The answer to this question is not definitive since it depends on the condition and severity of the malfunction. How Long Can You Drive After Timing Belt Light Comes On? It is best to take the car to a qualified mechanic to assess the issue and determine what repairs are needed. This can result in further damage to the timing belt, which can be costly to repair or replace. Driving a car is generally not recommended after the timing belt light comes on. In short, you can, but the answer depends on several factors. Bring on the fuel lines.9 The Bottom Line Can You Drive After Timing Belt Light Comes On? The tools weren’t that expensive, and even though I don’t do it all the time, it’s absolutely no fun without them and quality can be adversely affected. For fuel line repair, I answered the questions easily. It’s not as convenient overall as the press, but it allows you to do a repair on the vehicle.Finally, there’s a special tool for the mini crimp-clamps that finish the installation. There’s a handheld tool that performs the same job as a hose press but works similar to a caulking gun. With both pieces clamped in place, rotating a screw between the two vises draws them together, and the nylon line is effortlessly pushed onto the fitting.Of course, sometimes you’re doing a repair on the car, but there’s a variation that makes this just as easy. What makes them work so efficiently for nylon fuel lines is adapters that allow you to clamp the nylon line in the vise on one end and use multiple jaw options to hold the fitting you are working with in the other.

These are designed for bench operation for installing any type of hose fitting into hose. My favorite tool for this job is called a hose press or a hose assembly press, and there are multiple different ones available. I say almost because I’ve kinked plenty of lines and had to start over, and the best I’ve ever done is getting a fitting in 80% of the way, but not having the strength or grip on the line to go the rest of the way.Now I have all the special tools, and I love this work. Without the proper tools, way too many times I’ve found myself warming the end of the nylon tube in hot water, then trying to push a fitting in by hand. It’s like a custom-made razor knife, but it makes a clean cut, leaving no pinching or burrs.Any work with nylon fuel lines is simple in nature and comes down to measuring the line, cutting it, and installing the end fittings, but installing the end fittings can be the tough part. The first one you’ll always use is a special cutter for the nylon tube. One of those jobs for me is fuel line repair, either repairing nylon lines or replacing rusted metal lines with nylon.There are only a few special tools that come into play, but they work so well they almost make the job fun. The buying decision involves multiple factors: How expensive is the tool, how often will you do the job, how hard is it without the special tools and is quality affected adversely if you don’t use them?Often the question is answered by doing a job once, maybe getting it done successfully, but deciding you won’t do it again without the special tools. Sometimes you absolutely need them, and sometimes you can get away without. However, it’s a really good step because you also want to make sure you don’t have something really bad like a hole in the top of the piston, which is super rare but I have actually seen a piston get broken from this exact type of damage. Now, with the borescope, sometimes it might be challenging to see exactly the damage going on. What I like to do better is pull the ignition coils, pull the spark plugs and run that borescope down the spark plug wells. However, that only gives you part of the story that doesn’t tell us anything about the exhaust valves or potential damage to the pistons. Typically with this failure it results in bent intake valves, so you could in theory pull the intake and inspect the valves. If you’re not seeing either one of the cams turning, it’s most likely a timing belt issue. If you see the exhaust cam turning and the intake cam is not turning, it’s usually the timing chain. You’ll want to have someone crank the engine while you’re looking down the oil fill hole. You have to peek back a little bit in order to see the exhaust cam. With the oil cap off you can see the intake cam pretty easily. We could also take out the two T30s from the upper timing cover, pull it back and inspect our belt that way. So we’re going to pull the engine oil cap off and take a look at our cams through there.

Car timing belt diagnoses