Hello,

At around 158K miles my Nissan 200SX SE (automatic) stopped accelerating and slowed to a stop. There was no loud bang, just a slight hissing noise. Having it hauled to and looked at by my mechanic, he said that the timing belt broke. Apparently it will cost $1200 to repair.

My question is that after such a repair, how likely is it that more such problems will crop up? My 200SX has always been very reliable, that aside from the regular maintenance I have only had to replace an alternator and a power window motor. I would love to drive it for at least another 50k if possible, but if it won't last that long I need to just fix it and sell it to some local high school kid who won't drive it the 50+ highway miles I do each day.

This is my first car and I've been driving it for over 8 years so I'm a little attached, to say the least. Any advice, opinions, and personal anecdotes about similar situations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
James B.

Hopefully, your mechanic can see what damage was done by the breakage of the timing belt. if the damage is minimal and repaired, there should be no long-term effects. the most common things that get broken on a belt break are valves and pistons, from when they meet. but that should be fairly obvious. so, if your mech does things right and inspects all the components involved, you should be fine.

for future reference- check your owner's manual for frequency of timing belt changes- a good preventative maintenance PM program will go along way. the frequency is probably 60K mi.

yeah. that car is as reliable as anything as long as you maintain it. you complain of this problem but unless something seriously was wrong with the belt it was your fault it broke. keep this in mind and read your owners manual. if in doubt go by that.