YODAONE

A friend purchased an Aisin brand TKT021kit from Rock Auto.for a 1998 LS400 which is advertised to include; (cut and paste from ROCK AUTO website)

"AISIN kit includes the following components:

• AISIN Water Pump
• Hydraulic Tensioner
• Koyo Idler Bearing
• Koyo Tensioner Bearing
• Mitsuboshi Timing Belt
• Water Pump Gaskets & O-Rings"

The timing belt is NOT the same quality Mitsubishi belt as sold through Toyota or Lexus..

The timing belt registration /indexing markings on the spine are not durable...

Thr original OEM belt had at least 80,000 miles and so was being replaced.(green lettering)

The replacement timing belt (white lettering) was on less than 50 miles before the owner elected to replace camshaft seals....so the belt was removed.....
R-cam L-cam and crankshaft marks were literally erased.due to cheap Mitsubishi screenprint job.

I determined not to install a timing belt on an interference engine without marks...and not going to chance using a magic marker.

Purchased a proper replacement belt from Lexus and had same durable factory green markings. Original OEM factory belt (green lettering) at top. Aisin kit Mitsubishi belt (white lettering) at bottom...the L-CAM, R-CAM and CRANK are erased in aftermarket.in less than 50 miles.
Original belt markings are stll visible..
Original belt markings still visible

This skimping raises concerns over whether other kit components are not manufactured to OEM standards so am soliciting forum member comment...particularly interested in feedback on the Aisin waterpump...

Will send link to Aisin for comment

Banshee365

Are BOTH of these belts not made by Mitsuboshi? The original belt has the Mitsuboshi logo as well. What's the COO on the belt in the Aisin kit? I've installed two of those Aisin kits and were very pleased with each. Personally, the quality of the lettering means nothing to me and I would be confident that any lettering durability issues would reflect anything similar in the belt itself.

I've been very impressed with the water pump as well. I much prefer the steel gasket that comes with it over the OE FIPG method. I saw a member at some point that had their pump damaged during shipping so there is alway's that to watch out for with anything.

YODAONE

Here's the thing...

The Aisin kit belt might be perfectly fine, but you cannot practically reuse it if should performing interim repairs become necessary, as here..

The original OEM belt (green lettering) also contains a Toyota P.N.....while the aftermarket belt does not.

Both belts present different Mitsubishi P.N.s. so am questioning whether other quality differences beyond durability of markings....

Something which Aisin can address...but I'm not going to install another of their kit belts until they do.

Yamae

According to local shop owners, Mitsuboshi's aftermarket timing belts which don't have car manufacturer's mark are not the same with original ones.
They commonly say, "Those belts tend to expand a bit faster and the belt tension needs to be adjusted sometimes after running some. The materials must not be the same". But as far as I was heard, none of owners have experienced any broken/cut problem using Mitsuboshi's aftermarket timing belts.

Yamae

There is one thing I'd better add. One shop owner said, "I had some bad experience with timing belts manufactured by a company G****". Those expand faster and some were broken within 100,000km.

Toyota is the 2nd biggest share holder of Mitsuboshi, you know? Actually a friend of mine used to work there and I know the inside story some. I'd say they manufacture quality products.

YODAONE

Ask the men who know..
.
Not the same belt suggests not the same quality...

"Expand" suggests stretch..that can't be a good thing...

This is a critical engine component and the aftermarket is providing faster expanding timing belts. Brilliant.

dicer

And like I say its a WORLD market now, and any part can be made any place in the world, and have the proper name on it. On auto parts and some aircraft parts quality has gone down the sewer, we the consumer and the out fit who's name is on the product suffers, not the outfit in the foreign country that made it.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

dicer these late hours are going to get you..... but a good post.... we get the rap..

blumagic

off topic but thanks for the pic, I've been looking for an OEM timing belt pic forever. I got my car at 70k and had a strong feeling the timing belt had been replaced but this confirms it.

lextout

speak for your self maybe u just got misplaced or on off kit.

YODAONE

Yes, but replaced with what?

blumagic

I need to check, from memory it has white markings and not a lot of visible text. I've had a difficult time identifying what is actually on it. so maybe the same ****ty screenprinted one you have

aptoslexus

When I installed mine, the marks rubbed off during installation. When I saw it happening, I used a sharpie to make permanent marks. After nearly 20k miles, no problems with the belt's performance.

dicer

Not late to me, I worked jobs in the past where that is morning time.

YODAONE

Aisin comments as follows;

"All I can say is that these are both Made here in Ottawa, IL on the same machines, by the same operators, on the same Shift, using the same materials. The only difference is the label!"

While first the cam indexing marks do not appear to be "labels"(screen printing on substrate applied with heat, chemical or pressure sensitive adhesive) in the traditional sense, but akin to screen printed or hot stamped.

No word whether Aisin is planning to direct their supplier to address the problem.

So purchased and inatalled a new OEM belt from Lexus....drove it for about 50 miles...

Removed OEM timing belt to extract and rebuild VVTI cam phasers.....indexing markings were still perfect.