Here is a way to check timing belt.

[shanzhu1]

I found there were many people who were just wondering whether to have the
timing belts changed for their cars.
After I did the timing belt change for my car (96 Camry V6), I found there
is relatively simple way to check its condition beforehand. It will only
take around 20-30 mins.

1. Remove engine stay.
2. Remove engine mounting braket and moving control rod.
3. Remove the bolts holding the upper timing belt cover (or upper
portion of timing belt cover is there is only one cover).

Then you can simply pry open the upper portion of the cover and peek through
it. You can get a feel what is the condition of the belt. If you want to
check different portion of the belt, start and stop the engine and check again.
It appears that the belt is made of many independant strings and it is hard to
imagine that it will break soon after checked to be good.

[foompla]

that took 30 minutes to figure out?

[shanzhu1]

take around 30 min since there no need to do PS pump belt, AC belt
and cranshaft pulley removal, etc. Those are only needed when you
actually change the belt.

For me, if I had known the condition, I would have delayed changing
it probably since the belt looks very new to me.

[Cyorke]

The only downside to this is jsut looking at the belt will not give youa true indication as to the condition of the belt. The reason the manufacturers give you scheduled change times is due to the fact that the belt may break at any given time. It is best to jsut stick to the 60k or 90k mile change intervals to save you having it break on the road while driving.

[foompla]

i understand wahts involved. i didnt think of it as taking 30 minutes tho