1996 Ls Timing Belt Question

[aggiecarpenter]

I have a 96 LS that I purchased this year. From everything I read, the timing belt should be due for replacement soon since I am coming up on 100,000 miles. I took a close look at my service manual last night and noticed that it was replaced in 2001 by Park Place Lexus at 60,000 miles. Should I be concerned with replacing the timing belt since it has been 7 years? Also, does the dealer usually replace the water pump with a timing belt service?

Any advice is appreciated.

[raymsixsix]

I have a 96 LS that I purchased this year. From everything I read, the timing belt should be due for replacement soon since I am coming up on 100,000 miles. I took a close look at my service manual last night and noticed that it was replaced in 2001 by Park Place Lexus at 60,000 miles. Should I be concerned with replacing the timing belt since it has been 7 years? Also, does the dealer usually replace the water pump with a timing belt service?

Any advice is appreciated.

Hey aggie congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the club! The manual states that the timing belt should be changed every 90,000 miles or 6 yrs whichever comes first. I bought a 95 LS last year with 110,000 miles on it and the timing belt had never been changed. I bought the OEM parts including the water pump on ebay, and had my mechanic do the service for me. I saved the parts and the old timing belt looked almost as good as the new one that I put in. Now, the million dollar question: Was I lucky? Maybe, but I have also heard of timing belts going past the 200,000 mile mark before breaking. Unless you use your car in harsh environments or drive it really hard, or they didn't change out the water pump, idlers bearings etc when they did the timing belt change I think you should be ok until atleast 140,000 miles. FYI, you can go to any Lexus dealership and they can pull the entire service history of your LS that was performed at any Lexus dealership in the US.

[Lexie Lover]

I have a 96 LS that I purchased this year. From everything I read, the timing belt should be due for replacement soon since I am coming up on 100,000 miles. I took a close look at my service manual last night and noticed that it was replaced in 2001 by Park Place Lexus at 60,000 miles. Should I be concerned with replacing the timing belt since it has been 7 years? Also, does the dealer usually replace the water pump with a timing belt service?

Any advice is appreciated.

Here is what I read:

1996 is the first year Lexus changed from 60k miles to 90k miles on timing belts.You have 60K mile to run without worrying about it. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lexus-Repair-81...exus-LS-400.htm

[1990LS400]

I have a 96 LS that I purchased this year. From everything I read, the timing belt should be due for replacement soon since I am coming up on 100,000 miles. I took a close look at my service manual last night and noticed that it was replaced in 2001 by Park Place Lexus at 60,000 miles. Should I be concerned with replacing the timing belt since it has been 7 years? Also, does the dealer usually replace the water pump with a timing belt service?

Any advice is appreciated.

Here is what I read:

1996 is the first year Lexus changed from 60k miles to 90k miles on timing belts.You have 60K mile to run without worrying about it. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lexus-Repair-81...exus-LS-400.htm

Well that is odd. The timing belt change interval on the LS400 I bought in 1990 was 90,000 miles -- same as on my current 2000 LS400. One thing that did change was the the spark plug change interval on my 1990 LS400 was 60,000 miles. The spark plug change interval is 120,000 miles on my 2000 LS400.

[blake918]

Well that is odd. The timing belt change interval on the LS400 I bought in 1990 was 90,000 miles -- same as on my current 2000 LS400. One thing that did change was the the spark plug change interval on my 1990 LS400 was 60,000 miles. The spark plug change interval is 120,000 miles on my 2000 LS400.

I thought that was odd too, but I just checked my factory repair manual, and it confirms it. It's certainly the first time I've heard that little bit of info!