My just-bought 03 limited V8 has only 97k kms (60ish miles). Asked mechanic about the timing belt, he said just follow the regular maintenance schedule. I see some conflicting advice here that maybe it should be done sooner just due to vehicle age. I know rubber gets stiff and cracked with age and temp extremes. Is changing it sooner unnecessary caution? Has anyone here ever had a TB failure or engine damage from it before it was due to be done. I know it has to be done eventually, I'd rather not spend cash until I really need to.
Timing Belt Question
- Thread starter Speedy123
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OkiSurf1996
New member
My opinion with repairs - are you going to worry about it for the next 20k KMs? Just go ahead and do it and give yourself the peace of mind.
If you don't think you're gonna think about it often and not worry and not second guess, feel free to wait!
If you don't think you're gonna think about it often and not worry and not second guess, feel free to wait!
paperchasin
New member
Agreed with this. Get it done and over with and life goes on.
thank goodness, I have a v6. it's a chain and never have to worry. 
in my opinion, at 60000 miles, it's too early to replace. but if you are a person who likes warming up the car every winter morning, you maybe past that miles and should replace it.
in my opinion, at 60000 miles, it's too early to replace. but if you are a person who likes warming up the car every winter morning, you maybe past that miles and should replace it.
ChaosStarter
New member
thank goodness, I have a v6. it's a chain and never have to worry.
in my opinion, at 60000 miles, it's too early to replace. but if you are a person who likes warming up the car every winter morning, you maybe past that miles and should replace it.
I disagree. Toyota says it's 90,000 miles OR 7 years. That truck and belt is 13 years old and I personally wouldn't risk my engine over 30,000 miles.
I missed the age part... belts will degrade overtime. I think it would be safe to replace it for safety reason. you don't want your belt breaking while cruising at 70mph and causing an accident. for your own safety and your family and others, replace it.
Lineman
New member
Yea, but you have a V6... Rather change mine and have V8. Got to pay to play.
thank goodness, I have a v6. it's a chain and never have to worry.
in my opinion, at 60000 miles, it's too early to replace. but if you are a person who likes warming up the car every winter morning, you maybe past that miles and should replace it.
I bought my 04 V8 in 2014 with 113K miles. I took it to my mechanic to see if timing belt was the original. He said it was original, and was in worn condition. To me, it's not worth the risk of engine damage to prolong scheduled maintenance on the belt. It's nice not worrying about it now.
Jixxer6
New member
There are a few ten mm bolts on the drivers side timing cover (plastic). You can take that off and get a good look at the belt. If it doesn't show any signs of cracking or glazing(looks shiny) you should be ok. When I worked for Toyota we saw some pretty high mile V8 with the original belt. Piece of mind might be worth the 700 though.
BlackWorksInc
New member
thank goodness, I have a v6. it's a chain and never have to worry.
in my opinion, at 60000 miles, it's too early to replace. but if you are a person who likes warming up the car every winter morning, you maybe past that miles and should replace it.
No, just around 150~200k, you'll want to start having the chain tension checked; eventually it will become looser; which requires replacement of the chain, sprockets, ect. That is of course assuming the timing cover hasn't sprung a leak by then, which would be a good time to have the chains checked since it's a labor intensive job (or hell just replaced if it's already hitting into the 200k range since you'll have the front of the motor apart.)
It all works out in the long run, you save money in the early years of a chain motor because it doesn't need regular service; but when it does finally start wearing out you're basically replacing the front half of the motor. Then again, hopefully the chain just won't break and destroy the timing cover (very expensive part) and lock up the engine anyways (these days with such squishes combustion chambers, high compression, and valve/piston reliefs there really isn't a true "non-interference" motor out there anymore; they're just less likely to grenade than others when timing is severely out of whack.) In the end if you're keeping the V6 into the 300k range, it almost evens out with the slightly cheaper 3 timing belts & water pumps at 300k.
The whole chain vs. belt thing is a rather tired argument as it's really only valid in the short term if you don't plan on keeping a vehicle long. Most members on this plan on running their engines easily into 300k and take proper care of their vehicles, so it all ends up being even in the long run. :bored:
120k is on the upper end of what I'd be comfortable with, but 100k I think is a nice even number to go by (particularly since it matches up with a good service interval for WS ATF and the 5yr/50k coolant interval so you can do a nice major service every 100k and keep on cruising. :surfer
Something else to note is that the material the belts are made of now is really funky stuff. Aside from being dusty and some light discoloration, you almost couldn't tell the difference between a new timing belt and one with 200k on it (under normal wear, not talking about catastrophic failures or coolant contamination.) The material doesn't really crack up like they used to (think how drive belts form cracks and missing chunks), it will stretch and deform a bit; but from what I have seen and heard they basically just break all at once with little to no warning. So you can have a belt that looks almost new on a 120k motor and then at 122k it just decides to let go.
For example in the older days the timing belts would end up looking like this:
Old Serpentine Belt:
Old Timing Belt:
Now they just sorta end up like this:
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V8Limited4wd
New member
Just for reference, my 04 has 130k+ miles and still on the original belt and WP. My brother who is a mechanic has never seen one break and tells me I could probably wait past 150k miles to get it all replaced (he owns a 03 Sequoia with the same engine). I'm not worrying about it right now since it's not my daily driver, but if it is, then it would be a good peace of mind to get it done. That said, I'm looking to get it done sometime this fall.
Stories like this one make me pucker.
I applaud your courage. Me? I can't afford to risk that kind of failure so I'll be scheduling an appointment at 90K. It's just that, with my luck, if I don't follow manufacturer recommended scheduled maintenance something will happen and I'll be screwed.
:rain:
I'm already a little queasy knowing my 4R is a 2006 and that means it's past the 7 year recommendation. I learned that in this thread and am thrilled to have something to worry about for 8K more miles...:faint2:
BlackWorksInc
New member
Honda has had issues with water pumps seizing and ripping the timing belt apart because they use a gear tooth water pump pulley that meshes with the timing belt. Toyota typically (at least on their "newer" timing belt engines like the 2UZ-FE) just uses the smooth backside of the belt to run the water pump. So when it seizes it will more than likely burn up before it breaks (which takes a while and the customer will complain of noise.)
In all honesty I have never seen a timing belt break on a 2UZ-FE, one 5VZ-FE and a couple of the 1MZ-FEs and 3MZ-FEs though.
Thanks, that is some good stuff...Ive done a few Hondas and it was really not too bad, I think the V8 will be fun just to see how it is all put together.
