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[Nick W]

Because no tyre has ever dried rotted. Ever

Similarly, there's a reason why hot water bottles have expiry dates...

That.


Rubber and plastics are well known for deteriorating over time, without ever being used for their actual purpose. Dry, dark, constant temperature storage reduces, but doesn't remove the effects, so a cam belt that's been in a box on a shelf for twenty years isn't going to be quite as safe as one made last week. The same applies to hoses, seals and other plastic parts as mentioned in earlier posts.

[johnnydog]

I think I would rather stick with a nos kit that I had 'in stock', and I know its source, than one bought currently from a supplier of which you don't know its history / age anyway. If stored well, out of light and damp, then I would be quite happy, for example, to have one of my nos GM replacement kits on my car. Especially relative to the belt itself. If a kit has been stored badly, there probably would be some pointers to indicate this anyway.

[cam.in.head]

cant comment on other people or where suppliers have stored stuff but all my vulnerable spares are stored in my house in a sensible place (cupboard,under bed etc)rather than a cold garage/shed. this should help a little.

[Terbs]

Just followed a link in another topic about oil change, so put in 2.6 Automatic, and it shows  5.75 ltr for the 2.6 auto, but more interestingly, they quote 60,000 or 4years on the belt !!!
https://www.car.info/en-se/opel/omega/omega-26-v6-a4-2003-10116459/specs
Obviously, you can search your own car...

[Doctor Gollum]

60,000 km isn't too far different to 40k miles

But 4 years is the official timespan.

[Jan Suhr]

the correct Gates one is still readily available from Autodoc online.

But are they older than the ones on the car. I would imagine everything now is (very) old stock.

No idea.  The Autodoc stock comes in from Poland/Germany and is for the Opel as well as Vauxhall  Omega, plus goodness what else. As long as they last the 4 years on the engine that is all I care about.

Surely  they didn't stop making them on the same day they stopped making the cars

According to the list for the cambelt kits they were also used in SAAB 9-5 until December 2009.

[johnnydog]

That's correct. I have bought a couple of GM tensioner blocks relatively recently that were listed for the V6 Saab, which are a different GM part number as a kit, but an identical tensioner block for the later 2.6 / 3.2 in every respects.
The last kit fitted on my 3.2 was built up of separately bought items - ie tensioner block, belt and lower idler, all genuine GM. Buying complete kits these days is rather expensive.

[cam.in.head]

yes and why do they always include a new mounting block assembly anyway ? were they prone to breaking . i usually just change pulleys to original block ?

[Jim82]

……..
Surely  they didn't stop making them on the same day they stopped making the cars

No, but the dealer is only obliged to supply spares for up to ten years after the final build date I believe. This still makes any ‘new’ belt very old. 

Maybe. But Gates would have carried on making them as it was apparently not just an excluvie GM part.  I. Any case these belts are not made of tissue paper, but strong rubber.  I believed that it is the use of them on a very hot engine, with the massive tension over 4 years / 40k+ miles that destroys them eventually, not time spent in a spares department.

I bought a Gates belt kit from Autodoc in 2022 and it had a date code of 4 35 8DS.  I believe this is Day 4, Week 35, 2018. Although I suppose it could also be 2008...