100 series timing belt replacement cost? (1 Viewer)

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Hello all,

Wondering what a ballpark cost is to have the timing belt service performed? I’m new to 100 series trucks and I am looking at an LX470 but the timing belt has not been done. 125k miles. Thanks.
 
DIY - Timing belt, water pump, new belt tensioners, misc parts alone were $500. I did belt change #2 so included everything. First one was done by Toyota dealer for $500, but that was a decade ago. (Someone screwed up in the marketing department, no doubt). Fairly time consuming, getting crankshaft pulley off requires a few cusswords (and special tool) but straightforward after that.
 
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Mine was replaced in 2018: $1285.92 ($200 of it was the water pump replacement that I requested).
 
For posterity for others, I'll add: If a place quotes you <$750 for a 2UZ timing belt job, they're skipping semi-optional steps. A good timing belt job with some other misc parts replacement SHOULD cost over $1k. If it doesn't, you should be skeptical.

Count on at least $1k.

Average through job is probably more like $1500.

My DIY job was ~$1300 in discounted dealer parts alone, nevermind my labor.
 
Hello all,

Wondering what a ballpark cost is to have the timing belt service performed? I’m new to 100 series trucks and I am looking at an LX470 but the timing belt has not been done. 125k miles. Thanks.
I just had timing belt and water pump done by local mechanic (Alan's of Vista, California) for $800. Got a quote from the El Cajon Lexus dealer for $961. Incidentally my belt had 132K on it and was by no means looking like it would break but it was stretched a bit and gone soft.
 
For posterity for others, I'll add: If a place quotes you <$750 for a 2UZ timing belt job, they're skipping semi-optional steps. A good timing belt job with some other misc parts replacement SHOULD cost over $1k. If it doesn't, you should be skeptical.

Count on at least $1k.

Average through job is probably more like $1500.

My DIY job was ~$1300 in discounted dealer parts alone, nevermind my labor.
Disagree. See my initial reply. El Cajon, California, Lexus dealership quote $961.
 
Disagree. See my initial reply. El Cajon, California, Lexus dealership quote $961.

I'm guessing that was the minimum parts on the t-belt job? No extra bearings inside the timing case, no/few replacement coolant hoses, clamps, etc... ?

My point is that the timing belt job is the only time most people are going to preventatively (sp?) replace some critical components (Fan bearing, fan clutch, idler pulley, radiator and /or radiator cap, coolant housing which holds the O-ring that leaks unless the surfaces is pristine which prompts some mechanics to use non-OEM sealant instead of the proper O-ring, thermostat, spark plugs, etc...). IE the "90k service".

The timing belt on these very rarely fails. The job is/should be more about all the other wear items that are due for replacement around the second or third 90k T-belt. On the non-interference 2UZs I'd actually rather have the T-belt fail than most the other possible failures modes.

Slee, for example, has a semi-standard "90k service". It's somewhere around $1700-2000 with labor. They know exactly what they're doing and which parts/fluids commonly need replacing so they just quote it all bundled as a package. After doing mine, I see exactly why they do that.

When these threads pop up I try to convey the thorough job pricing because I think that's what most 150k-300k mile rigs actually need. Slee seems to agree and I think the other enthusiast shops do too. You can get in and out for less, but that's probably not the best long term approach since you're R&R-ing dozens of wear items in the job. If you have to pay for labor twice on any of those down the road you're going to spend more in the end to go back and replace it 10-40k miles later s a one-off failure.
 
I called a local dealer today, they told me $725.00 for timing belt. I asked if that included the water pump, they said no, with WP it would be $1800.00. Dang. Big difference, I don't get it.
 
I called a local dealer today, they told me $725.00 for timing belt. I asked if that included the water pump, they said no, with WP it would be $1800.00. Dang. Big difference, I don't get it.

That's a pretty extreme difference for just the water pump, but I think your experience gets at what I'm trying to tell folks. That is, the low dollar quotes you see for a timing belt job on a 2UZ are bare bones and don't include some parts that many folks consider a given.

If you include many of the parts that *should* be replaced at the 2nd or later timing belt service the job will cost more than $1k.
 
That's a pretty extreme difference for just the water pump, but I think your experience gets at what I'm trying to tell folks. That is, the low dollar quotes you see for a timing belt job on a 2UZ are bare bones and don't include some parts that many folks consider a given.

If you include many of the parts that *should* be replaced at the 2nd or later timing belt service the job will cost more than $1k.
My problem is my 98 has no documentation of it having been done before, so I am not inclined to skip any of the while you are in there stuff. I could do it myself, but it's a big job. One dealer is offering free timing belt if they do the service, waiting on call back for complete quote. I am on the fence on whether I want to do it myself and kill an entire weekend, or if I can get a reasonable quote have a dealer do it. I'd probably pull the trigger at around the 1k to $1200 mark, otherwise I'll likely end up doing myself. I should probably inspect more closely, pull tb cover and giver her a look see.
 
I called a local dealer today, they told me $725.00 for timing belt. I asked if that included the water pump, they said no, with WP it would be $1800.00. Dang. Big difference, I don't get it.

Maybe they're charging you book time for both jobs as if they're occurring separately? Sure makes the service more profitable for the tech and service writer that way.
 
Maybe they're charging you book time for both jobs as if they're occurring separately? Sure makes the service more profitable for the tech and service writer that way.
Maybe, certainly moved themselves to the nope pile. I was thinking if the timing belt was at 725 with WP it might come to say 1100 or 12? Oh well, there are several dealers in the area, the search continues.
 
Maybe, certainly moved themselves to the nope pile. I was thinking if the timing belt was at 725 with WP it might come to say 1100 or 12? Oh well, there are several dealers in the area, the search continues.

The water pump itself retails for about $170 so that seems like a reasonable assumption.

I'm not sure who I'd trust in town to do the timing belt so I opted to do mine myself. I've been to Tansky a few times for warranty work and alignments and they've been OK at best. If you're considering indys, the guy who owns Japanese Auto Service in Hilliard apparently drives a 100 so they may be an option depending on where you are in town.
 
My problem is my 98 has no documentation of it having been done before, so I am not inclined to skip any of the while you are in there stuff. I could do it myself, but it's a big job. One dealer is offering free timing belt if they do the service, waiting on call back for complete quote. I am on the fence on whether I want to do it myself and kill an entire weekend, or if I can get a reasonable quote have a dealer do it. I'd probably pull the trigger at around the 1k to $1200 mark, otherwise I'll likely end up doing myself. I should probably inspect more closely, pull tb cover and giver her a look see.

Just a little personal experience based advice here: If you tackle it yourself and you're planning on being thorough, I think you should count on longer than a weekend. You could do it in a weekend if all goes well, but you're probably going to break something or discover a worn out part that needs replacement and have to sit and wait.

I broke the water neck because the previous mechanic used a sealant that glued the male neck into the female outlet. I spent hours on it before breaking out the pry bar. I got some movement (fractions of a mm) but then the pry bar was too much and the neck fractured. I had to chisel the neck out. I also discovered a few bad bearings along the way (fan bracket and one other) and noticed my radiator had some cracking.

Unless you're ordering ~$1500 in OEM parts ahead of time, it's real easy to run into a few needed parts you didn't think to have on hand and that will cause you a delay until at least the next business day.
 

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