Originally Posted By: artificialist
Modern chains rarely ever fail, but when they do, they cost far more to replace than a belt. With belts, you know when to replace them, so the amount of money you spend in replacements is predictable.
Another problem is that with timing belts, if the water pump fails, you often get stuck with replacing the belt at the same time. That in mind, in the few engines that have chain driven pumps require huge labor hours to replace.
I just hate timing belts because in my family, we never knew what a timing belt was, until 1994, when a snapped one killed mom's 1985 Nissan Maxima. I loved that car so much, it hurt me to see it go, even though that car was unreliable.
I had an Altima with the 3.5 and the timing chain started to make noise right after I got the car at 40k. I was in college, and I didn't have the extra cash to fix it (some shops wanted to replace the motor, saying it would be less labor!) - so I kept driving it to 105k, where I gave it to my Dad. He totalled it at 110k. I'm certain it was about to fail, it make an awful rachet when warmed up. The stereo barely could cover it up.
In the past I was wanting chains, but now after having a car with a belt, I see it isn't so bad. It can be serviced in the car, and you don't have to worry about broken tensioners or extremely difficult repair jobs due to a design not made ideal for service.