timing belt lasting 197K miles??

[chukiechz]

timing belt lasting 197K miles?? *update*

OK, I dont know if all of you know the history of my LX, but it's a 98 LX with 197K miles on it that my parents gave me since they bought a new SUV and my lease was up on my QX4. I called my parents to see if the timing belt had been done at 180K or so, and they said they've never had the timing belt changed.

They only take it to lexus or toyota dealer for major service, so I called their dealers and after looking through the records, they said that its never been done. They also mentioned that if the belt was changed, there would be a sticker placed on the engine cover or hood somewhere, which I cant find anywhere.

I've got an appointment monday with a local independant toyota shop for the ticking time bomb. So is it even feasible that the belt would last this long, or did the dealers not do a thourough enough search for me?

 

[NMuzj100]

I wouldn't be suprised if the original belt lasted that long at all. The miles are probably mostly highway and the belt is no older than the one in my 98 LC with 68K miles. The reason changing the timing belt on schedual is so important is not that it is likely to fail but the huge amount of damage that will result if it does fail.

When you have it replaced ask for the old belt and show us the pictures. Then we can all judge how close to you were to definatively deciding the "interference/non-interference" question.

 

[Josh83]

If it's a Toyota engine(which it is) and has a belt(which it does) then there will be no huge amounts of damage. Just a tow bill to the repair shop.
(Unless the V8's differ from the 4 cyl.)

 

[Cruiser4UGA]

NOOOOO not an interference vs. non-interference engine topic start.....

 

[NMuzj100]

Not a interference / non-interference thread. I was only saying that chuckiechz is closer to finding out the answer than anybody else on this board. Lets put the peer pressure on him for photos of the "timebomb".

 

[chukiechz]

lets use "timebomb" with discretion now please. We can use the word again Monday after it has been dropped off for repair!! Knowing my luck, I'll take it to go run up the street and it'll pop now that Im aware of the belt situation.

I'll try and get the belt back and take pics for all to see.

 

[hank14]

If I lived in Orange County, I'd worry about a lot of other things happening before I'd worry about the odds of that t-belt snapping in the next few days. I'd take the odds on that bet any day. You will be fine.

And, I'm just kidding about your location, BTW.

 

[jp213a]

Since the timing belt has never been changed, I assume the water pump hasn't been changed either. Can you confirm this. You've got the highest mileage I've seen reported on this forum. I purchased my 2000 with 107kmi and a copy of all the maintenance records. The timing belt had not been changed. When I changed it myself at 110kmi it still look like new. The sticker indicating the date and mileage when the timing belt is changed comes with the new Toyota belt. You write in the mileage and date and apply the sticker to the driver's side timing belt cover. It is fairly easy to unbolt the timing belt cover on the passenger side and slide it off far enough to inspect the belt. It's always a good idea to have the shop give you back the old parts but you'll need to tell them up front or you might have to go dumpster diving. The cost for labor and parts for a t-belt change reported on this forum over the last few months has ranged from $400 to $1200.

 

[chukiechz]

I really have no maintenance records. All the info I got was from calling the Toyota and Lexus dealer my parents took the LX into for service. 60K mile services have been done at both dealers, but none of them saw any timing belt replacement. I assume the water pump is the original as well.

Where is the timing belt cover? I'll see if I can find a sticker down there. Rear of the engine or front? I didnt see any on the engine cover or hood.

the local independant toyota shop is charging me $450 for the belt change, and whatever the cost of a new pump was. He couldnt find the price of it, but he said no more than $150 for it.

hank: whats wrong with OC? Dont tell me you're basing it off those tv shows!!!

 

[chukiechz]

Just got a call back from the shop. Timing belt was severly cracked and was ready to go at any time. He says its definitely the original belt!! Idler bearings and stuff inside were also starting to make noise as well as seals leaking. So I figured Id have him replace all of it anyway just to be done with it. Looks like my bill is going to be over 1K with the addition of all those extra parts.

I'll post pics later tonite when I get it back

 

[Jim_Chow]

What are "idler bearings"? I've never heard of those.

So is it safe to say a high-mileage (ie, mostly highway miles) 100 can easily go 120K mi before the t-belt needs changing? That would probably be equivalent to 90K mi of mixed stop & go/highway driving, so the recommended 90K mi does give some cushion, albeit not a whole lot if you did a lot of stop & go driving and pushed it to 120K mi.

 

[hank14]

Do you think the timing belt can tell the difference between the speed of the vehicle, acceleration and deceleration, etc? I doubt the type of driving has anything to do with how long the belt lasts. I think the construction of the belt and whether or not it gets interfered with by something such as a sticky bearing would be the only issue.

 

[jp213a]

What are "idler bearings"? I've never heard of those.

The timing belt passes over two pulleys that are not driving anything so they're called idler pulleys. Each of these pulleys turns on a bearing, hence "idler bearings". The idler pulleys are need to route the belt around the cam pulleys and water pump pulley with the correct amount of belt wrap on each pulley. The idea is to have approximately 180 degrees of belt wrap on the drive pulleys so several teeth on the belt are engaged with the drive pulleys. This keeps the load on each tooth at a minimum. Obviously, the more wrap, the more teeth that are engaged. Typically, it isn't necessary to replace the complete idler pulleys. Instead, the bearing can be pressed out and a new bearing presses in. Someone reported the idler pulleys with the bearings cost $80 each. The bearing along is around $10 each.