I have an 09 that i bought used a few years ago with 30K on the odometer, its now only has 53K but the car has been in service for nine years, ie 108 months. No leaks from the water pump, coolant tank always full. The serpintine belt is still in good condition, no cracks, no noise...so you think there is any urgency to do the timing belt just yet?

 

Time vs. mileage? Both.

At nine years, yours has hit the time limit. Besides the belt, change the water pump, belt tensioner, front main seal, thermostat, and serpentine belt. Put fresh Toyota long-life coolant in. The hoses are probably fine.

Chip H.

 

thanks, i am familair with the service, this is my second GX, the last one, an 04 I bought new and certainly went through more miles than the previous owner of this truck...just wasnt sure what the life of the belt might be based on time, not milage...i just thought there might be lots of wiggle room on the time part. After all, most owners dont really note the day the car was "born"...it could spend months after production until sale...and they and the dealer make their service decsions based upon the day of delivery....so even though I am at the 108 months since production, i suspect I have at least 6 months life left in this belt. Truck was delivered to dealer in 9/08 and not sold until 12/08.

 

At 9 years old, I wouldn't delay too much.

Chip H.

 

The general wisdom is 10 years is the top end as the rubber decays from time just as much as use if not more, think of dry rotted tires. I just bought a 03 that had its timing belt changed at 138,000 miles and 12 years old. There is also an interesting threat on this on ih8mud.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/tim...ad-one.736992/

 

Took the plunge, did with 54,000 miles.

 

Whichever comes first (time vs. mileage). It's not cheap to have the service done, until you compare it to a failure because you put it off.

 

The official recommendation is indeed to go by time even though it has low mileage.

I will say from experience however that I had my timing belt done on my 99 Land Cruiser (same motor as our GX has) at 70k and 10 years.....I too had the same dilemma of time vs mileage and I elected to spend the money on timing belt/water pump/ tensioner/ and camshaft seals.

I asked to keep the old timing belt so that I could see what it looked like. I have to say it looked brand new! So in my case I easily could have waited a couple of more years to get to the recommended 90k and been fine. I personally would be willing to gamble on the time aspect IF and ONLY if the rig has been garaged. Mine always have been so that may be a factor.

 

My situation is similar to what you described. I bought my 2005 GX new. It has been well-maintained, garage kept, and looks showroom new. It only has a bit over 65,000 miles on it.

I chose to push the replacement of the timing belt and water pump quite a bit past the recommended time. While it was reassuring to hear the service advisors at the Toyota dealership where I have my service done tell me that the odds were that I'd be okay, I eventually started to feel quite nervous about the possibility, even if small, of a timing belt failure. So, a month or two ago, I did have it replaced. At the Toyota dealer, they replaced the timing belt and water pump for about $670 (with a $100 coupon). For me, if nothing else, it was worth the peace of mind.