rainman49

Planning a long trip to south Florida later this month. Need some advice. Bought a '96 ES 300 with 138,000 miles on it. Car is in great shape, but I don't have any maintenance records to determine if the timing belt has ever been changed. Looks like the other belts have been changed and the radiator was replaced in 2004 (marked on radiator). Can I loosen/Remove the bolts on the top half of the timing belt cover and move it enough to do a visual inspection of the timing belt?

92ES5sp

Yes you can. You may have to move the dogbone out of the way. Id get a flash light and a small mirror and try to look at the underside of the belt. You want to check for very small stress cracks in between the ribs.... If its the original belt at 138K it will have them...

Good luck and let us know what you find.

lexusk8

There are a couple ways to tell if/when your timing belt was changed. The first one is to check the belt and see if there's a sticker on it. If so, the sticker should say when the belt was replaced. Another way to find out when your belt was changed from a Lexus dealership is to call up your nearest Lexus dealer and ask for past records of timing belt service if any. Every Lexus dealership in the U.S. maintains a central database of all service records done to every serviced vehicle.

rainman49

Tried the dealership route and the last records were from 2001 with no record of a timing belt change. Haven't had a chance to pull the bolts and try to inspect the belt, but I'll do that in the next couple of days. I'll report back when I've completed that task.
Thanks,
Rainman

rainman49

Didn't have any luck with the belt inspection. Had to take the car to the shop for a stuck expansion valve on the A/C (as luck would have it, went out on my trip to Florida and it was a hot ride back home). Told them I didn't know if timing belt had been changed, so I had them change timing belt and water pump while it was in the shop. Shop owner said should be good to go another 100,000 miles.
Thanks for the help,
Rainman

Pheonix

Coolness. Just be sure to change the coolant and A/T fluid every other year and you'll be good.