timing belt broke at only 75K miles!
11-22-15, 05:24 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
timing belt broke at only 75K miles!
2005 GS300, bought it a year and a half ago with only 45K on the clock, driving home last Friday I had to accelerate onto the highway. I suddenly hear a loud whining noise, I'm able to pull off where the engine shortly quits.
Diagnosis at the dealer the next day is: broken timing belt, engine is locked up.
Granted, the car was 10 years old, but should that age be enough to have the timing belt break on me 15K miles before the recommended changing interval?
Do I have any recourse for going to Lexus and asking them why a 75K mile engine just grenaded itself on one of their most reliable cars?
Diagnosis at the dealer the next day is: broken timing belt, engine is locked up.
Granted, the car was 10 years old, but should that age be enough to have the timing belt break on me 15K miles before the recommended changing interval?
Do I have any recourse for going to Lexus and asking them why a 75K mile engine just grenaded itself on one of their most reliable cars?
Last edited by mulasien; 11-22-15 at 05:32 PM.
11-22-15, 05:52 PM
#3
Driver
Just to clarify, Toyota's timing belt interval is 5 years or 90k miles.
I've also seen it where the water pump bearing was going out and the side to side play shreds the timing belt. Sorry this statement would apply to the V8
I've also seen it where the water pump bearing was going out and the side to side play shreds the timing belt. Sorry this statement would apply to the V8
11-22-15, 05:56 PM
#4
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Thread Starter
This is also the same dealer I got service at, and the ones that went "gee, that's the first time I've seen that happen" when I brought it in over the weekend.
Would I have any recourse of going after the dealer if they both sold and performed service on the car and never once 1. checked the timing belt before selling it (well after 5 years of life) and 2. never recommended timing belt service the entire time I brought there for service over the course of my ownership?
11-22-15, 07:39 PM
#5
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Really sorry to hear about your car situation Mulasien. I just bought a 2005 GS430 in March with 68,750 on it and because I didn't have any past maintenance records on the timing belt being changed it was the first thing I did when I had the chance. xHyaku is right, recommendation from the online manual is change every 90k or 72 months although I've read people stretching that out. So when you say engine is locked up, is the engine toast?
11-23-15, 09:10 AM
#6
Interesting, I bought the car a year and a half ago from one of the bigger Lexus dealers in the country. They said they performed a full inspection on the car before selling it.
This is also the same dealer I got service at, and the ones that went "gee, that's the first time I've seen that happen" when I brought it in over the weekend.
Would I have any recourse of going after the dealer if they both sold and performed service on the car and never once 1. checked the timing belt before selling it (well after 5 years of life) and 2. never recommended timing belt service the entire time I brought there for service over the course of my ownership?
This is also the same dealer I got service at, and the ones that went "gee, that's the first time I've seen that happen" when I brought it in over the weekend.
Would I have any recourse of going after the dealer if they both sold and performed service on the car and never once 1. checked the timing belt before selling it (well after 5 years of life) and 2. never recommended timing belt service the entire time I brought there for service over the course of my ownership?
11-23-15, 04:56 PM
#7
Recourse for a snapped timing belt on a 10yr old car that was over-due on a timing belt swap? No.
Sorry to hear about the misfortune. There are countless 200K+ mile 2GS cars out there still on the original belts so to have one go at 75K miles is certainly out of the ordinary.
Let us know what you plan to do.
Sorry to hear about the misfortune. There are countless 200K+ mile 2GS cars out there still on the original belts so to have one go at 75K miles is certainly out of the ordinary.
Let us know what you plan to do.
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11-23-15, 06:56 PM
#8
Even though they did an inspection on it, that doesn't necessarily mean that the timing belt didn't appear to be fine. As far as I know, there's no scientific way to test the life of a timing belt, so it's just the technician's opinion following a visual inspection. If it had snapped a few days after you bought the car, you could argue that they botched the inspection, but you put 30,000 miles on it since the inspection. A lot can happen in 30k.
As far as why it was not recommended during your service visits, the timing belt is not readily visible when you pop the hood. There are things that need to be removed to get to it, so it's unlikely that the technician who was doing a 15-minute oil change would pop off the timing belt cover to take a look without a work order to do so, which is something you'd have to ask for.
If you have history with this dealer, I would suggest sitting down with a manager and politely asking if there's anything they can do to help. If that doesn't work, you can start screaming and yelling if you want to be "that guy," but I don't think the dealer is in the wrong in this scenario.
