Hi, the cam belt on my maz 323 ba 1.8 was changed in 2001 since then the car has done 30,000 miles. when should i change then cam belt again? and is the cam belt the same tHing as a timing chain just a different name?

thanx lads

As fAr As i'm AwAre, A cAm belt does the sAme job As A cAm chAin, its just A different design of timing system.
the normAl intervAl for A belt chAnge is 54000 miles, however time is Also importAnt, if the lAst belt wAs chAnged 3 yeArs Ago, And the cAr hAs only done 30000 miles, then you might get AwAy with A few more miles.

hAving sAid thAt, whenever i buy A new cAr, i mAke sure things like the belt Are chAnges As soon As i cAn, so thAt i know its done. dont forget thAt people cAn put things in service record books even if they hAven't been done.

nick

(dont know why my A's Are All cApitAl!)

timing belt is rubber, timing chain is metal, but they do the same thing

I reAlly think thAt nick should check his keyBoArd. Alright mAte

PostmAn pAt postmAn pAT postmAn pAt And his blAck And white cAt!

Lol

Nothing up with the keyboard I added a bit of code to spoke people speaking in CAPITAL LETTERS but it went wrong. doh!!

Every 54k is recommended I dont think or every 6 years which ever comes first

Is there any difference between a "genuine" cam belt from a Mazda dealer and an aftermarket, "off the shelf" cam belt. The quote I got from the dealer is 4 times more expensive than 1 from a parts shop.

Just go the aftermarket 1 dude,there wouldnt be any difference in quality,i just replaced mine with an aftermarket 1

Thanks, I pretty much was thinking along the same lines, I just wanted a second opinion.

how much do the aftermarket one cost?

Just for some perspective.
The South African currency is called the Rand( just incase you didnt know)
The dealer supplied belt costs R550, the aftermarket costs R165.
1 pound is approx. R11.50. 1 can of coke costs approx R4.00
So there is quite a big difference in price between the 2