I'm going to tackle the timing belt before summer is out. Since I'm new to Lexus, and this 4.3 L V8, I'm wondering what I should be planning on changing out. 85K miles and the engine is spotless, and runs flawlessly.

I'm thinking (in addition to the timing belt) that I should be installing new idler and tensioner bearings, hydraulic tensioner, water pump, and serpentine belt.
Not going to mess with crank or cam seals unless leaking. What about the thermostat? Lexus says plugs at 120K miles and they sure look easy to get at compared to the transverse mounted Duratecs in the Fords I have.

Hoses look great but with nearly 10 years on them I think they are candidates as well. Any plastic parts in the cooling system that tend to fail at 10 years (ala BMW)?

Figuring on an AISIN kit and OEM-level parts that are on ebay - or I've heard about Sewell on this forum?

Great forum - glad to be a member (even more glad to be a SC430 owner - really a dream car for me - always enamored with the old Ford retractables).

Kelly

 

If you go to fleabay, seach for timing belt SC430, it will pop up and will list the items recommended for changing, $320 all together. Might want to check with Sewell, maybe better price, depends on what you want replaced.

I suggest that you might as well do the plugs while you are at it since the whole air box has to be taken out anyway. Then you are all set for 100K on the plugs. NGK or Denso Iridiums are spec'd out.

I started to watch a mechanic do it but did not have the time to spare to finish it out. Fairly straight forward I think.

If you do, please do a DIY and take lots of pics. I might go for it too.

 

welcome
i had the thermostat also changed, water pump, tensioners, serpentine, ect. my cam and crank seals were ok.

 

Refer to the following comprehensive thread for DIY, shop manual procedure and follow up comments:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...ion-notes.html

You're going to have to make the call as to how much of the parts kit to buy but I'd say at 80K+ that I'd pretty much want to have it all available before starting the job. I don't think I'd invest in cam seals (plus that's a ton of high-risk work) unless there is leakage.

Overall I found the job fairly straightforward - just a lot of steps. Bought a couple tools as noted in my follow up post. Hopefully all that info will get you off on the right foot. There's always a lot of help here if something gets in your way.

 

Welcome to the forum Kelly. Let us know how it comes out.

 

There is a great DIY thread for Timing Belt by Pearlpower.

 

Yes, that would be the link I referenced in post #4. I suggest checking it out before starting any work.

 

And this step-by-step seems useful too:

http://www.shastaanesthesia.com/Lexus/Page1.html

 

Generally speaking it is a sagacious idea to replace the thermostat whilst replacing the water pump. You should be okay procuring an after market thermostat for your SC430 but I personally feel more comfortable using the OEM replacement part. The price disparity between the OEM and after market thermostats are negligible too- consider that after market thermostats run about $24 at places like rockauto.com and genuine OEM Lexus parts sites like lexuspartseast.com charge essentially the same.

Congrats on finally buying your dream car by the way!

 

This is a great find!

I am slowly but surely getting into the groove of this Timing Belt work.