Who Has The Most Mileage On Original Timing Belt?

[mek88]

My 99 RX300AWD has 120K on original timing belt & waterpump. According to my friend who is a technician, he has seen some lexis with over 150K miles w/ original belt on it.

He said that Lexus timing belt is wider compared to Honda's, and they're made stronger as well.

[Lexusfreak]

Well that is a possibility....but why risk it?? In this members opinion some might go till 150k miles & others might only last 90k depending on many factors, why wait till it fails with you possibly being stranded & causing severe damage to the vehicle? Excercise on the side of caution & get it replaced....Fram has a good slogan: "pay a little now or a lot later". B) :whistles:

[boRXis]

You messing with fire, dude <_<

[riwyle]

One point to factor into the decision process of when to replace the timing belt is the fact that, unlike some engine designs, no ancillary damage will be caused to components in the RX engine upon belt failure. Just potential danger on the road and of course inconvenience upon breakdown.

Wouldn't it be great if manufactures provided information such as mean time (mileage) to failure and other failure rates of critical components? I imagine they have them but keep it top secret. Unfortunately, lacking these facts, so many of the statements on this forum and each of our preventive maintenance decisions are too often based strictly on subjective opinion.

[RX in NC]

Lexus/Toyota timing belts have a solid reputation in the automotive industry. They are thicker and wider than many other Japanese automakers.. My RX owners manual calls for a timing belt change at 90,000 miles, but I've had two different and unaffiliated Lexus service managers tell me that they rarely see timing belt failures before 120,000 miles.

To be safe, I think 120,000 miles is the furthest extent you should push for. Change it soon and sleep better because of doing so.

riwyle is correct - no engine damage will occur if your timing belt fails while you're on the road. So if you're willing to roll the dice, keep on driving with your original belt. If we still own our RX at 120,000 miles, I plan to change it then.

[mailrail]

This is one contest that I don't want to win! :(

[Lexusfreak]

Agreed mail......no engine damage aside, I still can't figure out why one would stretch it as far as they can & 'hope' it won't fail.....more than likely in the middle of nowhere! :chairshot: :whistles:

[APN]

Lexus/Toyota timing belts have a solid reputation in the automotive industry. They are thicker and wider than many other Japanese automakers.. My RX owners manual calls for a timing belt change at 90,000 miles, but I've had two different and unaffiliated Lexus service managers tell me that they rarely see timing belt failures before 120,000 miles.

To be safe, I think 120,000 miles is the furthest extent you should push for. Change it soon and sleep better because of doing so.

riwyle is correct - no engine damage will occur if your timing belt fails while you're on the road. So if you're willing to roll the dice, keep on driving with your original belt. If we still own our RX at 120,000 miles, I plan to change it then.

My local Lexus wants $1100 to replace timing belt, water pump and spark plugs. How do I know if I really need to repalce the pump ? Do you know how to repalce the plugs ? It is npot much but I jsut want to know to replace spark plugs at least. Thanks.

[denvergs300]

I'm not sure with the Rx's, but my 93' gs300 is a non-interference engine.

If the timing b. breaks it would damage any valves, pistons, etc. But, why take the risk. I would change it at the manufacturers 90K recommondation.

[denvergs300]

Correction! non-interference engine would NOT damage the engine if the TB breaks.

[jbarhorst2]

I just changed my timing belt on my '97 SC300 and I had 154,024 miles on it. The belt looked like it could have lasted much longer.

Certainly this is a different engine and may have different characteristics that cause the belt to wear.

I thought the RX engine was INTERFERENCE, not NON INTERFERENCE.

Perhaps the dealer told me wrong.

Tom

[riwyle]

I thought the RX engine was INTERFERENCE, not NON INTERFERENCE.

Perhaps the dealer told me wrong.

Definitely non-interference (free- wheeling)

[artinist]

my ES300 had 167k miles when i sold it. it ran like brand new.

the longavity of the timing belt also has to do with the weather conditions. here in california, they tend to last longer than where there are cold winters.

just take off the cover and using a little mechanics or dentists mirror look at both sides of the belt and see if there are any signs of age on the belt. when they get brittle, they form cracks on the outside. also looks for missing teeth on the inside.

in most cases, if the belt visually looks new, there isn't a rush to change it.

[Chellecor]

I just got off the phone with a company that only repairs Lexi in the Dallas, Texas area, specifically Plano. They were all Lexus mechanics before they started this company. He told me Lexus timing belts are made of Kevlar and that they rarely, rarely break.

He feels that replacing just the belt as dealerships recommends simply rips off the consumer. Mr. Wright said that what would break is the water pump.

If you belong to alldatadiy.com, you will see the Chilton-like breakdown of what is involved in replacing the parts. The timing belt must be pulled to get to the water pump. So Mr. Wright replaces it (about an 55.00 - 80.00 part) when he replaces the water pump, 2 cam seals, crank seal, idler pulley and tensioner and the water pump thermostat and adds new, factory, silicon free antifreeze. He charges $1100.00 and gives me a loaner for the day.

He said he has about 16,000 customers and never recommends replacing the timing belt.

Alldata DIY is really great. I am in no way affiliated with this service. It is the closest I can get to Chiltons as there is NO repair manual out there that I can find. :)