>> My son's 1998 Peugeot 106 is on its original cambelt. Inspected it last year :
>> OK. SO left it.
>> 62k miles of which he has done 40k in past 4 years.
How can you inspect it properly without removing it? The cracks tend to form at the base of the teeth, and are invisible unless you can bend the belt back on itself.
The belt I took off my old Mondeo TD looked in really good nick, but upon closer inspection when removed, a couple of the teeth were quite badly perished and cracks had formed which, if left, would have resulted in the teeth peeling away from the belt. None of this damage was visible with the belt in situ.
It is also just as common for tensioners to fail as belts, and they can't be assessed unless the load is removed from them, and the bearings checked for freeplay and noise.
If you're going to go to these lengths, you may as well just pop a new belt kit on.
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