Replacing Proton Persona engine timing belt

The 5 general questions to change engine timing belt

So, time is up for my personal transport to have it's engine timing belt changed after my car had clocked more than 90,000 kilometers through these 9 years period.

It is mandatory to replace the timing belt of the car engine IF you have this system running while the other timing chain system is maintenance free until you change your car.

Else, the risk to totally damage the engine will getting higher each time we drive our car and we are often advised not prolong the time to get it replace until it snapped by itself.

One of my friend have to complete overhaul his top engine portion after the timing belt was snapped during uphill climb whereby he go full throttle due to his engine did not generate enough power to push the car to climb.

Mind you that he did not maintain his car at all and the next moment he need to pay a hefty price to change the timing belt and all broken valve with major service on the cylinder head of his engine.

Let me refresh back the basic function of the timing belt inside the engine and the consequences if it fail at one point reaching it's life span.

The timing belt is a thick and strong strap with teeth at a constant pitch on the inner side of the circling belt that connect on the main crankshaft pulley and pull the camshaft pulley to drive the valve to open and close following the piston cycle in every cylinder of internal combustion engine.

It is made of high quality rubber layered with thin steel wire mesh in it to provide maximum strength and durability.

Different engine have different design of timing belt in terms of teeth size, pattern, length and width.

Most of timing belt comes in black color and if you have seen other color of timing belt then please feel free to show it to me because I am eager to see it as I never see other color before :D

Nowadays timing belt is manufactured and tested to give the highest reliability even under high load generated by the engine super fast spinning of up to seven thousand revolutions per minute or 7k RPM.

Motorist are advised by car manufacturer to replace their engine timing belt at every intervals of 80,000 km mileage traveled or every 5 to 6 years of life span depends of whichever comes first.

We are NOT advised to stretch the usage to more than 100,000 km or 8 years because it tends to break at any time without prior warning.

Once it fail at any seconds then please prepare your hard earned money by about RM3000 to any amount up to RM6000 or more until the engine is completely fixed.

If by luck the pistons is still in good condition then the top engine portion will need to be overhaul or if the pistons are also damage by any means then the engine would need to be raised up to get it done.

Raise engine job alone already cost RM1000 from mechanics. (!)

"But if you seldom use your car like me then still OK la coz I only use my car once per week only ma :P"

There it is the simple information regarding timing belt and here I will proceed to show the most 5 general question about changing timing belt

• What to change? Timing belt and water pump as compulsary
• When to change? Approximately 80,000 km mileage or 6 years
• Where to change? Reputable or reknown car repair center
• Why need to change? Regular maintenance
• And how to do. Of course mechanic help and we just monitor if preferred

First, I do ask all my friends and those that driving the same car as mine to collect all the details as well as from the internet.

I am driving a Proton Persona from the first batch assembled at October 2007 with Campro engine and manual transmission M-line spec.

Few friends of mine are also driving the same model but all of them were attached with automatic tranny which makes manual driver in Malaysia getting lesser year by year.

One of them introduce his mechanic to me who is also his relative running a car workshop in Batu Maung and he give me his good feedback about the mechanic's good workmanship with reasonable cost.

Without hesitation I called this mechanic and book a time for me at the same weekend and then drive my car to his workshop to avoid the chance of breaking the timing belt when continiuing driving my car routinely.

I arrived in the morning and then the mechanic and his worker straight proceed to open un-screw everything required to gain access to the timing belt compartment that include the top cover, side cover, chassis divider, few pulleys and top engine mounting.

Then he was able to take out the timing belt and I manage to have a look on the timing belt for the worn and torn after 9 years of usage. 

The timing belt is appeared still in good condition and the brand printed is from Mitsuboshi with a triangle icon on the left of the word.

I also requested to change together with the water pump since this device is running the same loop with the timing belt to avoid repeating all the same step just to change a water pump.

After that I have take a look in the compartment where they complete open up all the covers and pulleys as well as the mounting which now the engine is support by a car jack underneath.

Then go down deep inside reveal the crankshaft pulley gear and the water pump location in the middle part of the engine.

Other things that also had replaced was fan belt that had cracked entirely and just wait to snap anytime since I never touch it from the first day.

The radiator was also completely flushed to remove all the coolant at the drain plug situated below before the water pump is detached from the engine.

I was concerned about the leaking from the drain plug and the water pump after repairing was done and the mechanic told me that they will apply glue to the drain plug and the gasket of the water pump to prevent coolant from leaking.

Next they install back the new water pump, new timing belt, new belt tensioner, attach back all the pulleys, fixing the new fan belt, all the pulleys and covers to the engine as well as pouring the new radiator coolant.

Lastly, they crank up the engine and test the running condition of the new belt and also coolant circulation between the engine and the radiator to make sure all in good condition before pass over the car back to me.

I can notice that the engine is now running a lot quieter and belt is spinning a lot smoother than before the repair and at the same time he also notice that the thermostat is not functioning as per expected.

As for the troubleshoot he just wait for the temperature to become burning hot to let the thermostat valve to open again and bypass all the hot water to return back to the radiator.

This is his skills which I trusted and he really surprise me with his knowledge and experience that he also carefully explain few things to me about the function of thermostat in the engine.

All this was done in 2 hours and my car is ready to be collect in the afternoon in a good and nice condition and price wise I was charged for RM528.00 only as shown below:

It has been after a month since the replacement and the engine is very good with no water leakage encountered.

If any of you is in the midst of searching for a mechanic to change timing belt then I am very recommend this nice guy for the job.

阿强 (Ah Keong)

順利汽车维修中心

Soon Lee Car Services

No. 461, Jalan Baru,

Batu Maung,

11960 Bayan Lepas,

Pulau Pinang

Tel no#: 012-4271879

Maps location

(Image courtesy of Google Street View)

Next article regarding my Persona power window motor replacement HERE and if you have anything to say please feel free to leave it down in the comment section below.