My 2002 RL is coming up on 7 year interval recommended by manufacturer to replace timing chain. I have only 68000 miles on the car and it has been used regularly since I purchased it new. Do I really need to replace this chain for $1500 or can I safely wait a few months or perhaps another year. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

You can wait a couple more years or another 20,000 miles maybe a bit more.

FYI, its a belt and not a chain.

 

RL has a timming belt (not a chain). I had a 2000RL on which belt was changed around 9 yr/125,000 mark and it looked decent. So you can definitely wait quite a bit before you get yours done.

Also meanwhile shop around for price. Just as a reference, I recently did the Timing belt, Spark Plug, Trans Flush, + a whole lot of other things including changing the CAM timing gear and it cost me around $1500. The timing belt alone would have been around $900 - $950.

 

wow. I did mine at 11 years and at 135k. The previous owner was too cheap to do it. I paid about 950 for that, the water pump and of course the coolant flush.

 

Just did mine at 171K. Owned it from Day 1

 

OK....so here my situation:
I have an 2004 bought brand spanken new. It will be 10 years old next month. It has a whopping 26,000 das original California garage kept miles...What would you do?

 

unix was that the Very first time the belt was swapped? And I thought doing mine at 132k was high haha.

 

You will probably be okay with not doing it.

But, even with the low mileage, one of the largest factors for stuff like that is time and weather conditions. I know the CA climate is great for vehicles, so you won't get a lot of rust or anything like that (unless you are on the coast).

But, over time, seals go, rubber cracks, stuff like that.

Unless you live in Death Valley, I wouldn't worry too much.