ThumperPup

Ok im not sure if i am spelling this correctly but is the Drive belt the exterior drive belt that's the serpentine Belt ?

i was looking in scheduled maintenance going over all the factory recommended maintenance schedules
and i could not find an answer for this and i searched the forums but couldn't find an answer on this either maybe i just was missing it when i was reading over things

but is there a specific millage or year that these belts should be repalced at even if its not evident of cracking ?

like i have an 07 ES350
and that im aware of and going back and looking in the lexus repair history the belt does not show to have ever been replaced before
so end of this month tomorrow i think is the day the car would be officially on the road for 7 years
and no evidence of belt being replaced before and with 82k
so should i replace it now ?
or do i not worry about it untill it goes bad ?

thank you

oldgrump

Yes, the accessory drive belt and the "serpentine" belt are one and the same item. The accessory belt is on a repeat 6 month/5000 mile visual condition inspection check. If you can access the belt where there is a foot or so between pulleys to allow you to twist and "bend it back" you can check for excessive rib cracking and/or missing rib sections which would indicate it's time to replace the belt. With your mileage/age you could be getting close to that time.

ThumperPup

Also do we have 2 drive belts i have been reading
and i thought i read in the rx forum that its not serpentine belts is this true for the ES also ?
do we have 2 drive or serpentine belts
does one run the AC
and the other is for battery charging alternator water pump engine cooling and that
or am i thinking of this wrong ?

oldgrump

On the ES350 the single serpentine drive belt drives everything.

ThumperPup

ok cool thank you
i thought once i remember someone at tirekingdom trying to sell me a ac belt and drive belt calling them separate things a year ago but couldn't find any info on that her so good to know that

now if the drive belt goes i know that the WP and other major safety to the motor components will stop working and the engine can overheat but will there be more signals than just a overheating msg ?

the power steering will that go ? the battery light would come on right ?
just trying to understand what can go wrong

like i know that if the timing belt goes that means it's probably to late to not have to pay 1000s for repairs but if the drive belt goes
is it also a signal that its going to be to late to be able to just replace the belt and not have to spend 1000s of dollars to repair ?


i am not trying to be cheap and come up with reasons to not replace it till its broke
i believe in preventive maintenance and replacement of some parts and service of some parts before they go bad
right now there are a few other things i could do with the 120 plus taxes that it would cost me to replace the belt at the shop that i want to have it done at .

like id rather put money to having the transmissions with the mileage on the car service and fluid drained and new added just to make sure i get some new fluid running in there due to it being 82k
also id rather spend it on something simple like wiper blade refills i know some of the items im talking about like wiper blades 30 dollars for 2 thats a little bit of money not much

but when you add little like that up they build up to alot

so just trying to get an idea of how important it is right now to replace the drive belt if it's not wracking and doens't look bad but still 7 years old and high mileadge

oldgrump

Yes, if the belt breaks you'll lose your power steering and you'll get at least the "battery" light coming on, BUT you don't want to let these belts go until they break. They have been known to do some damage as they get flung off. If it's worrying you, a shop (car will be on a hoist) should be able to replace the belt in an hour. When they get the old belt off they should check all the accessory pulleys, tensioner pulley and idler pulley for condition of the bearings etc. It's also an excellent time to check the coolant pump for coolant leakage, if any.

ThumperPup

ok cool then i will just go into the dealer next month and get it taken care of in the next few weeks
the lexus dealer i go to is giving me a great deal on it
they are not out to rob or rape my wallet like some dealers our
they know i have some finacnial limits because i am a college student i didn't buy a Lexus because i want to drive a fancy car
i bought it because i wanted a reliable car i don't need to worry about since i drive 49 miles each way every day to and from school almost 100 miles a day

they are going to do it for me for 120 plus taxes there normal price is like 160 or 170 i think for the belt

they also help me out on other things like when i do go to them for oil changes they help me by giving me toyota dealer prices on allot of my maintenance i get done there they can't always get away with giving me outside shop prices but i don't mind paying 30 for an oil change i want to give them the business because they are nice

ThumperPup

took the ES in yesterday to the dealer for the Belt
got the call asking me for my extended service plan contact info
they found some pulleys tension-er that was loose and the W/P leaking
The Warranty company Approved it and the Dealer is taking care of it i told them no rush if they want to take till Monday awesome cause i like driving the loaner got me in a 2014 ES300 hybrid with only 100 miles love it

Lexi66

What year and mileage is your ES?

