97 Es300 Timing Belt

[tjocob]

I have a 97 Es300 with 278xxx miles on it and it drives amazingly but our family mechanic wants me to change the timing belt. I don't really know whether the timing belt was ever changed or not. he said its gonna cost me around $800-900 with parts and labor. i wanted to know if this is normal price for timing belt change and also i don't take the car on long drives so should i even bother to change it at all??

Thanks for any info

[lenore]

No, the toyota dealership is cheaper than that. You shouldnt pay more than $450 tops.

[mg8765]

I have a 97 Es300 with 278xxx miles on it and it drives amazingly but our family mechanic wants me to change the timing belt. I don't really know whether the timing belt was ever changed or not. he said its gonna cost me around $800-900 with parts and labor. i wanted to know if this is normal price for timing belt change and also i don't take the car on long drives so should i even bother to change it at all??

Thanks for any info

1st of all you need to replace timeing belt. If it breaks, you will be in trouble. When changing TB, you need to change belt, water pump and tenstioner because they are all in the same place and replacing them is expensive. o once you take it apart you might as well change every thing otherwise after a while you water pump goes bad and you have to the same amount. It had a mechanic changed mine at my house for $250.00 . I bought the parts.ofcourse after market ones. Water pump $60.00, belt $25.00 (italian made) I did not change tensioner then now after a year it has started making noise. Water pump from dealer s $130.00 tensioner around $170.00 . belt aroun $65.00. for a car that old buy after -market parts. try rockauto.com

good luck

[TA in KC]

I have a 97 Es300 with 278xxx miles on it and it drives amazingly but our family mechanic wants me to change the timing belt. I don't really know whether the timing belt was ever changed or not. he said its gonna cost me around $800-900 with parts and labor. i wanted to know if this is normal price for timing belt change and also i don't take the car on long drives so should i even bother to change it at all??

Thanks for any info

1st of all you need to replace timeing belt. If it breaks, you will be in trouble. When changing TB, you need to change belt, water pump and tenstioner because they are all in the same place and replacing them is expensive. o once you take it apart you might as well change every thing otherwise after a while you water pump goes bad and you have to the same amount. It had a mechanic changed mine at my house for $250.00 . I bought the parts.ofcourse after market ones. Water pump $60.00, belt $25.00 (italian made) I did not change tensioner then now after a year it has started making noise. Water pump from dealer s $130.00 tensioner around $170.00 . belt aroun $65.00. for a car that old buy after -market parts. try rockauto.com

good luck

No, you do not need to replace the belt, and if it breaks you will not be in trouble. ESs did not have interference engines until 1999. If the belt breaks on your car, it will not do any damage. You will just be stranded. That doesn't sound like that would be a problem for you since you don't take the car long distances.

If you do decide to change the belt, you shouldn't have to change the water pump unless you or the previous owners did not keep up with the cooling system maintenance.

Even on a car this age, it is still a good idea to use Toyota-genuine parts. The price difference between them and aftermarket ones is insignificant. It is good peace of mind knowing your car still has the same kind of timing belt/water pump it did when it left the factory.

[Lexusfreak]

If the WP is the original & considering that mileage.....I would advise changing that at the same time personally. I do agree to use only OE Toyota parts though. :)

[mburnickas]

No, the toyota dealership is cheaper than that. You shouldnt pay more than $450 tops.

I agree with thomas.ahart here. In my old city Toyo/Lexus where the same. Also the price depends on the market you are in so I would not say, $450 tops. A TB will cost more in LA then some city in AL. YMMV

[TA in KC]

If the car still has the original water pump with 278K on it, you should probably go ahead and change it. I think that is pretty unlikely though. The one in there now is probably newer than that and works fine.

The mechanic who changes the belt should be able to tell you what kind of condition the WP is in. Again, if the cooling system maintenace was done on time, you shouldn't need to replace it.

[Lexus876]

Well we changed the timing belt on my '97 ES300 not too long ago, but we(my father and I) did it ourselves. Only cost us about $125 for all the parts and the labor was free! Of course it took us 2 days but its well worth saving all that money.