (water pump, then belt tensioner), and it was minimal labor and about $8 to add the T-belt (a genuine Continental from FCPGroton) to the job.

If your front-of-engine oil seals are good and there is no oil leak there to get on the belt, then time is pretty much a non-factor. So I say just fire it up and head off.

Give the old gal an oil change before you go, even if there's little mileage but many months on the last fill. Oil does wear out (oxidize) with time.
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Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

Yep,

I would change it. The rule of thumb to me has been 4 yrs or 60,000 km whichever comes first. $35 part and and hour of your time saves a $60 tow charge and hours of embarrasment at the mechanic.


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Happy Bricking!!! - Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Half a million km between them!!!