Timing Chain replacement intervals

[recurve]

I was reading my Chilton's and Haynes manuals for our Blazers, wondering what they had to say about the timing chain. They explain HOW to replace the timing chain and cover but they don't say WHEN.

My brother once had an Olds' Cutlass whose timing chain broke while he was at a stop light. It tore up his engine, and suposedly, his only choice was a new engine. A friend of mine, who drives an Infiniti, tells me he is supposed to replace his timing chain every 60,000 miles according to his owners manual.

This begs the question, how often should the timing belt be replaced?

Thanks in advance.

[Jeremy Fitch]

Some vehicles have timing chains, like our blazers, and some have belts. The chains typically last a lot longer than the belts. From my experience the timing chains on our blazers typically last well over 100,000 or even 150,000 miles without needing replacement. But if you are in doubt you can remove the cover and inspect it for wear.

[BlazerLT]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Fitch

Some vehicles have timing chains, like our blazers, and some have belts. The chains typically last a lot longer than the belts. From my experience the timing chains on our blazers typically last well over 100,000 or even 150,000 miles without needing replacement. But if you are in doubt you can remove the cover and inspect it for wear.

Timing chains don't need to be changed, they are permanent and are NOT a 150k maintanence item if the engine has been taken care of properly.

[Jeremy Fitch]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

Timing chains don't need to be changed, they are permanent and are NOT a 150k maintanence item if the engine has been taken care of properly.

Thats what I said!!!

What part of well over 100,000 to 150,000 without needing to be changed did I not make clear?

[JCP0521]

I'm @ 153,000 miles without a replacement yet.

[clariveros]

Your friends infinity need one every 60 k miles because it is a belt much like your serpentine belt so it wears out and streches, the chain like LT said will never need to be replaced as long as you take care of your vehicle

[wolfox]

I have never had to change a chain on *any* of my vehicles, one of which saw over 230,000 miles before she just cracked the block due to old age. Don;t worry about your chain unless you do nothing but WOT stands straight down the highway and keep it up there at 4500 RPM or faster for sustained periods.

[rlith]

As stated above, typically they don't need to be changed, but you can pull the timing chain cover and check. If there is more than a 1/4" worth of slack then I would go ahead and change it while you have everything open. But I truly wouldn't bother with it unless you keep loosing timing.

[recurve]

Thank you all so much for writing back so quickly. Our '95 Blazer has close to 170,000 miles on it. It sounds fine and seems to be running well. I'll just leave the timing chain alone. Again, thanks for the clarification :-)