Timing Belt Assistance

[trd4runner007]

Good afternoon guys. I dod not know if this post is in the correct forum. Please excuse and move it if need be. I have never done a timing belt before on the 3.4 and think that this job may be a little beyond my realm of expertise. Are there members on this forum who do side jobs, or whom could head my way and I could watch/learn/help out with the job? I am located in Stockton/Lodi but may be able to travel a bit. I have some stuff that I could barter for the job including plenty of fluids and filters for our 3.4's. I could throw in some cash as well and provide plenty of beer and food. Please let me know if this is something to consider. I appreciate your time guys.

Jim

415-744-4000

 

[mtbtim]

You can do the job no problem yourself with the right tools. Here's a couple videos you can use to help you out. I recommend watching both videos.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHC46ypHxWc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mErd7xoBS9I" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[thennen]

You can do the job no problem yourself with the right tools. Here's a couple videos you can use to help you out. I recommend watching both videos.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vHC46ypHxWc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mErd7xoBS9I" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tim is right. I did mine with a friend maybe 8 years ago. We had the factory manual and followed that. It went slow because we were being extra careful, and we may have done things we could've skipped, but it wasn't what I would call difficult. Tim's videos would have helped tremendously to cut hours off the job. If I can do it, pretty much anyone can.

Mine is due again, but too rusted to spend the time/money on it.

 

[trd4runner007]

Tim is right. I did mine with a friend maybe 8 years ago. We had the factory manual and followed that. It went slow because we were being extra careful, and we may have done things we could've skipped, but it wasn't what I would call difficult. Tim's videos would have helped tremendously to cut hours off the job. If I can do it, pretty much anyone can.

Mine is due again, but too rusted to spend the time/money on it.

Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate it. I watched some of the video. However, I do not feel I am up to the challenge without someone who has done these 3.4's watching over me.

I just purchased my 6th third gen. It is a 2001 Limited. Body is in excellent shape. Not a dent or ding on it. It has approximately 280K on the odometer, but the last time that the timing belt was done was at 65K. So, about 215K on this belt...

 

[gamefreakgc]

If you haven't bought the parts yet, this kit is perfect since it uses all OEM parts:

Toyota 3.4L/V6 Complete Timing Belt & Water Pump Kit | eBay.

I had a few things left over (crank seal and camshaft seals) since I chose not to replace those but other than that the kit is exactly what you need for the job.

 

[Outrider]

OP - I am on the other side of the country - sorry, but I can't help you do the job. If I could, I would be glad to help.

If you don't feel confident doing a very involved (but not terribly complicated) job, you would be wise to wait until you can get some help, or just take it to a mechanic. There is a large amount of wrenching involved, and several things can really mess you up, if you don't know what to look for, or don't see a minor mistake and correct it.

I did mine several months ago. Prior to that, I had done at least 10 other timing belt jobs over the years. Some were far easier than this, some were trickier, but the T4R was the most involved timing belt job I have ever done. If I hadn't made 2 minor mistakes with major consequences, the job would have taken me 10-12 hours, and I have a very complete set of tools. Because those 2 things went wrong, the job took me over 100 hours. Much of that extra time was figuring out exactly what went wrong, then going back and reworking things. Essentially, I had to do the job twice, with a bunch of time spent studying things and asking questions here, trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. Those 2 things were a camshaft seal that got rolled on the bottom side, which I did not see, and a valve cover that I cracked because I wasn't careful enough re-installing it. Those 2 mistakes cause a major snowball effect with end results of a massive oil leak and my engine smoking heavily after the job. However, it has been running like a sewing machine again, after those 100 or so hours I spent on it.

The timing belt itself is the easy part. The many, many things you have to remove, and other related work that needs to be done when you have it all apart adds greatly to the amount of work involved. Things like the water pump, camshaft and crank seals, half moon plugs, and the list goes on and on.

I hate sounding like I am trying to scare you, as much of the job is not very difficult, but overall, it is pretty complicated and involved. Also, if I hadn't previously made a crankshaft holding tool myself to use on another vehicle, I would have had to either make one for this, or buy one. In my case, this timing belt job would have been impossible without that one tool.

I had the help of several writeups for the job from this and other forums. You would need those, as well as a shop manual, if you were trying to figure it out yourself. Youtube all by itself would not get you through the job.

 

[trd4runner007]

Thank you guys for the input. I purchased an OEM kit sans the thermostat/gasket and three belts. I purchased an OEM thermostat/gasket separately. The three belts have recently been replaced so I am good on those. There is a mobile mechanic here that gave me a quote of $285 for labor to do the install. I think that is a fair price, however, I have not dealt with him previously and as we all know, the competence of these folks varies greatly.

