I had an interesting thing happen this week. My wife asked me if I thought her 2000 Honda CRV needed a new timing belt. I told her that the car didn't have a timing belt, it had a timing chain which would not need regular replacement.
When she asked how I knew that the car had a timing chain instead of a belt I responded that since the car had 160,000 miles on it, that a timing belt would have broken some time ago!
It turns out that I was wrong. Not only does the car have a timing belt, but it had never been replaced and with the high mileage, it is a miracle that the belt didn't snap which would have caused severe engine damage. Not to mention a dead car.
I drove the car to the repair shop, and the belt was replaced. In this case I was very lucky. I had ignored an extremely important maintenance detail and I had gotten away with it ... this time! The mechanic told me that if the belt had broken the engine repairs would have been at least $1200.
But the lesson learned is to not place yourself in jeopardy by overlooking important details. Ignorance is no excuse for apathy, and obviousness doesn't justify lethargy.
We need to establish priorities in life. It's so much better to be proactive than reactive.
And it's often less expensive too!
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