11-23-15, 08:54 PM
#9
2005 GS300, bought it a year and a half ago with only 45K on the clock, driving home last Friday I had to accelerate onto the highway. I suddenly hear a loud whining noise, I'm able to pull off where the engine shortly quits.
Diagnosis at the dealer the next day is: broken timing belt, engine is locked up.
Granted, the car was 10 years old, but should that age be enough to have the timing belt break on me 15K miles before the recommended changing interval?
Do I have any recourse for going to Lexus and asking them why a 75K mile engine just grenaded itself on one of their most reliable cars?
Diagnosis at the dealer the next day is: broken timing belt, engine is locked up.
Granted, the car was 10 years old, but should that age be enough to have the timing belt break on me 15K miles before the recommended changing interval?
Do I have any recourse for going to Lexus and asking them why a 75K mile engine just grenaded itself on one of their most reliable cars?
11-23-15, 09:09 PM
#10
Pretty much this.
Even though they did an inspection on it, that doesn't necessarily mean that the timing belt didn't appear to be fine. As far as I know, there's no scientific way to test the life of a timing belt, so it's just the technician's opinion following a visual inspection. If it had snapped a few days after you bought the car, you could argue that they botched the inspection, but you put 30,000 miles on it since the inspection. A lot can happen in 30k.
As far as why it was not recommended during your service visits, the timing belt is not readily visible when you pop the hood. There are things that need to be removed to get to it, so it's unlikely that the technician who was doing a 15-minute oil change would pop off the timing belt cover to take a look without a work order to do so, which is something you'd have to ask for.
If you have history with this dealer, I would suggest sitting down with a manager and politely asking if there's anything they can do to help. If that doesn't work, you can start screaming and yelling if you want to be "that guy," but I don't think the dealer is in the wrong in this scenario.
Even though they did an inspection on it, that doesn't necessarily mean that the timing belt didn't appear to be fine. As far as I know, there's no scientific way to test the life of a timing belt, so it's just the technician's opinion following a visual inspection. If it had snapped a few days after you bought the car, you could argue that they botched the inspection, but you put 30,000 miles on it since the inspection. A lot can happen in 30k.
As far as why it was not recommended during your service visits, the timing belt is not readily visible when you pop the hood. There are things that need to be removed to get to it, so it's unlikely that the technician who was doing a 15-minute oil change would pop off the timing belt cover to take a look without a work order to do so, which is something you'd have to ask for.
If you have history with this dealer, I would suggest sitting down with a manager and politely asking if there's anything they can do to help. If that doesn't work, you can start screaming and yelling if you want to be "that guy," but I don't think the dealer is in the wrong in this scenario.
I will say this is the FIRST time reading about a TB snapping. These belts (oem) are usually good for 150k easy....thats if the car is driven regularly
11-24-15, 07:02 AM
#11
Rookie
Thread Starter
Update in case anyone cares: dealer said best they could do was offer some discount on parts and labor to replace/rebuild engine. Not worth the cost regardless to put into a 10 year old car.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
11-24-15, 07:57 AM
#12
Update in case anyone cares: dealer said best they could do was offer some discount on parts and labor to replace/rebuild engine. Not worth the cost regardless to put into a 10 year old car.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
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NewCarGal (10-21-19)
11-24-15, 08:15 AM
#14
Update in case anyone cares: dealer said best they could do was offer some discount on parts and labor to replace/rebuild engine. Not worth the cost regardless to put into a 10 year old car.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
A tech at the dealer offered to buy the car from me for $4000 so he can rebuild the engine and re-sell on his own. Took it and got me a 2015 Impala Limited from Car-Max. Big step down in refinement (obviously), but it's very comfortable, gets over 30mpg on the highway out of a 300hp V6, has full factory warranty, and makes for a great highway cruiser.
Time to move on, I guess.
11-24-15, 08:17 AM
#15
Rookie
Thread Starter
Of the options available around me for the price range I was looking for and what I was looking for in a car (size, age, driving comfort, etc), it was actually the best option available. This includes the available Toyota options available (was basically looking at a Camry for anything bigger than a Corolla). Impala was roomier, more comfortable, got about the same gas mileage but still had 300hp. No Lexus under 5 years old was in my price range, and seeing that I just got burned on a 10 year old Lexus, it needed to be fairly young with a warranty.
Don't give a crap about depreciation, plan on keeping this car for a while. Also don't give a crap about looks. I'm married with children, who the hell am I trying to impress?
