One of the most important parts of maintenance on your used car is your timing belt. The timing belt helps everything in your car to work together as it should, and keeps things moving at the right pace. If the timing belt isn’t functioning correctly, your engine won’t function correctly.
The timing belt should be inspected every 10,000 miles. The timing belt can be found underneath a plastic timing belt cover, which is generally located near the front part of your engine.
When you inspect the timing belt, you should look for cracks on the outside. Small cracks are usually not much of a concern, unless there are several. You should consider replacing the timing belt if there are many cracks, or if there are severe cracks.
You also need to look at the underneath of the belt. If any of the teeth are broken, you should replace your timing belt right away.
Finally, you want to twist the timing belt, to see how much play it has. If it twists more than half a turn, it may be time to replace it.
Making sure that your timing belt is in good shape will help your engine to run smoothly and efficiently, and can help to prevent a number of other problems.