First Time LC Owner/Timing Belt ? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jan 26, 2021
Threads
8
Messages
25
Location
NW Arkansas
I'm a new member as of today. Got my first LC last week and I am stoked! She's a 2001 100 series. 230,000 miles. I bought it from my neighbor who is moving and needed to get rid of one of his cars. He is an older gentleman and the second owner. The interior is in great shape. Carpet, leather, etc. He told me he's never used the four wheel drive so there's that. I intend to replace the door lock actuator on the driver's side as it's faulty. Also, want to get new tires. I kind of like the stock wheels and running boards (I know that makes me weird) so I'll keep that for now. The valve cover gaskets on the driver's side are slowly leaking so that's on my priority list to repair. I do have a question about the timing belt. It was replaced at 145,000 miles so based on other recommendations I've read it's coming up due for another replacement. I've read some posts that say "if it ain't broke don't fix it "and others that say "be proactive and do it now before it becomes an issue." Any thoughts on this issue? Also, fun fact for your NBA fans. This was Utah Jazz's Mike Conley, Jr.'s LC growing up.

I'm using this truck as a daily driver and some tame family adventures.
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I think most here would recommend replacing the TB and WP on schedule, as would I. It's not an overly complicated project for DIY if you're semi-handy. Welcome and good luck!
 
Welcome! For the leaky valve cover first check the cover bolts, they are known to loosen up. Get a 10mm socket on a long extension and gently snug them down - not overly tight since the bolts are small. If they're loose then you'll have the instant satisfaction of DIY'ing one of the easiest fixes with a huge reward: no more burning oil smell.

Oh, and do the timing belt, it's time (~90k mi). As far as "if it ain't broke..." if the water pump isn't leaking or noisy then you may opt to leave it be.
 
This is an interference motor, if the TB is broke, so are most of your internal engine components.
Sure? I've never heard of anyone ever having the TB break and harm thier engine in pre '06-07 hundys. Has it happened and is the 2001 LC an interference engine?
 
My understanding is that they were. Doing more “research” and it sounds like this is a 20 year old question still being debated today with lots of lore from FSMs to Master Techs and just really good mechanics. So, I bow out. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be stranded so I will replace roughly at the correct interval.

Cheers!
 
I wouldn't be in a major rush to get the t-belt/wp done, but when you get time and money or before a long trip it'd be good. Before digging into the valve covers, consider seeing how tight the bolts are and snugging them up. They're often veeeery loose. And yeah, put it the gear shift into neutral (not park) and then put it into 4 low and get that center locker working.
 
Yeah just get it done and over with. It is supposed to be done as a 90k service (along with the heater ts) but there are some that have them go much longer. I just had mine done and the guy that did mine believes my timing belt was likely the original, so had over 200k on it if so.

That said, don't skip on larger scheduled maintenance items. This is one of those things that if it breaks, you are dead in the water until it is replaced. But as part of that the WP should be done, that is a catastrophic failure if that goes. So yeah.... don't skimp, don't cheap out on parts. Do it right and do it once.
 
These are very helpful responses. You guys and gals really have a good thing going here. Thanks for being so welcoming. I'm going to tighten the valve cover bolts and hope that fixes the oil leak. And since I'm hoping to do some trips this spring and fall with the family, I think I'll take the consensus advice and get the timing belt and water pump replaced, at the very least for peace of mind. Great stuff!
 
Have your mechanic do the ''while you're in there'' stuff too. Its a few extra dollars but well worth it and a good mechanic should push you to have these replaced anyway.

-tensioners
-pulleys
-front seal
-serp belt

This will provide a ton of peace of mind on those longer trips and when they are all replaced together its nice and quiet.
 
Have your mechanic do the ''while you're in there'' stuff too. Its a few extra dollars but well worth it and a good mechanic should push you to have these replaced anyway.

-tensioners
-pulleys
-front seal
-serp belt

This will provide a ton of peace of mind on those longer trips and when they are all replaced together its nice and quiet.
when you say "a few extra dollars" what do you have in mind?
 
Any tire recommendations? I want to stay with stock wheels. Not looking to do any aggressive rock climbing or such but do like the look of a more 4 wheel-drive capable tire.
 
