To replace the timing belt at 210,000 miles or not?

[Victor]

The second replacement of the J30 timing belt is supposed to be done at 210,000 miles. I assume that is a conservative figure and the figure could probably be extended for another 10,000 miles, maybe even more.
I don't know how much it would cost to have it done at a dealer or independent. but I saw figures mentioned anywhere from $400 to $900. If I bought the cheapest stuff available at Rock Auto I could buy a belt, three pulleys, and a new water pump for around a hundred dollars. If I bought the top of the line of what they sell it would cost a bit over $300. Has anyone replaced the belt themselves, and if so how long did it take? I would have to do it crawling under the car with the front wheels on ramps.
The alternative would be not replace it and drive the car until the belt breaks or some other major, expensive to fix problem occurs. My car now has 202,500 miles on it, and has not needed any expensive repairs in the last 25,000 miles that I owned it. Looking at the records I got from the previous owner the car has never needed an expensive repair. In fact the biggest expense so far was a new set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position Tires that cost me around $480 including installation.
I really don't want to put any big money into the car if possible because the car is approaching the age and mileage where a major problem could happen at any moment, or I may get lucky and the car could keep running relatively trouble free for another ten or twenty thousand miles.
Everything on the car now works properly except the power door locks are flaky, and the windshield washer. I fixed my dashboard dimmer switch problem with a three dollar dimmer switch I got at Pick a Part. I fixed my ABS fault light problem with a used relay I got for $2 at the same time.

[wingFeather]

On a car with such low resale value, I agree that it's hard to justify spending so much $$$ on a belt... but then again, if you blow the motor, what would you replace the J with? When I shopped for my J, the next best thing was a G35 which would eat more of my savings than a $1,000 belt job.

[yodawill2000]

I replaced mine in a day.
Next time it will be a matter of hours.

[GerryO]

Don't know where you might be if and when the timing belt finally snaps, but it could contribute to an even uglier situation for you and certainly the car. Suppose you could replace just the belt and maybe the water pump, as a leaky WP was the primary reason that I replaced mine when I did.

[driverdriver]

Do you know if the previous owner replaced the belt previously with an aftermarket belt or the improved Nissan OEM one that's made of Kevlar and supposed to last longer?

[Victor]

There is a sticker on the hood saying it was replaced by an Infiniti dealer, so I assume it was a Kevlar belt. The aftermarket belts Rock Auto sells are all fiberglass reinforced.

[J30tChumpCar]

I have observed a couple of mileages that stick out when scouring the junk yards. 130,000 and the first timing belt breaks, the car is junked with all the valves bent, the next mileage seems to be 225,000 to 275,000 where anything including the 2nd belt took it out. Then there is the ones people have run up to 326,000 then traded it for clunker cash..

Oddly there is rarely a crashed one.

If the car is in good shape keep it up, if its a plain ol beater ignore it but dont be afraid these cars are tough!

BUT Ignore it and sooner or later it will definitely be why you are forced to replace the car.

[Amadauss1]

Just a question on the change interval of the timing belt. I thought it was every 60 thousand miles?

[fourdrinie]

if you use the updated timing belt made of Kevlar, it is replaced at 105K miles

[StevieRaySTL]

My old girl got her second belt at just under 210k, she is running strong at 230k now... Do it! I'd go Kevlar and not cheapo Rock Auto though.

[swimshark]

you can do it every 105k with the new belts. i do mine every 60k. parts vary between the 60k and 120k timing belt kits and range $300-$500. if you got two days free to work on it you can try doing it yourself. it was the first big job i did by myself before i became mechanically inclined. just follow the fsm which can be found at nicoclub.com/FSM