ThumperPup

07 with 82,600
only reason i was having the belt replaced was because of preventive maintenance i know it was coming up near the recommended replacement service and i just wanted to have it done
Now one thing that im waiting to hear back from the dealer about is

In order to do the water pump and the pump pulleys would they have to remove the Serpentine belt ?
the service advisor said he doesn't know if im going to get billed for the labor of the belt since i was having them do that when they found the issue if they can merge the labor or not
untill the tech tells him what to wright it up for
so
could they have done the W/P job without removing the Belt and just taking it off part of the way ?or does factory service manual say that you have to remove the belt to replace the water pump ?

oldgrump

For Pete's sake.......yes they have to remove the serpentine belt. It's the easiest part of accomplishing a coolant pump replacement. Whatever the labor hours are for a coolant pump replacement the belt removal and installation would be included. It is also required to remove the tensioner pulley assembly and I believe, the idler pulley, to allow removal of the coolant pump (also included in the labor for the coolant pump replacement), among other things that have to be accomplished. Remember that the so-called "service advisors" in dealerships are non technical types. If you ever suspect that he/she is giving you "the gears", ask (nicely) to talk to the shop foreman or shop manager.
You can see the coolant pump replacement right here: http://www.doc88.com/p-316746265729.html Scroll down to page CO 7. Notice that the factory Service Manual calls for removal of the engine and transaxle assembly. If you look under the hood you can see that access to allow for removal/installation of the pump is a problem. I believe that a dealer will follow this procedure. It certainly will make the actual pump replacement easier.

ThumperPup

Oh i don't need to worry about trusting the advisor at my dealership he is a good person good friends and always takes care of me
we talk and chill sit at his desk all the time when im in for my weekly wash
we text on off hours and just chill when we can.

I know hes not an service tech and thats why he said that he doesn't know if the labor would be merged or not for the belt.
So ill talk to him when i go pick it up
i know hes not in to rob my wallet there have been several things that he has done for me over the past 15 months .

that he could have charged me for when i had a key i bought on ebay i wanted to have programmed he tried to program it for me for free but since the entire system needed to be reset since it was maxed out he couldn't wright up a free service that service without charging me but he tried to do it .

when i would go in for oil changes there id ask if he could take care of me he gives me his price not outside prices but friends and family discounts when he can.
Gives me full 200 dollar details for his cost of 80 dollars .

So when he tells me something i trust it and i know that if it can be merged then he will take care of it for me he just doesn't know what is going to be billed labor wise until the text sends it over to him after the job is done is what i think is going on .

ThumperPup

The other thing is that i find crazy is that
I know i would probably be paying like at-least 1500 if not more if i was paying anywhere from 1400-1600 for this job to be done if i was paying out of pocket not knowing what discount rate he would be able to give me
but when i asked him how much the warranty company approved for the job and to confirm i was just responsible for the 100 dollars he told me they paid just over 1000 like 1,003 dollars is what they approved for the job
he told me that there are even better prices the warranty company get threw Corporate agreement or something along those lines that give them prices that insurance company's would pay.

so i am wondering if they are finding a way around removing the engine or does the motor and trans assembly have to be removed to get any access to remove the W/P ?

i saw the page 7 i scrolled down to thank you for that link helps me to know more about what im talking about when i go in next to ask some questions

ThumperPup

Car's ready this-morning for pick up
My dude left me a MSG On Facebook
he also said the tech commented no labor for drive belt since it was involved in the job
they looked over the entire car to see if they could find anything els that i needed they said after the W/P and the pulleys that where replaced car is like brand niew issues everything tight where it needs to be and loose where it should be