Cooper makes some good tires. Get a tire that is P or C rated that has decent tread. The whole E rated tire thing is a real bummer when you are driving on road all year round. Super bumpy.
 
These are very helpful responses. You guys and gals really have a good thing going here. Thanks for being so welcoming. I'm going to tighten the valve cover bolts and hope that fixes the oil leak. And since I'm hoping to do some trips this spring and fall with the family, I think I'll take the consensus advice and get the timing belt and water pump replaced, at the very least for peace of mind. Great stuff!
Just so you know the torque spec on those bolts isn't a whole lot. In the FAQ there should be link to the FSM directory for your model year. Check the spec but I want to say it is really only like "snug" with regards to torque (e.g. 15nM). I have seen horror stories of the guys getting to one of the far back bolts only to over-torque it and snap it off there, making it a chore to get to.

If you are not planning to do the TB/WP and heater Ts yourself, then find a good shop that you can trust. Go with OE stuff only from guys like Curt at Cruiser Outfitters (@cruiseroutfit ) as they will have everything you need for the job in one nice and neat package.
 
Cooper makes some good tires. Get a tire that is P or C rated that has decent tread. The whole E rated tire thing is a real bummer when you are driving on road all year round. Super bumpy.
I second this. Have had years of great luck with Cooper tires on my old FJ60 and the wife's 11 4Runner. Both had a couple sets of Coopers on them.
The 100 has Falken Wildpeak AT3W on it and I have to say that I am impressed with them in the 10k+ miles I have put on them. They were practically brand new when I purchased the truck about this time last year (2019) and still look practically brand new.

While I agree with the P or C rated tires, that is all going to depend on your plans for the 100. If you plan to go offroad then those will be OK but not the greatest for anything other than dirt service roads and the like. Going on more demanding adventures will definitely want you in the E-rated tires for durability.
 
Any tire recommendations? I want to stay with stock wheels. Not looking to do any aggressive rock climbing or such but do like the look of a more 4 wheel-drive capable tire.
I was going to say “no tire recommendations til you promise to remove the running boards :rofl:

But I see others already made recommendations, so I’ll just second the motion for Coopers—I’ve got E-rated AT3 LTs and love em. A little bumpy on the road, but great off-road and have held up aired way down on some pretty crazy rocks. 25k on mine and they look like new.
 
Have your mechanic do the ''while you're in there'' stuff too. Its a few extra dollars but well worth it and a good mechanic should push you to have these replaced anyway.

-tensioners
-pulleys
-front seal
-serp belt

This will provide a ton of peace of mind on those longer trips and when they are all replaced together its nice and quiet.
Add the potential of fan clutch and shroud? Or at least inspect them. They could be pretty worn down at 230K miles and if I recall they have to be removed to do the timing belt anyway?

If you have to replace the valve cover gasket, I'd think about replacing plugs and coil packs as most of the labor will be done anyway, so it will be mostly just parts costs.

Other areas I'd inspect carefully are the radiator, cooling hoses, and heater Ts.

Maybe the first step is to build whatever service history you can on the car - see what you can prove has already been replaced before you do needless preventative maintenance.

Your next step may be to decide what your philosophy with this car is... Are you trying to build a reliable cross country / back country workhorse that will likely survive another 8-10 yrs with a low chance of big repairs (especially big repairs at inconvenient times)? Or are you trying to build a reliable daily driver? DD cars you can push the envelope a little further on preventative maintenance, especially on stuff where there isn't a big labor savings by doing the pm at the same time you were doing something else anyway vs waiting for the part to fail.

It's a slippery slope. Especially when you get an unfamiliar LC, it can be real tempting to add $2-3K to a standard timing belt replacement just because many of those parts are coming off or more easily accessed anyway. It's most certainly the best way to create a super reliable rig. It's much more questionable whether it's the lowest cost solution. If some of those parts were going to fail soon anyway, then you saved yourself a lot of labor cost in repeating some disassembly and reassembly. If those parts would have lasted until the next tb replacement, then you wasted your money (but bought some peace of mind).
 

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