Think of a timing belt like a bike chain for your vehicle—it keeps all the internal moving parts of an engine moving in sync. The timing belt sometimes also powers the water pump, oil pump and injection pump.

The timing belt is a rubber belt with hard teeth that interlock with the cogwheels of the crankshaft and the two camshafts. The timing belt synchronizes the movement of the crankshaft and camshafts to make sure the engine intake and exhaust valves open and close in time with the pistons. If the crankshaft and camshafts are not operating in unison, the vehicle will not run correctly.

If the intake valves open too early, there may be too much fuel-air mixture flowing into the engine combustion chamber, leading to poor combustion and power loss. And if the exhaust valves open too early, the combustion chamber will lose pressure and cause a power loss. If the engine components are very out of sync, they might collide and damage each other, resulting in costly repairs.