nestor32

3 weeks ago while driving, my 2000 RX300 with 240,000km (150kmiles) my engine stopped, all lights came on. I managed to park the car but the engine would not start. Cranking it a few seconds, the engine was spinning too fast as if it had no compression. Checked timing belt - broken (after 80kkm or 50kmiles since my t-belt service). The belt teeth were ok. but it has lost half on the exterior rubber and those broken pieces were wrapped around the crankshaft - maybe that is why the starter was spinning so fast. I started to research if this type of engine (1MZ-FE) is interference or not. There is so much confusion... Here is what I did;
1. Went to a reasonable shop - they quoted $5000 +tax (saying it is interference) I walked away.
2. Asked the dealer who changed the belt what type of engine I have (non interference he says)
3. Went to a trustful mechanic who suggested we change the belt and see if it starts. We did and the engine started. Total cost: $500 + tax (one tenth of the rebuilt quote...)
This is a great engine, I am no expert, but I feel it purring and the gas mileage still ok after driving it for a week after the fix. I will keep on maintaining it.... good car !

artbuc

Extremely rare (essentially unheard of) for a factory TB to fail at 50k miles. Did your "trustful" mechanic find anything else wrong, eg siezed WP or tensioner bearing?

salimshah

When it comes to timing belt, people forget that they need to check water-pump, idlers, hydraulic tensioner.

So what was changed in the first, second and now the third T-B service.

Salim

matts6887

That reminds me; I went to look at a 99 300 yesterday with 131,000 on it. It went through a lexus dealer's inspection via one of the dealer's service techs and the inspection sheet did not show how the timing belt looked. Because i know just like what happened to the o.p above; if that thing breaks it can be game over. So before i buy this 99 I will have to find out if it has been inspected or not.

salimshah

Appearance can be very deceiving. Very infrequently you can tell f the leading edge of the teeth are rounded. I usually look at the markings and see if they are faded (est 30k) gone (60k) (estimate)

Salim

nestor32

>>> Nothing else related to the engine. He only suggested I could change the WP, but I had changed the WP last time (with TB - about 50kmiles ago) so I declined. I saw on craigslist this model on sale for 6K... so I am not unrealistic, if I can keep it for 60K miles more, I will be happy - my commute is short. I am trying to attach some pictures of the damaged Timing belt here.

salimshah

I would suggest taking the belt to a competent mechanic for some failure analysis. He can study the teeth side, the smooth side and the edges to speculate what caused the belt to fail. He will look for scuff marks to see if the waterpump froze. There is a possibility of bad belt too.

My 2c (and I am not a mechanic)
Based on the posted pictures, I am speculating that the tensioner missed a beat and the belt came off the edge. The main pulley then wrapped up the belt and chewed up the teeth.I would give the tensioner a serious look over. You know you can replace the tensioner from the outside. The trick is to release the pin on the new tensioner and use the attaching bolts to develop tension as the tensioner is attached. See if your mechanic agrees to do this. But first see if you have a bad tensioner.

I highly recommend that repair must be done after 'WHY' is answered. 'WHAT' is relatively easier to detect.

Salim

artbuc

Whoever installed that belt did something wrong. I wonder if, instead of removing and properly retracting the hydraulic tensioner, they tried to install the TB with the tensioner in place? Are you sure this work was done at a Lexus dealership? I ask only to know if this was an OEM belt. I have personally experienced and have first-hand knowledge of other people's experiences to know many Lexus dealerships do extremely shoddy work and are quite dishonest.

nestor32

Salimshah and artbuc:
The mechanic who took this belt out noticed there was dirt on one pulley (i forgot which - I am not a mechanic) but that should have have been cleaned with the last service - so my mechanic cleaned everything properly. I will not give names, but all last major services were at a "shoddy" dealership as artbuc mentions, which now I avoid.
So the conclusion: A combination of dirt on pulley(s), possibly bad quality belt and surely a "shoddy" dealership service.

matts6887

Well; as i mentioned; the tb on the 99 Im considering with 131,000 on the clock did have a inspection done by a lexus service tech. But!; as buc(I think?) mentioned; they may not be doing a good enough job so tomorrow Im gonna make the long trek back to that same dealer and take the vehicle to have a inspection done at a local auto repair chain that has been in buisiness in this area since 1978; which tells me they must be doing something if not more than one thing right; otherwise they probably wouldnt be in business anymore. But im gonna have them see if they can inspect the tb at all for me to see what the status of it is. I just hope it wont cost a arm and a leg to have them inspect it to see if it needs replacing or not as well as any of the other components of the tb system such as the water pump, tensioner and so on. I am doing this just to be certain that if we do go ahead and buy the vehicle; that I dont end up stuck on the side of the road somewhere having to wait for AAA to tow me to a repair place due to a broken tb etc. definitely would rather be safe than sorry.

JAB

I wouldn't rely upon a visual inspection to judge the condition of a timing belt.

matts6887

If they dig in there to just inspect it visually; why would that not be a good indication of the condition of the belt etc?

salimshah

See my post #5 in this very thread, it was meant for you.

Salim

matts6887

oops; yea i see salim. Well; with that in mind; as i mentioned before; if it wont take too much doing for them to get into it i will try and have them look at the tb thoroughly(markings etc) as well as the other parts of that system(water pump, etc) . If it will take too much time and money to do; then I may have to come up with a alternative if possible in terms of getting those items inspected. Because as i said before the last thing i need is for the tb to suddenly snap while driving; leaving me in a stranded situation having to wait to be towed away.

hypervish

Why not just change the timing belt along with associated components and be done with it?