This, what he said. Your not looking at the timing belt there, it's definitely the serpentine belt unless your motor exploded already and we are looking at the inside of it.
Timing belt is at 90k and 180k I believe, thought you said your at 187? Which is exactly where I am milage wise. I wouldn't freak out about it but I would check to see if the timing belt got done at 180, which I doubt honestly. Seems like a lot of times they get sold before the timing belt gets done. I'm getting a belt, water pump and pulleys to fix that but the ticking I have is exhaust manifold. I was thinking about pulling them and welding them but it's not worth it. Hopefully we can still get Thorley headers, if not it's original equipment or make your own set. The rest of the exhaust system I'm not sure who makes what anymore but a custom exhaust shouldn't be too expensive to have bent up. Just have to get a couple of little bullet style cats to fit in.
The whine is more than likely power steering, check the fluid. Clean the goo out of the pump and reservoir and it'll probably go away, after cleaning mine got quieter and my buddies got quieter.

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Thanks for clearing up that misunderstanding. My mistake, I've got quite a bit to learn about cars.

Relief to hear the whole motor won't detonate when I drive home.

The timing belt has never been done. Nor has the serpentine belt. (At least no record of that either)

As for the manifolds I have yet to check, but have thought about replacing the whole exhaust system. It's coming loose and has a few holes in it. If it is the manifolds I'll probably leave it until I do that.

The power steering has been an issue for quite a while, its cleaned, and is always somehow running low on fluid. It has been like that for a good 5 or so years. The pump is fine, it's the resivoir thats always just low. Could be why my steering is so heavy.

Thank you for the help

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Thank you for clearing that up. That's my mistake. I'm brand new to working on cars.

I'll pick up a mechanic's stethoscope here soon. Don't know why I haven't bought one earlier. (especially for that price.)

With the service records I have (and the lack of any sticker), both the timing belt and the serpentine belt have never been replaced. They are the original 2003 belts. If they have been replaced there is no evidence of it.

The whine is most likely the power steering system. As it's always running low.




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My son has a 2006 T4R with V8. His power steering pump pulley bearing was going out and making a lot of noise. He had that pulley and the serpentine belt replaced. His right side header has the dreaded crack and resulting noise, but as the engine warms up the pipe expands and it calms down. it will eventually have to be replaced but it's been 2 years now and so far so good. He's at about 160K. My 2004 T4R is at 132K and so far no noises, other than a valve tick after a long trip pulling a trailer.

If you are at 187,000 and have never had the timing belt replaced you are inches away from disaster. The V8 in those years of 4Runner is an interference engine. That means that for better performance, the valves go into the cylinder when the pistons are not there. The timing belt moves them out of the way when the piston comes to the top of the cylinder. If the timing belt breaks then the valves stay in that area and get smashed by the pistons. That will be a VERY expensive repair and may include replacing the entire engine.

You can go to your closest Toyota service center and they can look up the VIN and tell you if that service has ever been done by Toyota, and any other service that was performed at a Toyota service center. At 187,000 you are due for the second one anyway, might as well open up the wallet. It's an expensive maintenance item. It was about $5K when I had it done about 10 years ago. I'm sure it's considerably higher now, but less than a new or rebuilt engine.

5K ten years ago? That's insane. I just did mine with the Aisin kit but had my dealer give me an estimate beforehand. $1,800 with new water pump and crank seal. And I thought THAT was high, LOL.

@Moist I must highly stress how important it is that you get the timing belt replaced ASAP, and I do mean ASAP, as pointed out if the timing belt breaks you're looking at replacing the engine!!!!

