Wow. 1.6L EB timing belt interval...

[inswva]

My wife and I bought a '13 SE 1.6L last Friday. I was looking at the maintenance schedules in the owner's manual and it lists the timing belt replacement interval at 150,000 miles. I was a little sketched out by it not having a timing chain so the generous service interval is fairly comforting. Just thought I'd throw it out there for prospective 1.6L owners.

[aneekr]

Thanks inswva! That's the same interval specified for the normally aspirated 1.6L Zetec SE (Sigma) engine that is standard on North American Ford Fiestas.

Edited September 19, 2012 by aneekr

[rscalzo]

My VW Passatt had an interval of 100K. In the real world anything after 7.5K was borrowed time. It will take time to see how long they last.

[pillboy]

If anything I believe the manufacturers are conservative in these recommendations since they want to make sure they don't have owners showing up on the hook with all their valves bent. Materials used also keep improving and belt design and construction keep evolving.

 

And there will also be a fair number of timing belts that get replaced early because of the failure of a related part or a part that requires removal of the timing belt (throwing a new belt back on is a no-brainer since the labor involved has been done). Our Subaru Outback had three timing belts before 100,000 miles since we had repeated issues with timing belt tensioners failing (needless to say I was less than thrilled since the second two were out of warranty).