moat

Is the Mitsubishi TB190M timing belt exactly the same as OEM timing belt # 13568-59045 ?

Is the BANDO drive belt # 6PK-2245 exactly the same as OEM drive belt # 90916-02586 ?

The reason I ask is because I see these items on eBay, the sellers say they are exactly the same as OEM. They are much cheaper than OEM. Can we trust these things?

Same with KOYO idlers, are they exactly the same as OEM?

Same with AISIN water pump, are they exactly the same as OEM?

If you search on eBay, or on the web, for "AISIN TKT-010" you will see these kits. Are they really the same as OEM?

tenchu

They may "fit" the same as OEM, but 9 times out of 10, cheap aftermarket parts for an LS are no where close to OEM quality. I made the mistake of buying a transmission filter of eBay for my 1LS, now my trans is on its way out the door.

moat

are you kidding me? how often did you do the 2-quart ATF drain and fill? did you always use Toyota 4T fluid?

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

this ebay item 370576253297 is OEM: TOYOTA AISIN KOYO BANDO....

I am running a Bando drive belt, on my 96, quite as a mouse.

moat

you read my mind billyd. that was one of the ebay item I was looking at.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370576253297...84.m1439.l2649

What is TB190? If you search on the web for "timing belt TB190", it sure feels like an aftermarket item.

And in this listing, who the heck is Mitsoboschi? A play on the real Mitsubishi?

Maybe this is the same as the real OEM equivalent stuff. But I just can't tell for sure.

In this particular case, the seller is bundling the AISIN TKT-010 kit with a few other Toyota items all for $300. Do a search on the web for "AISIN TKT-010".

When something is much cheaper on ebay vs. Toyota OEM, and the seller does not have a real web site, you have to wonder why?

tenchu

The filter I bought "looked" like the OEM one, bolted up just like the OEM one, didn't flow the fluid I think, sealed everything up, added toyo4 and car wouldn't go anywhere. Ended up having to drop the pan again and put the old filter back. Ever since trans has been acting up. Plus a waste of toyo4

Yamae

Mitsoboschi? You spelled wrong. It must be “Mitsuboshi”. I understand that you write above since you have no idea to know the details about auto parts companies in Japan. Living in Japan myself, I have some connection with automobile industries and I'd better to write some about belt companies for people here.

“Mitsuboshi” is one of the biggest belt making companies. The capital is 8,150 million Yen and Totota is the 2nd biggest share holders of the company.

“Bando” is a chemical company and it also manufactures belts. The capital is 30,578 million Yen. Both companies are supplying belts to Toyota or Lexus and many other auto companies including American companies too.

You can trust those 2 brands but I don't know their aftermarket parts completely meet the strict specifications of Lexus's incoming inspections or not.

BobN54

Aisin is one of the largest Japanese auto parts OEMs. They make water pumps for many Japanese automobile manufacturers. Provided it is a brand new pump, not rebuilt, it is very likely to be the same as the Lexus part. AFAIK, Toyota does not manufacture water pumps.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

NOTE: we did not spell it wrong, we copied it as it was spelled on the ebay web site, see the link above and see for yourself.... and thank you for your information, it helps a lot..

moat

Also, just because you bought from the correct manufacture that supplies to Toyota it does not mean you got the same high quality stuff as oem unless you are an expert in this area. A case in point is Brembo rotors. Brembo makes excellent rotors for the 1LS. But if you pay attention, they have at least two grades: OE replacement and OE comparable. Typically people think "Brembo", "oh great same as real OEM stuff". Not so if you got the OE comparable grade rotor (and typically your mechanic would never tell you or he may not even know what he bought)

The more I look at the stuff on ebay the more I realize I have to be very careful. My latest thinking is it's not worth it saving 10-20% on ebay for oem parts, and I should just get my OEM parts from real Lexus dealerships on the web (there are a few, e.g. Sewell gives CL members pretty good prices)

Timing belt is something I do once every 10 years. For a peace of mind, my conclusion is I should buy the parts from a real Lexus dealership such as Sewellparts.com

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Those parts you listed are aftermarket parts for OEM. They are not identical. I know this because I compared the water pump (Original) to the AISIN, I can see a slight difference. But no worries they work fine. But don't get confused that they are OEM. They are a good aftermarket replacement for OEM. Hope im making sense.

moat

Thanks for the info. That's good to know. I think we all suspect the Japanese aftermarket parts are pretty good, especially from the right brands. The Chinese aftermarket stuff we really have to be careful.

For something like the timing belt job, I think I will just stick with OEM.

Yamae

Thanks for the correction, billydpowe. I was sorry for posting without checking the page of the ebay. But I checked it and found that the ebay says MITSOBOSHI not Mitsoboschi as moat has written. I am not talking about the capital letter or not. There is not "c" at the ebay. So both moat and billydpowe need a little more small attention on spelling.

I am sorry to point out on very small affairs but a single small mistake sometimes causes a big trouble especially among products like cars and motorcycles, you know.

Anyway thanks for trusting Japanese parts as well as cars. Japanese are tend to pay extra attentions on designing and making something new and I had a big culture shock when I had needed to work in USA in 90s and early this century. I mean I had been working at my company's American plant. I am sorry to say that some Americans work harder than us but others not. And this often made quality assurance department people busy forcing to stop the manufacturing lines.

moat

Yamae: Tell us something. This would be fun to know. How much does the following parts cost in Japan?

idler 13505-50022
ps pump (new) # 44320-5020
pressure tube # 44410-50011
upper control arm # 48630-50020
an old 90-94 Lexus LS400 with around 350,000km in average condition (I don't think you call it LS400, but the equivalent car)

Give it to us in approx USD.

Yamae

Hi moat, regarding the parts, I need to contact a sales guy at the parts shop and I will inform you later.
Regarding the price of the car, you can check at below link.

The 1st generation
http://ucar.autos.yahoo.co.jp/model/...placement_max=

The price which includes everything is indicated by red figures and the unit is 10 thousand Yen.
For an example, 35万円 is 350000 Yen. In US dollars, you need to divide it by 76 which is the current exchange rate and it is 4605 US dollars.

Hope this helps.
Yamae