es330on22s

Metal on metal like noise from timing belt area for the last 6 months Lexus records show timing belt and water pump changed at 89,000 miles the car now has about 145,000 miles on it I brought the car with about 125,000 on it and noticed the noise around 130,000 but it's possible that the noise was there the whole time so anyways I had everything changed including TB water pump idler bearing and something else because the noise was driving me up a wall and the noise is still there so my mechanic says to just leave it alone what could this be,and by the way the noise seems to really be loud once the car warms up and is even louder on warmer days I will attach a video of the sound

es330on22s

PS: and I know you shouldn't do this but out of curiosity my mechanic sprayed a little sea foam lubricant into timing belt area under the cover and the noise disappeared for about 2 days weird

LeX2K

Does your keyboard have a period? Anyway I had what sounds like the same issue it turned out to be the timing belt itself, I tried a Mitsuboshi and also a genuine Toyota the noise persisted. I solved it by installing the Dayco 95257 timing belt which turned out to be a really nice belt, very soft and pliable rubber.

The noise does sound like metal on metal but it's not, it is a combination of the metal cam gears and rubber which causes a harmonic reaction. I have read that replacing the cam gears can fix the problem but I didn't go that route.

es330on22s

lol I'm at work trying to type fast, but do you think it would hurt anything if I just leave it how it is?

LeX2K

If it is the same problem as I had no it won't hurt anything. But I hated the noise, and like your car it would get worse the hotter the engine and outside temperature. BTW even though my car is low mileage I replaced the water pump anyway trying to get rid of the problem that was a waste of time and money.

es330on22s

what year is your Es ?

LeX2K

2000 as my username suggests. But the engine in your car uses the same timing belt setup (except the tensioner is a bit different) the timing belt itself is identical.

es330on22s

Thanks for the info!!

es330on22s

Anybody else have any opinions on the sound?

speedkar9

I have the exact same sound on my 2005 ES, from the same front-camshaft area.

I've taken off the accessory belts and it was still there. Then I opened up the timing covers and tried listening to the sound but I couldn't pinpoint it to any particular pulley. It went away for a few days after I buttoned everything back up but came back since.

It seems to get louder as the engine warms up and can only be heard while standing outside in front of the car.

I did find my crappy Gates water pump leaking though, I'm not sure if that's whats causing it.



There are others with the 3MZ-FE engine that have this sound, like this Sienna:

LeX2K

Tricky problem to diagnose because the timing belt noise sounds so similar to a bad bearing. I did make a video of the noise on my car before I replaced the timing belt but unfortunately I can't find the file (maybe deleted it).

That Gates water pump, typical of the brand they don't last at all.

Oro

Contrary to what I said in the other post (did not have the video/audio link), I do not think it is a TB tensioner. Because those are hydraulically dampened, the frequency is lower. I do think it could very likely be a TB pulley.

The upside is the car will run fine like that. The downside is the wobble on the pulley can get bad enough as the bearings wear to create a tension to loosen the pulley bolt. Then the pulley walks off and eventually you have a TB failure. I have seen it happen (not a Toyota, but another make Japanese engine, but no reason it could not happen here also).

es330on22s

Yea I've seen that video on YouTube along with a few others and they all solved the problem with various solutions. But at this point idk what to do the sound is very annoying and makes me think that my timing belt will break at any second and I heard out engines are interference meaning it would cause severe damage 😖

es330on22s

Does anybody think that this could be linked to the crankshaft pulley recall in 2011? My Lexus records show that it was done but I wonder if it's possible that it went bad again.

Oro

I was unaware of that recall (not intimately familiar with that narrow year range). But it sure sounds like it might result in a noise like that. That's still only one possibility. Here's the details I just found:

It would be pretty easy to localize the noise to the CS pulley. You remove the RF wheel, inner panel, and then you can run the car and check the pulley as a possible source. There's likely somebody somewhere who posted about this and the resulting noise somewhere - possibly a Toyota forum since there are more vehicles involved.