Would you drive a 1KZ 45 minutes on 14 year old timing belt?

[OM617YOTA]

Howdy folks, new here, first post.

I'm buying a '96 RHD Japanese import Prado at the end of the week, 1KZ powered. Only 85k miles on the vehicle total, so mileage wise the timing belt should be fine. Per the sticker on the timing cover, the timing belt was last changed in 2011. I know there's an age component to timing belt replacement, this is an interference engine, and a 14 year old timing belt. The vehicle needs to be moved a ~45 minute drive after purchase.

Would you drive it, or would you trailer/tow it?

 

[javelinadave]

Guessing they drove it onto the boat and will drive it off of the boat. I would but that's just me.

 

[renago]

If the belt snaps , the motor and maybe the whole car is good for scrap !
What most probably could happen is that the belt could loose some teeth but won’t snap .
Also in this case it will go out of timing and the damage will be catastrophic.
I would change or the belt or put it on a trailer

 

[OM617YOTA]

Thank you both.

Now I'm seeing there's a diesel specific forum, and I might have gotten a better response there. Woops.

 

[javelinadave]

If the belt snaps , the motor and maybe the whole car is good for scrap !
What most probably could happen is that the belt could loose some teeth but won’t snap .
Also in this case it will go out of timing and the damage will be catastrophic.
I would change or the belt or put it on a trailer

There is no guarantees in life. The new belt could fail too. I would drive it home but as I said that's just me. It is an easy enough swap and it is a Toyota. People run these truck for literally a million miles with little to no maintenance.

 

[bigredmachine]

your probably fine but you could always just pop the top cover off a little bit to get a look at the belt. if its not all cracked up and looks fine i wouldnt worry about it for the ride home

 

[AussieHJCruza]

X2, easy to remove the belt cover, if it's in good condition, run it.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Thanks folks.

Looks like you can remove the timing cover and even change the belt without removing anything else? Not even the accessory drive belts or radiator hose?



If this is all it is, I'll just change the belt before driving it home. I don't want to jinx myself and say it'll be easy, but it does look like the possibility exists.

 

[JDM Journeys]

Agreed with above. Pop the cover off and have a look at the belt. If it looks okay then drive it home! Look for oil leaks as well in behind that cover. I'd be just as concerned about contamination as wear. If it is just dusty then I'd get it home and do it properly.

 

[JDM Journeys]

When doing the belt of course you wanna do the tensioner, pulleys etc. And maybe the water pump too. I'd be doing that in the comfort of my own shop.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Would replace the timing tensioner and idler pulley while I'm in there. Have to pull them to change the belt anyway, no sense putting the old parts back in.

Definitely planning on a lot more maintenance once it's home. Radiator and heater hoses, coolant flush, radiator if it needs it, fan clutch, EGT gauge, etc.

Thanks folks, I'm excited to grab this Prado. You can see from the username, I swapped a Mercedes 617 diesel into a Toyota pickup. That was every bit as much PITA as it sounds, and I never would have done it if I had known about these Japanese imports at the time.

 

[Bad Mojo]

@OM617YOTA just a heads up there are 2 oil seals that can be replaced when you doing timing belter/ water pump. I believe the Cruiser Outfitters kit includes them. Or I would suggest ordering a full engine gasket kit if you know you are gonna be refreshing more than the t-belt.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Yup, I have the seals. Since it's so easy to access the timing belt, I'll almost certainly just swap the belt, tensioner, and idler pulley, and wait for later to do the seals as long as they're not puking oil.

 

[bigredmachine]

Or I would suggest ordering a full engine gasket kit if you know you are gonna be refreshing more than the t-belt.

full gasket kit is a good idea since its an import and you not going to be able to run to napa or wherever to get something you need on a saturday. it will be a fairly expensive kit though, when i was at the shop a gasket kit was running 300-400$ dont know if itll be more or less expensive given that youl have to order that in from over seas or try to find a supplier in the us

 

[codgn]

I drove a 1992 HDJ81 from Mississippi to Denver CO with a 8 or 10yr old timing belt. You should be fine

 

[OM617YOTA]

Alrighty folks, just to put this one to bed. The seller and I popped off the timing cover and inspected the belt. It looked great, so we popped the cover back on and I drove it to a family member's house ~45 minutes away. Once there I changed the timing belt, idler pulley, and tensioner.

The next day I drove the ~3 hours home uneventfully, smiling the entire time. Love this thing.