"poet" <poet@nonono.net> wrote in message
news:gJtcl.71614$4M4.29218@newsfe02.iad...
> My car has about 104k on it and after the last oil change (every 3k) my
> mechanic told me that I needed to have the timing belt/water pump changed.
> I was also told that failure to do this could destroy the engine if the
> timing belt failed.
> Is he right?
>
> Also, how many miles for this maintence? Some sites seem to say after
> 60k -- in which case I'm driving on borrowed time here, and others say
> 100k.
>

Not sure about 2001. More recent models use timing chains and replacing the
chain is not even in the maintenance schedule. I would imagine they last for
a long long time.