Timing Belt Replaced Etc

[l3m0naida]

I have a 2000 RX300 @164,300. Today I went to a Toyota dealership to get my transmission fluid changed and apparently my p/steering and brake fluid were dirty as well so they changed those too. Then since its a used car when it was bought we don't know if the timing belt has been changed. The service/mechanic called and said I should have the timing belt replaced as well because it could be long overdue. I felt so stupid afterwards when I realized how stupid it sounded when I asked "how bad is the belt"? - anyway I got the timing belt changed and the water pump changed as well eventhough it wasn't leaking for a total of $1255 and it took them about 3-3.5 hrs to do all those. Were they supposed to give me my

old timing belt and whatever parts they replaced? Or am I to assume they did what they said they did ? No offense to any mechanics but I''m regretting today. Any thoughts or advice? I'm also a new driver :| and this is my first car.

[Steve]

Hi and Welcome to the club.

It's pretty common to not get your old parts back, these are usually disposed of.

Can you see the waterpump from looking in to the engine bay? Check for a shiney new one?

[Domenico Nelli]

I have a 2000 RX300 @164,300. Today I went to a Toyota dealership to get my transmission fluid changed and apparently my p/steering and brake fluid were dirty as well so they changed those too. Then since its a used car when it was bought we don't know if the timing belt has been changed. The service/mechanic called and said I should have the timing belt replaced as well because it could be long overdue. I felt so stupid afterwards when I realized how stupid it sounded when I asked "how bad is the belt"? - anyway I got the timing belt changed and the water pump changed as well eventhough it wasn't leaking for a total of $1255 and it took them about 3-3.5 hrs to do all those. Were they supposed to give me my

old timing belt and whatever parts they replaced? Or am I to assume they did what they said they did ? No offense to any mechanics but I''m regretting today. Any thoughts or advice? I'm also a new driver :| and this is my first car.

I had a Lexus mechanic do mine @ 94,000 on-the-side for $505, including the water pump. I asked him for my old parts and to be honest they looked brand new too! The quality of these parts is amazing. I may elect to rebuild my own water pump by replacing the bearing and the seal, as that is what fails! In terms of how my old belt looked....it looked great! I too had buyers remose especially after reading how many vehicles were in their upper 100K miles on it w/o replacing it yet. But that is a gamble because this is a full interference engine and will be ruined if the belt snaps and the valves smash down on the pistons.

Dom