my girlfriend has a 2004 accent. it has aprox 32,000 km { aprox 20,000 miles } they told her at the dealership that in order form her to have the 5th year of warrant they said she needs to have to timing beltand the air conditioning belt changed. my mechanic says the timing is scheduled to be changed @ 96,000 km {60,000 miles } can someone please let me know when the timing belt needs to be changed. you can email me brian592008@yahoo.ca. thanks for your help

 

In the U.S., the required service interval for the timing belt is 60,000 miles or 48 months, which ever happens first. Sounds like the Canadian version of warranty may be the same.

 

Yep, 60K miles or 4 years (whichever comes first). If it's 4-years old get it done even if it's not at 60k miles.

 

If the timing belt breaks, it will readily bend valves & the engine repair is very costly. So for caution sake, change the timing belt according to warranty requirements. My timing belt inmy 1980 Plymouth Champnever was changed in 130,000 miles & 20+YEARS. In my 1988Ford Festiva, it never was changed in 19 YEARS. Both cars' timing beltsnever failed.

I believe new timing belts help recover good MPG compared to MPG obtained whileretaining old timing belts tho. So if your MPG has dropped off, even tho you may do lessertune-up procedures, change the timing belt for a more comprehensive tune-up.