 

[mtbtim]

Thank you guys for the input. I purchased an OEM kit sans the thermostat/gasket and three belts. I purchased an OEM thermostat/gasket separately. The three belts have recently been replaced so I am good on those. There is a mobile mechanic here that gave me a quote of $285 for labor to do the install. I think that is a fair price, however, I have not dealt with him previously and as we all know, the competence of these folks varies greatly.

That is an amazing price for that much labor. Does that include replacing the camshaft and crankshaft seals?

 

[Wedgy]

If I am not mistaken San Jose is only a little over 2 hours from The OP's location.....hint hint Timmy.
Ya, $285 is really cheap, I wonder what that includes.

 

[mtbtim]

If I am not mistaken San Jose is only a little over 2 hours from The OP's location.....hint hint Timmy.
Ya, $285 is really cheap, I wonder what that includes.

Yeah, he is close to me but I'm trying really hard to just wrench to make new videos. At first I was helping out everyone who contacted me and then I quickly realized I was getting severely burnt out wrenching so much. I still find myself helping people out but it's mainly for people who I've gotten to know and I'm friends with them. Because of the YouTube channel and being on this forum a lot, I do get hit up for help from quite a few people. I wish I could help everyone out, but to maintain my own sanity, to stay motivated to continue making videos, and to have time for other interests and maintain my relationship with my girlfriend, I needed to set boundaries. And, even though I'm trying to maintain a healthy balance in my life, I have weeks like I had a couple weeks ago where I wrenched on all my days off work doing 3 different bumper installs to make videos for our channel. Sometimes, everyone I'm planning on working with to make a new video end up being available for the same week and then I just say what the hell and film back to back videos on my days off. My goal is to limit my wrenching to once a week and so far I'm not doing a great job holding myself to that.

 

[thennen]

Yeah, he is close to me but I'm trying really hard to just wrench to make new videos. At first I was helping out everyone who contacted me and then I quickly realized I was getting severely burnt out wrenching so much. I still find myself helping people out but it's mainly for people who I've gotten to know and I'm friends with them. Because of the YouTube channel and being on this forum a lot, I do get hit up for help from quite a few people. I wish I could help everyone out, but to maintain my own sanity, to stay motivated to continue making videos, and to have time for other interests and maintain my relationship with my girlfriend, I needed to set boundaries. And, even though I'm trying to maintain a healthy balance in my life, I have weeks like I had a couple weeks ago where I wrenched on all my days off work doing 3 different bumper installs to make videos for our channel. Sometimes, everyone I'm planning on working with to make a new video end up being available for the same week and then I just say what the hell and film back to back videos on my days off. My goal is to limit my wrenching to once a week and so far I'm not doing a great job holding myself to that.

Tim, I don’t know you personally, but I do know you’re a stand-up guy who has given himself to this community. Your life comes first. You’ve made numerous helpful videos and I think you also have an annual get together. You are an invaluable resource on the 3rd Gen and maybe more gens. So I want to thank you for being here for us and for being so selfless. If my 2001 wasn’t rusting apart, I’d have it in the garage doing a refresh with your videos.

Thanks for being such a good guy. Thanks for helping out so many people and being so encouraging. Go ahead and move on to what you enjoy doing.

 

[Outrider]

Tim, I don’t know you personally, but I do know you’re a stand-up guy who has given himself to this community. Your life comes first. You’ve made numerous helpful videos and I think you also have an annual get together. You are an invaluable resource on the 3rd Gen and maybe more gens. So I want to thank you for being here for us and for being so selfless. If my 2001 wasn’t rusting apart, I’d have it in the garage doing a refresh with your videos.

Thanks for being such a good guy. Thanks for helping out so many people and being so encouraging. Go ahead and move on to what you enjoy doing.

That is the impression I have, and my outlook, too.

I want to apologize for my comment earlier about Youtube videos. I didn't realize that the ones mentioned were his videos, I did not even look at them, and was I talking about Youtube videos in general. I find most of them to be rather useless for me personally. But on a rare occasion, I find a good one.

 

[gamefreakgc]

That is an amazing price for that much labor. Does that include replacing the camshaft and crankshaft seals?

I don't feel that the seals are always needed unless they are leaking. Camshaft seals rarely leak, they are tucked away pretty good.

 

[Outrider]

I don't feel that the seals are always needed unless they are leaking. Camshaft seals rarely leak, they are tucked away pretty good.

May be true that they last a long time, but if the timing belt is being replaced, then the camshaft seals are probably already pretty old. And being tucked away good means that identifying them as the source of a leak later will be very difficult.

And the biggest problem is that if they do leak, then everything has to be taken apart again to fix them. My opinion is that if you are in there, spending many hours taking everything apart, you may as well replace everything you can, especially if the parts are really inexpensive.

