About the 3VZE

[Steve8v92]

Alright I just finished a "massive" job.
This is to let people who own the 3vze engine about doing the timing belt and what can be done at the same time. And suprisingly after doing the job myself I came way out on top in terms of saving money.
A lot of mechanics are daunted by doing this job, but I did the following in under 4 hours and 4 beers with no help and a mastercraft Canadian tire hand tool set (basically)

1) Timing belt
2) Water pump
3) thermostat
4) Crankshaft front seal
5) Camshaft seals
6) Changed my oil and filter
7) Removed and replaced radiator
8) replaced all radiator hoses
9) replaced rad cap
10) Changed cap, rotor, plugs and wires
11) New air filter
12) New steering stabilizer
13) changed the fan hub,
14) changed all belts
15) installed new air freshener
16) impressed the wife with the money we saved

I did this job so fast, many other people could do it and should really attempt to do this job themselves, I thought this would take me a couple of days, but everything is done and the truck runs a lot better. it's scary how close the timing belt was to failing and the waterpump was really hard to turn by hand.

I did all of this for about $800 worth of GOOD parts. I was quoted 8 hours +parts from toyota that is WAY over 800$

Very happy with my choice

Also please note this is not the job for the weak of mechanical heart
I am a diesel engine mechanic and have been doing this for quite a while.
I did the job with very little technical support (I think I referred to the timing once) but if you have a mechanical head on your shoulders you'll be fine BEST OF LUCK

 

[fishrod]

Is there any way to check on the condition of the timing belt without it being a couple hundred bucks to pull it apart?

I bought my truck 6 months ago, the guy said it "recently" had the timing belt done but there was no receipt or history. Oil was fairly black but I just had all the fluids (tranny/diffs) done and they said the front diff was like new, so they must have done some maintenence on it, just didnt document it.

Im skeptical that the timing belt was actually done recently or not, so just wondering if there is a way to get that checked out (before being replaced) that wont cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[Steve8v92]

You could remove the timing belt covers and try your best to visually inspect it,
but as I said, mine looked fine when i took mine apart
it was only until after I had replaced it that I had noticed all the cracks between the ribs. scary.
unfortunatly I have been told they dont really show that much wear or anything, but will suddenly just go on ya.
Depends on how much money and time you have for your truck

I'll give you an idea of the cost.
timing belt/water pump/pulley and idler from ebay was about 165$ canadian
the seals for the crank and cam were about 100 with an oil filter and oil other misc gaskets etc were cheap
so about 350$ tops canadian in parts
and it took me about 3.5-4 hours