I have a 2006 RL with about 45,000 miles. I was at the dealership about a month ago and they mentioned that my drive belt seems to be dry and cracking. Has anyone else had such an issue around those miles? I bought the car with about 40,000 miles and the previous owner said the car sat and wasn't driven a lot toward the last couple years, so could the belt have just dried out over time.

Also, if the drive belt dried out and started cracking at this mileage, do you guys think I should do a timing belt change a bit earlier than 100,000 miles?

Thanks.

 

It's definitely not unheard of but I would get a second opinion before forking over a grand to the dealer to get it replaced.

 

depending where the car was before. premature wearing can happen in very dry area's with lower miles.

 

they didn't say to change the timing belt, I'm just trying to figure out if maybe I should consider changing it earlier (not now earlier though, but maybe like 80-90,000 to be safe. But I'll definitely get another opinion with that later on. The tough part with these timing belts is that it's hard to tell when they are bad, since it could go bad even if there are no signs since it could be internal fibers deteriorating.

But I guess I'll have my friend look at the drive belt, it's a pretty inexpensive fix.