Sorry Guys, It's The Serpentine Belt, Not Timing Belt

[LakeDog1]

2002 LS430 with 66,000 miles. Has anyone changed their serpentine belt? I mistakenly thought the dealer said he recommended changing my timing belt for $270, but it's the external belt he was recommending changing out. Sorry for the error......

How often should it be changed? I do not see it mentioned in the owner's manual.

Thanks....

[eatingupblacktop]

You should not start a new thread for the same topic!

Same topic = same thread!

This is important forum etiquette. Otherwise it's difficult for readers to know what has been posted before, and no one likes to repeat themselves or have to search for the previous thread in order to follow the responses.

[amcdonal86]

2002 LS430 with 66,000 miles. Has anyone changed their serpentine belt? I mistakenly thought the dealer said he recommended changing my timing belt for $270, but it's the external belt he was recommending changing out. Sorry for the error......

How often should it be changed? I do not see it mentioned in the owner's manual.

Thanks....

Not sure about the LS400, but typically this is something that is done every 30k miles or so. Otherwise they become very noisy and you risk having one break (and leave you stranded somewhere).

[TA in KC]

You should change both the timing and serpentine belts at this age and mileage.

Changing the serpentine belt is easy. If you are mechanically inclined, you could do it yourself without much hassle.

If you don't want to do it yourself, and don't want to pay $270, take the car to an independent mechanic. My local independent Lexus shop charges $100 to change a serpentine belt.

You could probably find someone to do it for even less than that...the procedure is not very hard and does not take much time. I would stay away from quick-lube type places, but any competent mechanic should have no problem changing the belt.

[Kennyr]

Serpentine belt for $270 installed. Is this dealership on Rodeo Drive? They are probably charging 140 an hour and bumping the belt list up 40%. Plus charging you shop supplies etc. Find an aftermarket Lexus or Toy shop. Can you imagine what a real repair cost there?

[don corleone]

the timing belt should last at least 90k but on a LS430 you have an interference engine which means that if the TIMING belt breaks then your piston will hit a valve and cause major damage and a high repair bill. so changing this before the recommended time is a not a bad idea. your serpentine belt will not harm your engine but it will leave you stranded. you should be able to change it your self. there is a pulley in the front of the engine that is used to adjust the tension on the belt. it should be 14mm. it is located next to the fan pulley. just make sure you use a breaker bar or long handled wrench because it is designed to provide tension and a short wrench will prob not work. you should also have a sticker on the underside of the hood that shows the correct routing of the belt. just make sure that when you route it around the ac compressor you follow the threads because you can destroy one of the teeth grooves if you don't do it correctly. it is not a major issue even if you do because you should still have at least 5 more rows of teeth. the 3uzfe engine in your car is very similar to the 1uzfe in the 1st and 2nd gens so you can check out lexls.com for more info on changing both belts but it you do decide to do the TIMING belt make sure you search the forums dilligently because of the fact that you engine is interference.

[LakeDog1]

Many thanks gentlemen for all the advice. I plan on changing the serpentine belt myself in the next week or so.