Toys4RJill

How many miles?

Striker223

130k, fairly typical to see it stretch around 120-150k

Margate330

At least you can do it in the car

As ya'll know, on the fwd cars they jam the V-6 in sideways with the timing cover up against the frame.

No way to do the job without pulling the engine!

That's why I don't want one.

geko29

...and yet you have one.

Carfan94

Margate330 has an RX 330. It has a 3.3 liter V6 with a timing belt.

Striker223

Yeah, any of the ford or Chevy V6s need to be dropped out to do this and they tend to need it more often than Toyota.

geko29

Which has to be replaced more often than a chain, and the engine is still mounted transversely. So it's a royal pain.

Striker223

No it's not even 1/3 as bad. Plus belts in practice last just as long, I've replaced dozens of belts that were at 2x interval. So many ignore them until the water pump starts leaking it's astounding

Margate330

My car is old, back before timing chains were invented.

I made that up. Lol.

Ps, I can replace my timing chain belt in 2 hours.
And, a pro that does it often can probably do it in an hour flat.

Lwerewolf

Out of curiosity, how often do the engines with stretched chains have this much varnish? According to your experience, at least.

Striker223

Its typical to have about this much, the really bad ones that have actually skipped time usually have a bit more but that picture is after I already cleaned it. Most engines will have about what you see there at those miles unless you always use high end oil at 5k intervals.

SW17LS

@Carfan94 it has Bridgestone Duelers.

I think driving a vehicle around for a week and gives me a pretty good idea whether I like it or not lol

Turned the QX80 in, sitting at the airport. I never fully adjusted to the lack of on center feel, driving back to the airport on the highway we were eating and you take your eyes off the road for a second and its all over the place. I love the ride in a straight line, its super well isolated from the road and the outside world, but as soon as you hit any sort of corner with any kind of speed, what it is makes itself very well known with lots of leans and complaints from the wife about taking ramps too fast (which I never hear in our cars). Seats are also wide and flat and have very little lateral support. Engine is very refined and has a great big V8 feel, but requires heavy throttle and multiple downshifts to get any power for a passing manuever, etc. Like I said before, hard to go back to a NA V8 once you're used to turbos.

Short of the on center feel a great highway cruiser, but like I thought not something I would want to pilot around every day, no ability to move quickly in and around traffic and all like I do every day, etc. I'll drive an LX extensively but unless that is dramatically different I think if I do an SUV it would have to be a unibody style one that has a more carlike drivability.

SW17LS

But a pro is still going to charge $1,500.

Striker223

Maybe, his would be 4.0 hours according to book including water pump. Others are far worse, like way worse.

Chain in an RX350 is 19.1 hours. Parts are also $1350 for Toyota bits and I would require those and only those be used. So the chain is FAR worse than any belt and if you can't get much more than around 150k vs having to do one belt change...

Run the belt long like most do and in Toyota/Lexus they will last to over 150k and I've personally seen 10ish cars over that on factory belts. Other brands it's a coin toss, German brands it will die .0001 miles past the change interval lol! It's not a suggestion with them.

SW17LS

But the chain is a very unlikely repair on an RX350 while the timing belt needs to be done every 90k miles per spec.

You are literally the only person I have ever heard say that a Toyota timing chain has to be done on a 3.5 V6 in 150k miles, I mentioned that to my Lexus mechanic and he laughed, it’s just not true. The chain can and likely will last the life of the car