Timing Chain vs. Timing Belt

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Interesting subject. I have never owned a vehicle with a timing belt. I have read the pros and cons and subjectively prefer chains, which have never caused any issues in any of my vehicles. Although the noisy gear drive on my ISB6.7 is kind of my favorite.
 
Dont think itd stop me from buying a car I wanted, but Id prefer a chain. Reason is simple, one less maintenance item to do.
 
Originally Posted by WyrTwister
Only timing chain I have ever done was in the 70's on a 66 Mercury Comet 289 , 2 barrel manual .

We purchased a new 2015 Chevy Sonic 1.8l automatic , June 2015 . It has a belt .

At first , I was miffed . The more I read , it seems replacing a timing belt is probably easier and possably cheaper than an equivelent timing chain ? What say yea ?

Thanks , :)
Wyr
God bless


I had a 289 in a 1965 Mustang and it had a timing chain and the chain had a very simple path, from the crankshaft up to the
cam shaft. The engine had push rods. I rebuilt the 289 in my Mustang at age 17 and learned a lot about engines.

Today's engines with a timing chain have a much more complex path for the chain with over head cams, idlers.
 
I had a 2008 Honda Accord with the belt and it cost about $1000.00 to replace the water pump, tensioner, belt, and gaskets etc at 80,000 miles. My 2012 Honda Civic has a chain and it has 82,000 miles on it. We sold the Accord right after the belt replacement to enhance the sale and we obtained top price for it. To make a long story short I like the timing chain much better since I see them all the time with over 200,000 - 300,000 miles and still running great with the original timing chain.
 
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
For a daily driven vehicle, I prefer chains. Tried and true to last. For racing engines, I prefer belt drive. (when rules allow it) Belts don't need oiling and they make cam swaps a breeze.


For something that hardly ever gets driven I prefer chains. Rubber deteriorates just sitting there. I have 2 cars that have been sitting for at least 10 years which have belts and I worry what will happen if I try to run them now. And I replaced the belt in one just before storing it.
 
Originally Posted by E365
I have an oil-bathed timing belt on my Focus 1.0 EcoBoost.

Either way, I don't care either way what it has. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I did the timing cover gasket and chain guides on my old E36 BMW. While the double-row timing chain is unlikely to ever fail, the plastic chain guides were literally falling apart upon disassembly. Brittle, like uncooked pasta. So you're pretty much gonna have to do a chain job anyway at some point if you're gonna keep something "forever" and put many hundreds of thousands of miles on it.


The guides seem to be the problem with a lot of engines with long chains, VAG V engines have a problem with them and they are a nightmare, engine out and all the rest of it.
I really like that 3 cyl engine in your Ford, the ones I have driven were nice in boost and rev freely. The belts seem to holding up well, no problems I have heard about on the first ones, the engine seems like a good one.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
(some new ones do run in oil)



Belts in oil? Sounds like it would normally be a recipe for disaster.
21.gif
 
I always thought chains were a lifetime part and belts were a maintenance item. I never once heard of timing chain failure until Ford's 5.0.
 
Chains last longer...or have a less tightly defined replacement interval for the "big service"

Belts are better at maintaining camshaft timing within their replacement interval.
 
We just had our 2010 Sante Fe V6 CVVT cam gear replaced - - at 140,000kms - to the tune of $2500 Canadian.
Not fun.......the seals went on it - - which is a pain because I changed the oil every 6,000kms or 6 months.

Tech said the chains and tensioner were still good.
 
Originally Posted by Ifixyawata
Originally Posted by Trav
(some new ones do run in oil)



Belts in oil? Sounds like it would normally be a recipe for disaster.
21.gif



Not really, there are compounds totally unaffected by oil that they can use along with reinforcement materials that could possibly make the belt a lifetime part.
Timing belts and chains don't stretch they wear at the teeth (belts) or connecting links/rollers (chains) giving them the appearance of stretching, running the belt in oil will prevent a lot of the wear.
 
Originally Posted by joegreen
I feel like people like chains because they can usually go a long way before being replaced. I actually really like belts. They are quiet, you don't have to worry about the timing gears also wearing out, the timing always stays perfect because they don't wear like chains. You don't have the timing chain contributing to oil shear. The only downside is belts are a maintenance item you now have to account for


With today's variable intake and exhaust cam timing, the wear of the chain matters less and less...the timing mechanism will always make sure the cam is in the "right" phase until it is totally out of adjustment, at which point you are probably in trouble anyways.
 
My Santa Fe had a belt and I changed it 4 times. It was fairly easy to do. I don't mind them. Chains if designed properly are much better for me because of the miles I drive and the fact they will usually last the life of the engine.
 
Big trouble all over the place with VVT and chain tensioners. And I have been sounding the alarm bell here since engines started going to chains and VVT en masse.

Never had T-belt problems.
 
I prefer neither belt or chain. I like the old fashioned gear on gear drive bathed in oil. They never fail for the life of the motor. My old VW's are my example.
 
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Big trouble all over the place with VVT and chain tensioners. And I have been sounding the alarm bell here since engines started going to chains and VVT en masse.

Never had T-belt problems.

My dad's PentaStar which has VVT on both the intake and exhaust cams and it's a 4 cam setup. It has over 300K on it now with the original timing chain and was run on conventional oil its whole life. If properly designed there is 0 issues.
 
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I prefer chains when they are reliable. Last vehicle was a 2010 Traverse with problematic timing chains. Made it to 170,000 before the dreaded cam position error codes showed up, but it was beyond economical repair and it was not going to pass e-check with the CEL glaring. Not too crazy about the timing belt on the Pilot, but it seems they are generally reliable when changed on schedule.
 
Originally Posted by vwmaniaman
I prefer neither belt or chain. I like the old fashioned gear on gear drive bathed in oil. They never fail for the life of the motor. My old VW's are my example.


That is the best but a bit tricky with modern higher output DOHC V engines, it has been done though. Duesenberg DOHC with gears, it looks like the top 3 could be eliminated on a modern engine but the physical size of the block may pose issues.

Edit: The sound from that drive must be amazing.


duesenberg-w-24-gears.jpg
 
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