Shelf life of timing belt

[mangocrazy]

I was digging through my box of Beta spares earler today and came upon an unopened box with a Gates 5022 (148 x 19mm) belt inside. Do these belts degrade over time, and if so what date would a 'Best Before End' of be? The box doesn't have a date of manufacture, but it does have 'Copyright Gates Corporation 2013' printed on it, so it is at most seven years old. How long can a belt sit unused in a box and still be safe to use?

[rossocorsa]

Hmm not sure of the answer, you could of course buy one from a motor factors and on a slow turnover part it could turn out to be older! The fact that is in its box will help as light is one of the enemies beyond that I've no idea really.

[squiglyzigly]

I wonder if there are any numbers printed on the belt that give away the date of manufacture?

No answer for the second part of the question.

[mangocrazy]

Yes, light (particularly UV) is bad for most forms of rubber (although not EPDM, as that is used for roofs). I can't see any date of manufacture type info on the belt, so no clues there. I suspect I've purchased it comparatively recently and just done my normal trick of forgetting about it. It was on the top of the box of spares, so would seem to be a fairly recent acquisition...

[Nigel]

[mangocrazy]

Thanks Nigel,

Now all I have to figure out is when I bought that belt. In future I'll clearly mark the purchase date on the box when buying belts...

[peteracs]

Hi

Yes, but that does not help if you do not know the storage time of the seller etc?

Peter

[mangocrazy]

Hi

Yes, but that does not help if you do not know the storage time of the seller etc?

Peter

True. The only thing you can do is buy from people who turn over stock quickly, then make sure you keep a record of purchase date. I guess 'buy when you need' rather than stockpiling...

[Nigel]

If this 5022 belt doesn't fit any modern car,then the chances of Gates making
any in the last 10 years is slim. Therefore anything we buy is potentially very old.

Perhaps i'm scarmongering 

[mangocrazy]

Only fits the Usual Suspects - Lancia/Fiat/Abarth/Seat of the twin-cam era. As I mentioned earlier, the box does have 'Copyright Gates Corporation 2013' printed on it, so that's the very oldest it could be. There are some numbers stencilled on the belt that may possibly relate to date of manufacture - these are they:

[peteracs]

If this 5022 belt doesn't fit any modern car,then the chances of Gates making
any in the last 10 years is slim. Therefore anything we buy is potentially very old.

Perhaps i'm scarmongering 

Not so sure as there were a lot of twin cams made and likely a fair few still around, so consumption of belts will be an ongoing thing rather than the normal 'if it breaks/wears out replace it' scenario.

Peter

[Nigel]

Interesting.

031
7 21 9DS

are the markings on my new Gates belt  [ebay JD Motorsport]

Nigel

[rossocorsa]

If this 5022 belt doesn't fit any modern car,then the chances of Gates making
any in the last 10 years is slim. Therefore anything we buy is potentially very old.

Perhaps i'm scarmongering 

I'm fairly sure they still make them in batches it's more about how much demand the local motor factors have, if it's of the shelf it might have been there a while

[squiglyzigly]

Found some info on the tinter-web, but no idea as to its validity.

“The date code is 7 21 9DS which means 9th day, 21st week, 9th year(1999, 2009, 2019), Dumfries scotland.
Maybe its the year first, then week, then day??. Anyway its makes no difference as even gates themselves cannot tell you what decade your belt was manufactured in.”

[mangocrazy]

Yeah, I saw that post, but couldn't work out whether the poster was being serious or flippant...

[mangocrazy]

On the subject of stockpiling - I'm an inveterate hoarder. I just snaffled 9 Mahle OC473 oil filters off ebay for the princely sum of £47 delivered. At least I don't think they'll degrade sitting on the shelf for a few years.