ggroneman

Decided to give my 1999 ES300 with 103k mi to my daughter and bought a Jaguar ... yeah i know. Although I have never read where the timing belt broke, I decided I would go ahead and replace Timing Belt and Water Pump since my daughter has pretty bad car karma. Talked to a guy at Lexus and he advised that they usually just replace belt and pump ... so i opted NOT to get a full kit from Rock Auto.

Changed the belt and pump in about 6.5 hours, fired it up and all seemed good. Test drove it to the parts store for some engine cleaner, posted on FB how profeciently I changed the belt/pump, got back in car and on the way home BAM! CEL and TRAC OFF light up. Back to parts store to gety codes ... P1346 & P1351 ... VVT Right and Left. Back home and after tearing it all back down I find the belt has slipped several teeth on both cam pulleys.

Here is the lesson learned ... if you are going to replace the timing belt and water pump (and i assume you know to do both) ... ALWAYS REPLACE THE TIMING BELT TENSIONER!

Replace tensioner and all is good.

Just buy the full kit, a lot cheaper than an extra 6 hours of my time.

ps. The original timing belt looked virtually brand new.

JetsonES

This is true with any labor intensive job, don't succumb to the temptation of cutting corners. It's a hard lesson to learn but it lasts, trust me, I've been there too.

BDSL

And make sure there is no grease / oil on the belt and the sprockets / gears.

speedkar9

So you compressed the old tensioner and put in the key to reset it?

If you're going to cheap out on a TB job, sure, skip the water pump and idlers, but not the hydraulic tensioner.

artbuc

I have done 4 TB jobs on 1MZFE engines and never replaced the hydraulic tensioner. If it is not leaking oil it is good to go. Definitely replace the idler bearings (OEM only) and WP only if the bearing is rough or it is the second TB change (Aisin only).

mmatheny

No bent valves?? LUCKY!!

OceanView

not on a 99.
From 2000 on he would have been in big trouble.

jaredmac11

I can't believe they advised you against getting the kit with tensioner! That's crazy. The labor alone is worth spending the time for the full kit.

Man, my faith in a shops opinion is nil.


That sucks!