MX5Ireland

Hey everybody,

My mechanic was asking me about the Timing Belt. He said that 3 different Main Dealers gave him 3 different answers about when to change it.

Also there is some water thing that may or may not have to be replaced at the same time.

Anybody got any advice on this for me?

Thanks in advance,

Christine

Hi Christine,

It's usually advised that the water pump gets changed at the same time because the belt assembly will
already be removed to do so.
Regarding the belt, some people (being cautious) may replace the belt at 60,000 miles. Other leave it
go to 80k or even 100k miles or every 5 years, depending on which occurs first.

Hi Christine,

I think the recommendation to change your timing belt is every 60K miles. Its also best to change your water pump at the same time.
Both items are cheap to replace. Just get a good mechanic who knows what their doing.!

BTW what year is your car.??

You can look up some information re spare parts at http://www.mx5parts.co.uk.
Any good auto spares shop should have these for you. Where are you based.??

HTH

John.

Hi Christine,

Just to add to the above..make sure that original mazda cam cover gasket is being used. Aftermarket ones tend to leak within weeks. As above, mx5parts.co.uk good place to get spare parts and also you could get this from a Mazda dealer around 25-30 euro. Good luck

davith501 wrote:Hi Christine,

Just to add to the above..make sure that original mazda cam cover gasket is being used. Aftermarket ones tend to leak within weeks. As above, mx5parts.co.uk good place to get spare parts and also you could get this from a Mazda dealer around 25-30 euro. Good luck

This is an absolute must ! The Mazda item is by far the best one to get.

Yes ,genuine Mazda cam cover gasket only(25e approx) and only put minimal amounts of silicone just on the corners/raised sections .Do not use too much as silicone falls in to oil and blocks up the galleries/pump mesh.Timing belt kit incl pulleys and waterpump cost approx 150e in local motor factors.Not worth ordering from UK with exchange rate on euro and delivery costs.

Should've added to previous post. It is advised to use Genuine Mazda water pump as well as it will last much longer then aftermarket ones and could save you unnecessarily labour costs afterwards.

Thanks, I was looking at them on Ebay as my mechanic said it would probably cost about 500 euro to get the job done but I was afraid to buy anything as I don't know enough about them. Christine+

€300 parts& labour at most I'd guess.. Where are you based, Christine?

300e would be a bit shy .Lot of labour plus parts etc 400e realistically unless you want botch job where crank pulley falls off later.Also its timing belt KIT incl pulleys etc not just timing belt. plus pump,coolant cas cover gasket ,3 oil seals ideally ,etc.

Hi

I managed to get all the parts I need at a shop in Little Island near the NCT Centre for €240, I got a timing belt kit, a PAS belt some other belt and a water pump. So the job is done now. I also got myself a bag and stand to store the hard top for the summer and I finally got the Frankenstein bolts but I don't know what to do with those. All in all I've spent a lot on her recently and am going to concentrate on saving for my holiday now.

The Frankenstein bolts screw in near bootlid ,just at rear window,bottom.You will see two shiny chrome plates there and the Frankenstein bolts screw in to the front bolts ,1 on each side .Just unscrew the existing bolts and swop over