RxG300

Seeing as my other thread got jacked im gonna start a new one.

just did the timing belt on my 97 ES300, belt had 140k on it. Go Gates! probably could have gone even longer! Swapped out the OEM idlers (which now had 244k miles) and put new crank seal/water pump/drive belts/tensioner as well. After getting everything reassembled, the car seems to run great, EXCEPT, after it warms up, there is a fairly loud metallic noise that the only thing I can think it sounds like is jingle bells! thought my new tensioner roller was bad so i put the oem one back on and no dice. still makes this noise which is VERY un-Lexus-like. sounds like it might be coming from either the rear camshaft or somewhere else. def not the front cam shaft. Ive pulled the covers off and rechecked everything 3x and still cant figure it out. dont really want to pull the belt back off but thats next on my to do list. whats killing me is it never made this noise before i did the tbelt and its royally pissing me off lol.

anyone have any ideas?

thanks

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Is it speed dependent?

RxG300

mainly audible at at idle cuz engine noise kinda drowns it out while revving. its like a metallic squeal. almost like a metal belt noise or something. its completely thrown me. it almost doesnt sound like its internal either, which is making me think power steering pump. but my PS pump is only 3yrs old. was replaced in 09.

renatodato

Can you post a video? It's hard to visualize an audio problem. I had the same problem but turned out to be my p.steering belt. Yours could be just a new t belt being broken in.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Could be a bad bearing in a pulley

RxG300

UPDATE: figured out what it was: My Estelle doesnt like cheap parts.... I bought a $30 Gates Tbelt and its never ran better. No odd noise, perfectly smooth... well, except for the rough idle from the cheap NGK GP plugs i put in. obviously this car is very picky and will only take premium/OE equivalent parts. So in short, the metallic noise turned out to just be a bad belt, which I will be complaining about to my Ebay seller.

anyway, i had to put the old plugs back in, which are OEM NGK Laser Platinums, making me wonder if they've ever been changed before... 0_0 i have pretty extensive maint records and I dont have one for the plugs being changed so IDK. Either way Im pretty sure its due for new plugs. Has anyone had any experience with the NGK Iridium IX in these 97's? My dads 99 ES shows it takes the Ir plug but mine says it needs these damn $10/piece laser platinum crap lol. or should I just suck it up and eat the $60+ for new OE plugs?

BDSL

I have always stick with OEM parts for critical parts....don't want to risk it when it comes to certain things.

I do aftermarket parts on brake pads, rotors, and some suspension stuff.

MikeLex

What's the brand of the bad timing belt?

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

He said it's Gates - not exactly a cheap/bad brand... They're known for quality, so maybe he got a bad one.

MikeLex

OK, tks. just curious because I recently bought a MITSUBOSHI on eBay and haven't installed it yet.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

lol is that like a Chinese version of Mitsubishi?

MikeLex

I believe that Koyo and Mitsuboshi are OEM.

LeX2K

Mitsuboshi belting has been around since 1961, they had a different name before that, starting out making belts out of cotton in 1919. They've been supplying belts to Toyota since the late 60's for sure, probably earlier.

polatok

I think he meant the new working one is gates, not the offending one.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Learn something new everyday... I thought it was a typo