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Posted

DChan:

Interference means the piston at the top of its stroke can contact an intake or exhaust valve when the valve is open, likely damaging the valve(s). During normal operation the valves are closed when the piston is at top stroke, but when the timing belt breaks, the camshaft, and therefore valves. stay in the position they were in at time of the break with one or more valves possibly open. The piston, still moving. can thus contact an open valve causing damage. A non-interference (free running) engine means there is clearance between the valves and piston even if a valve is fully open when piston at top. Therefore,broken belt- no damage. And yes, the RX is non-interference.

Hope this makes sense and doesn't further confuse.

Rich

Posted

DChan:

Interference means the piston at the top of its stroke can contact an intake or exhaust valve when the valve is open, likely damaging the valve(s). During normal operation the valves are closed when the piston is at top stroke, but when the timing belt breaks, the camshaft, and therefore valves. stay in the position they were in at time of the break with one or more valves possibly open. The piston, still moving. can thus contact an open valve causing damage. A non-interference (free running) engine means there is clearance between the valves and piston even if a valve is fully open when piston at top. Therefore,broken belt- no damage. And yes, the RX is non-interference.

Hope this makes sense and doesn't further confuse.

Rich

Thanks, Rich. :)

Posted

140000 miles before a timing belt change? Are you sure? What does your manual say? All of my other cars that require timing belts need them in the 90-100000 mile range. I doubt that Toyota/Lexus is that different. Did you find this reference from a Lexus source?

I will say that when I changed the timing belt in my Acura Legend, it showed no sign of deterioration of any sort. Oth, I would not have felt comfortable with my wife and kids driving around in the car, knowing that the potential was there for them to be stuck on the side of the road.

In the airplane business, we call this preventative maintenance. Things are fixed, often on a timetable of hours versus miles, in order to preclude failure. Of course, failure in an airplane engine is a bit more hair raising than in your Lexus. But it is still preventative maintenance - fixing something BEFORE it fails. Just my two cents worth.

Gary

Posted

Not sure of a toyota dealer who can do that...ever try going to a lexus dealer? :D If you dont want to, im sure you can go to a local body shop to do the same thing, they just order the parts from the same place basically.

I'm sure it's okay to have Toyota dealers service your Lexus because if you have the Nav system and hit emergency to look for the closest dealer, it will also give you Toyota dealerships to take your

Lexus to.

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