Is there any special maintenance I should do at 60 thousand kilometres? Chris
Most of the major maintenance items should have been done by 50,000 km. It's also important to consider that your car is 6-7 years old. While I don't believe that spark plug replacement, transmission fluid change, tire rotation, etc. need to occur on a time basis, this is true of coolant and belts (rubber ages). With this in mind, I'd make sure your coolant is in good condition and that you replace your timing belt if you haven't done so. If you haven't replaced it yet, you're now entering the time period where it's *likely* to break or strip. For those watching from afar, please do not infer the likelihood of the timing belt breaking on this engine is similar to the likelihood of the timing belt breaking on your engine. Different engines have different propensities for timing belt failure.
Hmm, we just bought this car at 57k so I don't know if it was changed or not. I'll call the dealership and see if they have a record of it. How much would this cost otherwise? Also, thanks for all your help. Chris
I've not seen a breakage on the CVVT engine. I'm presuming that's because it was not sold in my geographic area (that I know of) until 2004MY. I'd presume it to be the same as the non-CVVT. Everything connected to the timing belt is the same, and the CVVT shouldn't really add a significant load, if any. Beta engine Elantras (1996-present) have very few timing belt failures. The ones I've seen have been in the neighborhood of 100k miles or 7 years (as far as I can tell).
I'd recommend having a look at the drive belts. If the a/c belt is significantly cracked, it's likely not been changed in at least 4 years or 40k miles. Typically, the a/c belt begins to crack around 3 years/30k miles. If you have other belts beginning to crack, then it's likely it's been even longer. If the drive belts haven't been changed recently, try to assess how long they've been on the car and how long they would have been in poor condition. Expect that if the drive belts were in poor condition, they would likely have been replaced with the timing belt. And also know that, in many cases, even if they look okay, the drive belts are replaced along with the timing belt to avoid the labor cost at a later date. But there's no way to know for sure without a record saying it's been done, or having a person who actually knows give you the information.
Thanks. That's not surprising, but it's definitely to have some feedback from someone with direct experience.
