I found some YouTube videos on the subject. It doesn't look real easy to do but it's doable.
Is there a way I can check to see if my vehicle's timing belt has been changed recently without taking it to a mechanic?
Hubby says no. Depends on how easy the timing belt covers are to take off. You must be able to visually see the timing belt. He says in most cases its best to assume that it has not been done. If you can give me your cars year, make, model and engine size he can tell you how difficult or easy it is, and whether or not it's an interference engine.
I have wondered if certain "mechanics" were dishonest and/or actually "fixed" something in the vehicle ESPECIALLY when I take it in for one thing sayyyyyyyy an oil change and then suddenly they say this and that is wrong with it and they already have a price in their mind! Pure evil sales tactics! This is why it is VERY important to have a trust with your own mechanic if you don't know how to do it yourself. I wish you lived near me lil' bro. We have a mechanic we trust with all our heart. He is awesome and we don't even care if he "charges" a little more then the average bear because we know what ever he if fixing IS what needs to be fixed! I had one crook tell me the reason why our car was misfiring was because we had a blown head gasket and he could fix it for 1500! So we junked the car cuz there was no point in fixing a car that wouldn't fit all of us anyways for that high of a price. I drove that car home and my husband drove the car he was borrowing for work home. When I pulled into the drive way I noticed a LOT of "steam" or so I thought. Thank God my husband said to pop the hood for him cuz when I did THE CAR WAS ON FIRE! I panicked but grabbed the hose and he jumped in and put the fire out. This was so scary for me! I was driving a car that was on fire! We told the story to a buddy from church who is also a mechanic on the side just to pick his brain on why the car might have caught fire. He said the mechanic AKA the CROOK we took it to FORGOT to put the spark plug wires back in their bracket and so when the wires touched the hot engine, they caught on fire! IT WAS THE CROOKS FAULT! So after it caught fire we junked it, gave it back to the person we were buying it from so he could use it for parts. (Their family had three of the same vehicles. LOL!) Anyways he decided to take it to his trusted mechanic before he decided what to do with it himself..... His mechanic said the only thing wrong with this car is it needed a new thermostate and resivor. He flushed the engine to make sure there was indeed no head gasket damage and the engine was fine! Of course he needed to replace the spark plugs and their wires because some how..... (The good Lord) kept the fire to isolated damage! The "1500" dollar problem turned out to be a 400 dollar FIX! The man offered the car back to us and we got a perfectly running vehicle back for only 100 dollars! Wanna know the kicker.... Our truck is not working right now AGAIN so guess which faithful trusted vehicle is getting us to and fro right now!?!?!? You guessed it! The one who caught fire! ALWAYS TRUST YOUR MECHANIC. His mechanic is now our mechanic! :0)
Good gravy I almost forgot to answer your question! CAn you take it to another mechanic and say "hay, I just got my timimg belt replaced but I am not sure it really was. Can you just look under the hood and tell me if the belt looks new or not?"
Usually can pull off or un bolt a timing belt cover to inspect a timing belt. Look for cracks or rubber gone this means the timing belt is old and needs to be replaced.if its a four cylinder replacing a belt is somewhat easy. A v6 is tricky i know i did one on a acura drove me bonkers getting everything lined up.