Should I go with Dealer for Timing Belt Service?

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RND1

RND1

10 Year 15 Year
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Chelmsford, MA
I'm at 100K miles and want to get the timing belt service done. I've gone back and forth on whether to go with my local dealer, an indie, or do it myself. I bought the Aisin Timing Belt Service Kit a couple of months ago ($190 including water pump, tensioner, bearings, etc.) so I have all the parts except the coolant.

My local dealer quoted me $1300 for the service including the water pump. Another dealer quoted me $1500.

My indie quoted me $800, but that does not include the water pump. I did not ask my indie if they would use my parts (I hadn't purchased the kit when they gave me the quote).

So, I decided to chat with my service advisor to see if they would be willing to use my timing belt kit and to my surprise, he said they would. The charge for labor would be $749 and they would give me a free rental car for the day.

I don't have the time to DIY so that's off the table for now.

There's some additional value to me having it done at the dealer so it will show up in the maintenance history when I go to sell some day. Just want to get some input if $749 is fair?

Open to your suggestions / recommendations?
 
For $749, you might consider having them replace hoses, the serpentine belt, and any other expendables involved as well- as all that stuff will have to go back on. Get it all done at the same time and save some $$$ as it will have to be done in the future anyway. You can source those like the timing belt kit to save bucks and you should be able to save the labor cost of doing them later. Keep the old parts and you'll have spares in case you have a crisis on the road.
 
^ Good suggestion. They add an hour labor to r&r the water pump which is silly since they have to remove the water pump to get the T belt off. Aside from the Serpentine belt, I'm not sure what hoses would typically be replaced?
 
RND1 said:
^ Good suggestion. They add an hour labor to r&r the water pump which is silly since they have to remove the water pump to get the T belt off. Aside from the Serpentine belt, I'm not sure what hoses would typically be replaced?
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I'd go ahead and do upper and lower radiator hoses...no labor as they come off and on for the timing belt and water pump. Check the heater hoses and their T's toward the firewall. You could also consider the coolant hoses on the oil filter adapter...5 minutes labor, tops.

Steve
 
Couldn't hurt to do the upper/lower radiator hoses, but I was easily able to make it to the second 90K service before replace, and even then my independent mechanic didn't think it really necessary.
 
Why is the dealer service history of any value? For the ~$200 saved I can keep a lot of receipts. The last car I sold I gave the buyer a memory stick with a gig of scanned receipts from both myself and prior owners and he was more than tickled.

Along with oil and water hoses, consider the three front seals (main + 2x cam). And I didn't see thermostat mentioned. Add that too.
 
RND1 said:
^ Good suggestion. They add an hour labor to r&r the water pump which is silly since they have to remove the water pump to get the T belt off. Aside from the Serpentine belt, I'm not sure what hoses would typically be replaced?
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The WP doesn't have to be removed to replace the t-belt. The T-belt does have to be removed in order to remove the water pump though. You could ask if they will give you a good rate or free install on the water pump if you let them do the timing belt.

Lots of good advice here. I'd go ahead and do the seals, idlers, tensioner, water pump, etc if you are doing the timing belt. It's usually a component other than the timing belt that fails and causes it to break.
 
OregonLC said:
Why is the dealer service history of any value? For the ~$200 saved I can keep a lot of receipts. The last car I sold I gave the buyer a memory stick with a gig of scanned receipts from both myself and prior owners and he was more than tickled.
Click to expand...

Just from my experience on here, many folks suggest to look up the VIN on the Toyota / Lexus website to see what kind of maintenance history it has. I did this when I was searching for mine. Something about the vehicle being fully serviced at the dealer adds value in my mind.
 
TXLX100 said:
The WP doesn't have to be removed to replace the t-belt. The T-belt does have to be removed in order to remove the water pump though. You could ask if they will give you a good rate or free install on the water pump if you let them do the timing belt.

Lots of good advice here. I'd go ahead and do the seals, idlers, tensioner, water pump, etc if you are doing the timing belt. It's usually a component other than the timing belt that fails and causes it to break.
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Thanks - I brought it in to the dealer today. They are going to use my OE Aisin kit to install the timing belt, water pump, TB tensioner, idler and tensioner bearings, and serpentine belt for $749. They are going to call if they feel the hoses, t-stat, heater t's need to be replaced.

They gave me a free rental overnight plus 10% off so labor total dropped to $675. Coolant plus drive belt adds another $80 so I'll be out the door for $755. I'm happy with that and my LC will be good to go for another 100K miles!
 
What dealer did you take it to?
 
RND1 said:
Thanks - I brought it in to the dealer today. They are going to use my OE Aisin kit to install the timing belt, water pump, TB tensioner, idler and tensioner bearings, and serpentine belt for $749. They are going to call if they feel the hoses, t-stat, heater t's need to be replaced.

They gave me a free rental overnight plus 10% off so labor total dropped to $675. Coolant plus drive belt adds another $80 so I'll be out the door for $755. I'm happy with that and my LC will be good to go for another 100K miles!
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Nice discount. I'd definitely go for tstat and heater T's. There's no early warning when those go out and will put you on the side of the road at best.
 
I agree, do the thermostat and t's... the price was already pretty fair, then you've got the discount and the lack of tax. You'll still end up paying less than what many paid for the 90K without thermostat and T's.
 
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