zapola6

Did my timing belt today, here are my thoughts (they wonder, bare with me) for what they are worth.

2001 Base 189,000 Miles

I've done maybe 10 timing belts in the past, for a first timer the DYI instructions out there are really good. I would like to thank those that have taken the time to put them out there. Me being out of practice, I made use of them before I started the job. Thanks again guys and also thanks to those who helped me with my timing issue today.

What I learned - Easy job to do knowing what I know now of course. I could easily knock off a few hours off the project and look forward to doing it again. You don't need to go very deep into the tool box for this job, solid set of tools and you are good. I did need to bump the starter with a breaker bar on the floor to break the crank bolt lose, I also needed a puller for the crank pulley. Impact was also nice a couple of times when taking the crank bolt back out.

Throttle Body was nasty dirty, actually had enough thick grime to cover the small air ports on the inside, easily a 64th to a 32nd thick. Surprised it wasn't causing other issues. Easy job to clean while the air duct was already off. 30 minutes or so to take off and re-install the throttle body, used carb cleaner and shop towels. There is a small coolant hose that goes to the throttle body, replaced as well.

Ground cable with bracket at the bottom of the alternator. Where this bracket connects to the alternator, make sure that you realize it comes off when you remove the bolt to free the alternator. I got lucky and saw it hanging while I was hooking up transmission lines to the radiator. I missed reconnecting it. If you miss seeing it come off and don't connect it back when installing the bolt through the alternator, you could easily waste a few hours looking for why your car has no power. Also, a place for corrosion, mine was turning a pretty color of blue and white, I hit it with a cleaner then with the red battery spay protectant.

Radiator - 5 minutes to take out and gives you a lot more room to work. I did replace the radiator, very simple job. The old radiator had easily a cup of sand and dirt in it between the ac condenser and the radiator and probably 25% blocked. I would recommend taking the radiator out during the service just for cleaning if nothing else, also makes it a lot easier to replace the lower radiator hose. I plan on driving the car for as long as it will last, this 14 year old plastic radiator was going to leave me stranded sooner or later, new Denso was $116 on Rockauto.com. Also new cap, upper, lower hoses and thermostat. Also replaced the small 4 inch long 1/2 diameter heater hose that comes off the water inlet, it was time. The car is running cooler now, new radiator or thermostat, not sure why.

Timing Belt & Water Pump condition - The timing belt (no water pump or idlers) was 1st replace at 93,000 on 11-Nov-2009 by the original owner via the dealer. This belt looked to be in great condition, teeth were still sharp, no crack, frays or any other type of blemishes, however it was pretty stiff in comparison to the new belt. Water pump showed some minor signs of leakage through the gasket, still looked new.

I come from the old school, (Vega and Pinto days) bring #1 cylinder to top dead on the compression stroke and line up the cam(s) timing marks and move on. I found it much more difficult to deal with lining the marks up on the belt with the timing marks on the cams and crank when in the 50 degree advance position. Next time, I will move and unload the valves at the 50 degree mark, then I will back the cam & crank timing marks up the short distance needed and put the belt on. Both of my cams backed off when I took the belt off anyway. I know what people will say, you will have internal contact. If you are careful and don't do full rotations of crank or cams without a timing belt on I don't think you will. Opinions please.

Timing Belt Tensioner - Replaced. Lets just say that I did have to take it off a couple of times and re-compress. I just used a heavy duty vice. The secret to getting the tensioner to compress, take it VERY SLOW and keep your pin handy until you know your done.... I also put a thin coat of grease on the crankshaft to take the pulley back off. Yes it had to come off a couple of time too!

So to close this long winded whatever this is: On the 1st 90,000 mile service, do you need to change every rotating part, maybe and probably not. But I will say this, don't run your second 90,000 mile service over. Every idler both timing and serpentine had bearing roughness and noise, they were definitely in need of replacement. If I did not replace now, there were going to be failures in my very near future. I'm going to call (Part # 16630-50011, $332 from Lexus / cheaper on line) serpentine idler pulley a failure, I just got it replaced before it stranded me in the next few days or weeks.

That was my day.... Hope it helps someone to take this on and save some big bucks. Once again, thanks for the help of Club Lexus today.

Legender

Thanks for sharing and glad everything turned out all right. Great job.

rkw77080

Thanks for sharing your lessons learned, zapola6!

As you pointed out, there are several timing belt replacement DIY postings here on this forum – most are excellent. As more people attempt the DIY, more “lessons learned” will surface and help others to avoid making similar mistakes.

I was able to find some photos I took during my last timing belt replacement. I took advantage of the markings on the Toyota OEM timing belt, and install it without any problem. However, the old timing belt I removed did not have these markings, so I don’t know if all replacement timing belts would come with these markings. If your new timing belt does not come with these markings, you will have to make your marks on the old belt before removal and then transfer them onto the new belt.

Thought I would share and hope this will help somebody down the road...