panos

When should it be done? My LS still has only 57K miles, but it's closing on 12 years of age.

Will the timing belt last another 4+ years it'll take me to get to 90K miles???

Serpentine belt was changed at age 10 and 47K miles. It looked awful (but it's exposed and has a long and very crooked path.)

jerrygrier

I have a 93 LS400 with 61K miles. Dealer told me last month not to worry about it until 90K. I am changing the spark plugs this week and looked at the timing belt and it appears ok from what little I can see. Hope this helps.

damon

Jerry has a great thought here. A visual check every now and again makes great sense.
Despite the fact that you will see many post here that decry a TB change as must have service at 90,000 , you will be hard pressed to find anyone who actually suffered a TB break. It simply does not happen but in the rarest of circumstances. My first TB change was well past 160,000 which is 2020 for you.

sahtt

I have a experience with Acura NSX's as well as Nissan 300zx Turbo's, the later requiring the belt change every 60k. Especially with the NSX's due to their average miles of about 3-5k a year, I will warn you on two things-
You cannot judge a belt's integrity from a visual check. It can be obvious the belt is in bad shape, but brand new looking belts can snap just as easy. Our engines are not incredibly expensive, so the risk is not as great compared to most.
Belts do lessen in strength over time, regardless of a low amount of actual miles put on them. You can avoid much of this by living in a non humid climate, avoiding moisture, and having it kept in a heated, dry garage in the winter. Since LS guys do not do this [for the most part], they are very much factors.

For the most part, you are probably ok. However, if you have the extra grand and would like to give your car and mind some peace, get it done sooner than later. There is also the water pump and all the associated seals also changed during the TB routine, much of which DO fail with time significantly. Remember, you still won't have to do it again for another decade+, that is theorhetically speaking that something else won't fail requiring a TB removal.

panos

I thought that the spark plugs were "indestructible" and they do not age if not in use.

Since the car runs fine and mpg is normal, I never thought about changing them early. (Besides, SP failure has hardly ever stranded anyone.)

So why change the SPs before 90K?

sahtt

On the dealer's opinion, it seems logical they would definetely tell you to change it if they could get away with it. However, from their standpoint they should follow the guidelines provided in the manual that says go by miles almost in totality. If they didn't, they'd have to create more so other people with a slightly different situation than yours could be justified. Then people start calling Lexus and telling them a dealer is changing their belt before 90k, and it looks bad. A more complicated conflict of interest than it appears [having worked with dealerships].

On the other hand, do you think that dealer will pay for a new engine if that belt breaks tomorrow? Laughable, but they'll put a new engine in smiling.

damon

94 is a non interference engine. When the TB breaks you call AAA and have your new one installed by your mechanic. I would not risk my engine just to delay maintenance.

I repeat. On 1 UZ-FE engine these things just do not break!!! Not saying that you should never address TB maintenance because other parts in the chain do wear out. For me it was a seized bearing in a fan bracket support. It totally stopped spinning & still did not break my 162,000 mile belt!!! Had a "kit" so to speak of parts in the trunk & off to the mechanic I went.

hyperopt

I ran across a few threads in the past from people mentioning their TB broke on their LS & SC and nothing else (first generation). Logically, all belts in service will break at some point given enough time and stress. I am not surprise the TB did not (and should not) break with seized fan bracket as that fan bracket is not driven by TB in anyway.