I also am shaking my head at a $5000 price tag for replacing the timing belt, if you get a quote more than $2000 walk away quickly, here where I live I can get mine done for $750 to $800 and that includes the parts (But not parts from a Toyota dealer, instead I would use "aftermarket" parts BUT see below on which parts I'm suggesting, not just any aftermarket parts, most everyone here who do their own work will also use the same parts I'm mentioning below), albeit that's at an independent garage, at a Toyota dealership it will at least be double that, also make sure they replace the water pump at the same time as it's buried in there with the timing belt and all of it would have to be redone just to replace the water pump at a later date, they should also be replacing the timing belt idler pulleys, tensioner, etc. basically anything the timing belt touches other than the cam sprockets, all I have mentioned is included in a aftermarket kit by Asisn....but everything in this kit is from either Asisn (OEM supplier to Toyota) and or other suppliers of OEM parts for Toyota so they are OEM parts just not in a Toyota box, the timing belt kit's part number is TKT-021 and can be ordered from Rockauto for $184 which is where I would buy it from if you can find a dependable garage that will allow you to supply the parts and still give you a decent labor cost.

Link to Rockauto for the timing belt kit.(there are 2 Asisn kits listed make sure you get the correct part number, the other one doesn't include the new tensioner)

2003 TOYOTA 4RUNNER 4.7L V8 Timing Belt, Water Pump & Component Kit | RockAuto

Also if you register at Toyota.com/Owners website and enter your VIN number it should bring up all work done at most Toyota dealerships IF they logged the work info into the Toyota data base, also if you have any other Toyota vehicles for can also include them in your list of vehicles.

Here's a link to Toyota.com/Owners website.

Welcome to Toyota Owners

Again don't procrastinate on getting that timing belt replaced, you'll highly regret it if it breaks!!!

As others mentioned, don't delay that timing belt replacement assuming it's original. You are on borrowed time, I wouldn't even start it unless you don't care about the vehicle. Anytime I've had a timing belt fail it was always at idle, luckily those engines were not interference type.

As for the external belt... as mentioned, with the belt off check all pulleys it touches. They should all spin freely with no noise or notchyness. The sound in the video could just be an old belt or one of the bearings on those items to check.

Okay, maybe that was high, maybe I had other service too, like tires. The memory isn't what it used to be and I can't find my receipts this morning. I stand corrected.

I know I was getting ready to tow a 23' travel trailer down to Florida for a couple of months and didn't want to risk anything, so I had the service done early.

OMG, I was Waaaaaaay off on that one. I must have been thinking about something else. I had the timing belt, drive belt, water pump and tensioner done in April 2015 for $912.07 at my dealership and they could still find the service ticket.

A thousand pardons and 10 lashes with a wet seat belt.

BTW, if you sign up at the Toyota Owners site you should be able to find work that has been done on a vehicle by any Toyota dealership, although it doesn't say which dealership it was. Just Google Toyota Owners and set up an account. You will need your VIN to get details.

LOL!!!

Yeah if you really paid $5000 to have the timing belt replaced I was going to offer to come to Kentucky and do whatever work you need done to your vehicles and I would only charge 2/3rds what you're use to paying at the dealership!! LOL

I'm guessing that I thought it was a very expensive maintenance item. I had been doing the other repairs on my Toyotas at that time and most of those were just minor items. $900+ was a big repair bill for me and I must have remembered the expense was large. After repairs on my house and travel trailer, now $900+ is not so bad. That is just sad.

Anyhow, I'm red-faced over my mistake but I'll get over it.

Haha, no big deal! I was having a hard time believing the 5k thing but you just never know...sometimes repair shops can really get their hooks in ya. At any rate, thanks for clarifying.

Oh yeah for sure. One of my friends is being snagged with a 6K repair bill after bringing it in for a new CV axle. Not sure how it escalated from there.

Otherwise still struggling to get my hands on service records. Was told it may have been replaced. There may be hope.
Haven't found much time to check however, but my schedule is opening soon. I am not driving the car nearly as much, and when i need to I am driving it with as little strain on the engine as possible.

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Final verdict:
The timing belt is original to the car. After extensive searching and calling various dealears it's been to, it IS the factory belt. I am aware I am running on borrowed time, and am using the car as little as possible. Its esimated 690$ labor alone. (That's with Water pump replacement) I most likely won't get the water pump replaced, as a broken water pump won't send the pistons into the intake and exhaust valves. I've been studying engines recently, but don't have the time or know how to actually do the job.
The manifolds are also in sh*t condition. They make noise and smell like exhaust. I'll buy new ones when I'm not flat broke.
Thank you all for all the help.