When you look at the cost, the 3 people that I knew opted for a re-built engine. It was a bit more, but the cost of the repair might even go higher. Usually the cost is within a couple hundred dollars. The good news is the 3 cars went another 100,000+ miles.

The engine was quite quiet, less noise than my old 92 model. Decent power, 160 HP. The salesman did not know if the engine was a interference or non-interference engine. If fact he didn't know what interference meant.

I am sure the engine with a timing chain makes more noise, but with a new car and probably better insulation, it was sweet.

Solution for timing belt/chain issue. Trade vehicles before they get to 90K miles

Years ago I experienced two timing belt failures on an interference engine. It was a highly over-square, high RPM Fiat engine. The specified replacement interval was 35,000 miles, but the first breakage (actually stripped teeth, which I think is still the common failure mode) of the stock belt was at 22,000 miles. This was a Fiat, after all!

In both cases, the engine was at idle, and simply died. No noise, no clanking, just 4 bent exhaust valves when we removed the head, and it was hard to even see the scuff on the piston top. No other damage, and I repaired it the first time myself. Fiat mechanics said that the stresses on the belt were usually highest at idle and that's when they typically failed, but if they failed at high speed it could knock out a piston or two.

Now for the lesson: After the first incident I started replacing the belt yearly, and that worked for several years. It was a pain to do (this was a mid-engine car!) but I got relatively good at it. But a few years later, at about 70,000 miles the belt failed again after only 8 months. The culprit was a badly worn crankshaft pulley where the lands (? the opposite of the grooves anyway) had worn to be too narrow and it ate the belt. So the lesson is to check the pulleys along with the belts.

The chains will start to clank against the aluminum cover/head upon startup until the oil pressure is sufficient for the tensioner to tighten the chain. From Toyota mechanics I've spoken to, they've said the only cases when they see chains completely fail is when the tensioner fails, usually from being gummed up from infrequent oil changes. On the older 4Runners and mini's, the chain change interval is typically 120-150K mi (most people get rid of their cars by then), but I've spoke to people who have pushed 200-250K mi out of them. That's risky.

One nice thing about chains is they make a lot of noise well before they fail, so it's a pre-warning. One guy could hear the chain clattering, but cheaped-out and drove his pickup for one more month. The chain didn't break, but the slack in the chain caused it to wear through the aluminum head into the coolant lines. $2500 later, he was driving again. So if you hear constant clattering that doesn't stop after startup, it's change the chain ASAP.

The chains on the 1FZ-FE in the LC80 supposed to last 300K mi. BTW, Toyota used to use DOUBLE chains before '83 in their mini-pickups. Those were bullet-proof. Then around '84, they went to single chains and plastic chain guides instead of the rubber/steel ones. Those guides have been known to prematurely break. DOA Racing still sells the steel/rubber guides. I did read about one case where one guy changed the chain himself, but used too much black silicone rtv to seal up the oil pan. Pieces broke off and gummed up the tensioner. In other cases, I've heard of people having broken plastic chain guides at 30K mi. When buying chains, many companies claim to sell OEM chains/tensioners/guides for a lot less than dealers, but who's sure to know the origins of those parts? I ending up buying online from a Toyota dealer in Houston instead. And I changed my chain at 125K mi since I didn't want to be in, say, Death Valley and have the chain start to clatter.