As an aside, when I did my timing belt, the one wrenching thing that gave me fits and caused the most trouble was removing and installing that godawful, major PITA a/c compressor bracket. I spent a few hours on that one part alone. And I did try all of the tricks. None of them worked for me.

I had about 30 little plastic cups spread out, holding screws and bolts, with each one labeled referencing the part that the fasteners came from. And I took pictures at every step, to reference how things went back together. Even if I were younger, with a better memory, those steps still would have been necessary. It is a very involved job. I know I wouldn't do it again for $285, even though that would be a pretty good hourly wage for me. That seems like a good deal, if he does it right.

 

[mtbtim]

That is the impression I have, and my outlook, too.

I want to apologize for my comment earlier about Youtube videos. I didn't realize that the ones mentioned were his videos, I did not even look at them, and was I talking about Youtube videos in general. I find most of them to be rather useless for me personally. But on a rare occasion, I find a good one.

I guess everyone has had different experiences with YouTube. I think YouTube is awesome. Even if a video is poorly done, you can still usually glean some helpful information from it. Not too long ago I wanted to service the fork and shock on my mountain bike. I did a search on YouTube and boom, I found two well done video tutorials that helped me get the jobs done. On another occasion I needed to learn how to open up my clothes dryer to investigate a weird noise and again I found a helpful video that showed me what I needed to do.

I do agree that there is bad content on YouTube. When Sean and I decided to get into this gig, we knew we wanted to make very detailed videos that wouldn't leave anyone guessing and I think we've accomplished this with our videos. People have complained that they are too long but that's what the fast forward button is for. We'd rather give too much information than not enough.

Don't worry, I didn't take any offense to what you said. I already know many many people have used our Timing Belt videos to successfully do the job. Some of these people told me straight up that if it wasn't for our video, they wouldn't have attempted the job. The internet has been a game changer for DIYers. With YouTube videos, people doing write-ups and people sharing information on forums like this one, it's become way easier to repair, maintain and modify our rigs.

 

[trd4runner007]

Yeah, he is close to me but I'm trying really hard to just wrench to make new videos. At first I was helping out everyone who contacted me and then I quickly realized I was getting severely burnt out wrenching so much. I still find myself helping people out but it's mainly for people who I've gotten to know and I'm friends with them. Because of the YouTube channel and being on this forum a lot, I do get hit up for help from quite a few people. I wish I could help everyone out, but to maintain my own sanity, to stay motivated to continue making videos, and to have time for other interests and maintain my relationship with my girlfriend, I needed to set boundaries. And, even though I'm trying to maintain a healthy balance in my life, I have weeks like I had a couple weeks ago where I wrenched on all my days off work doing 3 different bumper installs to make videos for our channel. Sometimes, everyone I'm planning on working with to make a new video end up being available for the same week and then I just say what the hell and film back to back videos on my days off. My goal is to limit my wrenching to once a week and so far I'm not doing a great job holding myself to that.

Oh wow Tim, I did not know you were in San Jose. I spent the better part of my 42 years there. Born and raised. I taught special education there for quite some time. If you do change your mind Tim, and are inclined to make some $$, I'd rather pay you the $300 and know it is done correctly. Just sayin'.....

 

[mtbtim]

Oh wow Tim, I did not know you were in San Jose. I spent the better part of my 42 years there. Born and raised. I taught special education there for quite some time. If you do change your mind Tim, and are inclined to make some $$, I'd rather pay you the $300 and know it is done correctly. Just sayin'.....

At this point in my life, time is more important to me than money. Also, if money was my motivator, I could just work overtime at my fire department and make money a lot easier than leaned over an engine compartment all day.

I really wish I had an infinite amount of time because then I'd help everyone out. But, nobody has an infinite amount of time, not even Timmy the Toolman. Making videos with Sean is where I can do the most good and that has to remain my priority. If I helped out everyone who hit me up for help, I could almost wrench on every one of my days off and then I'd burn out and I'd probably become single because my girlfriend wouldn't stand for it. She's already tired of how much time I spend on the YouTube channel and how much I talk about it. And, she has a valid point. I do spend an incredible amount of time with the YouTube channel with researching for videos, shooting videos, editing videos, answering questions and acknowledging people's comments and also being active on forums like this one. It really is like a second job, no doubt.

With the right tools, you can handle this job on your own by using our videos. It's not that hard of a job. It's just time consuming. If you're worried about the expense of buying the special tools like the crank pulley holder, you can either make your own homemade version of the tool like many have done or you can buy the special tool that Schley makes and then sell it afterward on Ebay or Craigslist and get most of your money back. If the crank pulley or timing gear fight you, you can rent pullers for free at auto parts stores like O'Reillys.

I encourage you to take on the challenge and do this job yourself. You'll gain a lot of knowledge in the process and you'll have a great sense of accomplishment when you're all done. Happy Wrenching!