Hey there,
I just brought my LS into a Toyota dealer and got quoted $1500 for REPLACE WATER PUMP, TIMING BELT, IDLER PULLEYS,TENSIONERS, CRANK SEALS, T-STAT AND GASKET, AND MAYBE A SERP BELT. I am posting this to see if this is an affordable price, it seems like a good price and usually dealers are much more expensive I feel. Making sure this all checks out.
Thanks!

 

If this is at a Dealer and using Lexus OEM parts, that's probably in the right ballpark.

I had my 97 Timing belt and water pump, cam seals and crank seal done for $400 back in 2015 and I supplied Aisin TB/WP kit and all seals. I know OEM parts are expensive so add on $600-700 to that and then also have the higher costs of dealer labor, I used an independent shop, so it was just one guy and his shop and this was 8 yrs ago so rates have likely gone way up.

 

I paid $1250 at a local independent 3 years ago in a medium-high COL area for a full timing belt kit service. Did not include serpentine belt as I had already replaced it. I actually don't know if my cam\crank seals were replaced. I was very new to the car at the time, so I don't know if that was included as part of the "kit".

Your quote include thermostat replacement, crank seals and "maybe" a serp belt. If the service were to include all of those things, I think $1500 would be a high - but not unreasonable price. Especially for a dealer.

My only concern is: you're in Wisconsin, which is a pretty low cost area. It's not NYC or California. So the price seems a little higher than I'd like to see, but it is a dealership.

 

Okay, thank you for the input. All the independent dealers around my area a sketchy.. I brought it in for the service at 8am yesterday and I just got the alert that is was done an hour ago, I'm going to pick it up now. Happy to be paying $1500 for a job well done with OEM parts. They did not do my cam seals, saying that they were all dry and that it is advised not to touch them if they are dry.

 

Thank you for the reply. I am very close to CHI so maybe that is why it's so much? Around here it is hard to find a great independent shop, and all dealer service is pricey. I dropped the car off 12 hours ago and it is all ready for pickup now. They did not do my cam seals (they were dry)

 

yeah I wouldn't recommend the guy I used, in Tempe, AZ he messed up the timing initially and had me drive off like that, bogging down at 2500RPM and limiting power. Then had to drop me off after I couldn't make it down the block. When I picked it up the second time, it was low on coolant and almost overheated, so we had to add about a half gallon to the reservoir. Pretty rough experience, and no loaner car like at the Dealer lol. It was his first LS400 for sure.

Oh and its not recommended to do the Cam seals on 98+ cars since it adds about 10 hrs of labor to the job since the camshafts have to be removed and valve covers so new gaskets. And they usually don't leak for many hundreds of thousands of miles.