retiredva

Greetings. Drive an 03 ES with 57000 miles. Trusted mechanic suggested I replace the timing belt because of the age of the car even though only 57K miles. Sound reasonable?

Many thanks!

JSM1284

If it gives you peace of mind, By all means replace it. Good thing is that the 1MZ is not an interference engine, so if it does break, it will NOT damage the engine.

retiredva

Thanks for the info. I'm not really worried about it and I'd like to put off the thousand or so it will cost. Maybe I'll wait another 10K.

JSM1284

I change mine @ 100k, Even though the recommended interval is 90k.

MikeLex

I think that my timing belt is still stock: 12 years of age, 47 kmiles... (I'm the second owner of the car).

BTW, here are two great videos on timing belt replacement:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI60MOkf168 (Part 1)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D_8u1GkRkM (Part 2)

klaiman

sorry for the thread highjack,,,,, 98 es300 will do a timing belt on it, the video was great, is it the same engine as mine, im not sure if its the same engine so i dont need any special tools for it and do i need to rotate the engine 2 times to make sure the marks are still good?

ive done 2 timing belts before and this looks easier than this one,

thanks

sbristow84

iTrader: (1)

I just changed mine for the first time at 174,000!

rickyp39

Just changed mine at 105k. I changed my water pump too because the labor is cheaper while they are down there.

ALarsh

I would wait. I am at 74,000 miles on my 1997, original belt still on there.

BoostedE21

While you might not have a huge number of miles, 7 years is quite a while. It's easily possible that the belt may have deteriorated due to changing weather conditions, being in a high-moisture area, near the ocean, long periods of not being used, etc. I'd get a second opinion, but don't completely rule out your mechanic's advice. What people are saying is true - if it breaks, you aren't going to break anything - but they will have to re-set your cam-to-crank timing position, and while that's not hard, it's more expensive than doing preventative maintenance.

Have the mechanic show you why he thinks it needs to be replaced, and take pictures of it. Don't just take "its old" as a reason. Post the pictures up here, and we can tell you if it's normal wear and tear, or if your belt needs to be replaced.

That being said, I went 110k on my original timing belt. They are all different, and even a slight change in batch quality when it was new could lead to a drastic change in service lifetime.

Coulter

I'd put that money aside for other issues that may creep up. Since it's not an interference engine, you have almost nothing to lose by waiting until the scheduled mileage.

Also, I've heard stories of people going MUCH further than the recommended mileage replacement and getting away with it.

LeX2K

For what it's worth, when I got my car a couple of months ago, it has 36,000 miles but I changed out the timing belt anyway due to the age of the car. The Timing belt was absolutely mint, it looked new. No cracks, or any signs of wear at all. I had everything apart so I replaced it and the bearings, but it goes to show that the rubber does not actually deteriorate with age.

BoostedE21

Rubber absolutely deteriorates with age, and these are no exception. Some driving conditions and storage conditions help them last longer than others, but just because yours didn't physically appear to have any issues doesnt mean that someone in a different part of the country with the same mileage and different usage habits might not encounter a failure. Hell, they might just have a belt that was made outside of the spec limits, and just slipped by quality control.

LeX2K

Everything degrades with age, it's just a matter of degrees. Actually the timing belts are made with nitrile rubber, which is a synthetic rubber compound. They are much more resistant to degradation (especially from heat), although they will still degrade over time being exposed to ozone, hydrocarbons etc. My point was, a timing belt will not break down much at all unless very old (not counting actual use). BTW, my car spent all of its life in Winnipeg before I bought it earlier this year, which has very harsh winters.

The main thing that breaks down rubber is sunlight in my experience, otherwise it will last a long, long time. I have a spare tire that is original in an early 70's Corolla that still looks like new. It's always been in the trunk though, never driven on.

decypher

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