roadkingof

a little help from all you "lexus " guys out there.;...........I currently have a 03 LS Ultra with 54K miles on it. I know the manual calls for the timing belt to be replaced at 90K miles OR 7 years. My question is since mine has only 54K miles but is older that 7 years.......which is the more important one in trying to figure out when to get this done? Thanks in advance. RJ

Lynzoid

To be extra-safe you can replace it. But you may (and probably will) find, that current state of the belt is 'as new' at this mileage. They last over 100k miles.

jayclapp

My 04 LS UL turned 90,000 miles this year and I changed the belt. They gave me the removed belt, and visually it looked like a new belt.

Jabberwock

It is a rubber belt so and so like any item made of rubber it does age over time even with low miles. I personally think 7 years is very conservative but a lot depends on the condition of the car in general and how it is driven and stored. My LS is an 06 and it is not gonna have 90k miles on it anytime soon. My car has 51k on it right now and I drive about 6k miles a year. It is very gently driven and garaged all the time so given my specific situation I am likely going to wait till car is 10 years old to change TB. But even more likely is that I will sell the car at 10 yo with approx 70k miles on it (approx June 2016) and let someone else decide what to do about the TB.

roadkingof

I completely agree with your strategy. Mine is gently used as well ...about 4k miles a year and is kept in a heated garage...it is as pampered as a car can be...but mine is a 03 with 54k miles --not a 06 like yours. That service is an expensive service if done by lexus dealership. The dealership told me that I should pay more attention to the mileage and not so much to the years ..especially in light of how I take care of my cars. Robert Johnson-03 onyx pearl Ls430 Ultra, 09 corvrtte convertable 3lt, 3013 toyota prius, 07 colorado 4wd pickup, and 09 harley roadking.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

+1 Many LS400 owners don't change their belts at 7 years. In fact, a couple of dealers told me they have never seen a belt break due to age. Even changing every 90k is conservative. What you do need to worry about is a tensioner failing and shredding the belt.

Lac

iTrader: (3)

Just changed my '04 TB and water pump with 100K miles. Old belt looked like new, but there was leak around the water pump. It was not visible 'til TB was removed.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

I agree,,,my sc400 is 20 years old, and its on the original belt still, ,and I drive that thing , I mean I ABUSE that thing like u wouldn't believe, 25-30 000 kilometres a year of very hard driving ,, winter and all.

I truly think 99% of timing belts would last to 200 000+ miles, but its not worth it , id say change it every 100k and I think that's being reasonable.

I think when I do mine I will change the tensioner and all the pulleys, from what I heard they are usually the reason for the belt breaking.

jac430

In this country, Lexus advises to change the timing belt at 150000 km or 10 years.
So mine will be done next year (=10 years).

Jac

roadkingof

If one was to change out the tensioner ....then in order to do this, one would have to spend the same in labor to get to this as it would be involved in labor to get to the Timing bely---Right?? Sp, if that is true, then one would be foolish to spend all that money to change tensioner/pulleys and not change the timing belt while you have everything pulled. The timing belt itself is not that much....it is the labor to get to that thing.RJ

Lynzoid

Yes. Basically to access tb+pulleys+tensioner+waterpump you need to drain coolant, remove radiator, remove aux belt, remove aux belt tensioner and pulley, take tb covers off. So, yes, same amount of work.

jay33

Here in the States they do NOT remove the radiator to replace the timing belt.

Lynzoid

well, in japan they do... re service manual.

roadkingof

So it makes no difference----if the tensioner is the real thing to worry about----the money involved to "fix" the real culprit is the same ....so you might as well change the tb while you have everything pulled....that is the point I am trying to make....it makes no difference if the tb or ensioner is to blame.....it costs are the same.

Lynzoid

replaced my TB, tensioners and leaking vvt-i tube assy... took whole day, job not for faint hearted.
i have no idea, rookie, how can you access the tb without removing the rad and draining coolant. it's just impossible.