wildhair Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Just wondering if anyone has long term experience running without timing belt covers. I replaced the belts and idlers/tensioners 35k mi ago, just broke the long (left) belt. I also replaced cam seals at the time and completely removed all covers. I kept an eye on the belts, they never seemed to get wet or dirty, and didn't get oil on them that I could tell. Maybe a fluke? Has 190k mi on it now. What's a good belt. I picked up a belt at Autozone yesterday, Kelly Springfield. I looks really thin. I think I'll go find a Gates, unless you all know of a nice thick upgrade belt? It would be cool if there was an industrial application that would fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
987687 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Lots of people run without the covers. The only failure I've seen anyone talk about is a shop rag left under the hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eulogious Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 Run without the covers, guys do it all the time. If I still had my loyale wagon, I would be running without the belt covers on and wouldn't think twice about it. Guys on here have offroaded pretty hard without having the belt covers on and they all seem to have no issue. On my '90 leggy, I am not running the outside covers on it, and I haven't had a problem either. Different car of course, but same principal. HTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 I run coverless. The rag under the hood was me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickytrus Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah, low off the covers..... I just run the ones in the back behind the cam gear and the one behind the idler gear. Recommendation: If you got the money get new tensioners and idler gear..... if they got over a 100k on them...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickytrus Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah, blow off the covers..... I just run the ones in the back behind the cam gear and the one behind the idler gear. Recommendation: If you got the money get new tensioners and idler gear..... if they got over a 100k on them...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildhair Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) Umm, yeah. As I said, if you read my OP; I replaced all the idlers and tensioners 35000 miles ago, when I replaced the belts. I broke a belt after 35000 miles, with brand new tensioners and idlers, with only 35k miles on everything. Seemingly uncontimated. No rags. (bummer about that) So, I know you like to run without covers. So do I. Has anyone got full life expectancy from their belts without covers? As in real world long term experience? Thanks Edited February 19, 2012 by wildhair typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickytrus Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah, I had full life on my belts.... I even had one car "trixie" she ended up with serious blow by.... OMG! oil every where..... ran those belts pretty long..... Short belt life... could be a number of reasons...... IE: belt too tight...... I just let the tension from the spring of the tensioners be the tightness of the what the tension on the belt is. (if that tongue twister makes sense) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickytrus Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I'd say (one more thing) Not having the covers on makes it "almost a pleasure" to change timing belts.... I hate working around those covers... and then the bolts rust into the nuts in the cover and spin(even anti seizing the bolts) In the north east the salt gets at everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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