2005 Chevy Aveo LS Has Timing Belt Been Replaced?

[Uriken]

Hello everyone. I'm a new member as I just picked up an 05 Chevy Aveo for a really good price. Its needed some things and I have managed to get it in working order. The one thing I see quite often is the need for these things to have the timing belt changed. My car has 120k on it and runs smooth. The guy I bought it from didn't know a thing about the car as he ran a used car lot just turning over cars for profit. Is there anyone to know if the belt has been changed?
Any tips would be appreciated.

[slayerized6]

Only way really is to pull the timing cover and inspect the belt. Take a look to see what type of condition the belt is in.

You can also run a Carfax and see if any notes pop-up regarding the timing belt, but its not guaranteed.

[avguy]

If you remove the top half of the timing cover, you can examine the entire outside surface of the timing belt by turning the engine (clockwise) at the crank pulley. The original belt will have VERY faint and just barely visible manufacturer markings on the outside surface. So although it might take some effort, if your Aveo still has the original factory timing belt, you should most likely be able to make out the name 'DAEWOO', somewhere on the outside surface. If you can't find that name on the belt, and/or if there are any bold and clearly visible part numbers stamped on the outside of the belt, then that's virtually certain to be a replacement belt. The original factory belt will have no clearly legible printing left after this many years, and you would need to look very closely to find the little bit that's still even barely visible at this point.

[Uriken]

Thankyou for the responses. I was thinking to just go ahead and buy the exchange kit and perform the maintenance as the cost I'm seeing is around $60. The only thing now I'm wondering is if a good electric (Battery operated) impact will break the bolts loose on the pulleys. A brand like Rigid or Makita. I don't have an air compressor at my apartments thus I'm thinking about the battery operated units.

[avguy]

I always strongly recommend the use of a breaker bar and torque wrench to remove/install the harmonic balancer bolt. The issue is not so much with the removal of the bolt as it is the install. If this bolt is not torqued to spec (which includes a final torque-to-angle), there is a very real chance it will loosen up if undertorqued, or break if overtorqued.

Yes, many owners use a gun to hammer it in at some unknown torque and get away with it, but there was one guy here a few years ago who did have the balancer fall off while driving the vehicle, resulting in the expected unhappy outcome. But as always, your vehicle, your choice.