Hey all. Looking at purchasing my first LS, looking at a nice 99. Had pre-purchase inspection done, and mechanic said timing belt, which has about 40k miles left before needing to be changed, was last changed in 2013 and thus is overdue for a change, even though 40k miles left. Car was garaged and lived in warm climate if that factors into brittleness of belt at all. Is it really rolling the dice to wait another year and half/20k miles to change? Car was otherwise well-maintained from what I can tell with documented history. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

The endless debate on time vs. miles on when to change the timing belt. Let's condense 18 thousand forum threads into the key talking points:

Points against replacing the belt:

Car is garage kept, less extreme temp variations
Car has fewer miles than the service interval
Modern belts have gotten better as time has gone on
People who change over-due belts on the LS really don't pull out horror stories. We really don't hear about people grenading their engine because the belt snapped and the valves tried to go visit the International Space Station
It's expensive or a lot of work
The safety margin on this part is probably massive because this sort of thing gets pushed off all the time and the engineers know this
When was the last time you ever heard of anyone grenading their engine because they didn't replace their timing belt

Points for changing the belt:

The belt is 10 years old when the recommended service interval is 7 years
All miles are not equal. Is it 40,000 highway miles or 40,000 cold start around-town to the grocery store miles?
Car has an interference motor so that if the belt were to fail, you're going to **** the valvetrain up and in all likelyhood grenade the entire motor beyond repair
It's not just the belt, but all the other associated parts of the kit that you also replace. Water pump, gaskets bearings, the tensioner - all of these components are also old
It would REALLY suck to write-off the car due to a known repair item that you were thinking of doing but hadn't gotten around to doing

How you weigh each of these points is up to you.

It's a one-size fits all rule. There are ways in which you can drive a car (lots of highway miles, no cold or hot climates, garage kept, etc) which are very gentle on the timing belt. And there are people who live in Chicago and beat the **** out of their cars. They need a interval who suits the most extreme owners. And safety margin on that.

If I were in your situation? Is it something that would prevent me from driving the car tomorrow or this week? No not really. But it would be at the edge of my mind providing worry and anxiety any time you drive the car especially as you push it and push it and push it and push it. And then the belt will be 12 years old, nearly double the recommended life of the belt, ontop of it being much closer to it's mileage limit. Personally, I did the timing belt service when my belt was coming up on 9 years old and ~40k miles.

 

Thanks for the super-comprehensive answer.
Of course after I posted this, I started looking thru and discovered biblical scroll of threads relating to this issue. My bad. That said, belt and wp changed at 85k engine now at 130-ish k on this car, but I think for me it's gonna boil down to peace of mind. The idea that a belt could snap and grenade the engine is gonna sit in my brain every road trip I take. I'm risk-averse and the reliability is what I love about these cars, so to possibly compromise that aspect...I think I have my answer.

***One other question though; minus timing belt work,(I got estimate of about 1500) what is ballpark cost to change all the other associated "while they are in there" components?

 

It entirely depends on your labor rates. I'll be the first to admit I didn't do the job myself. I think I paid $12xx with labor rates here being about $110-120/hr. Something like that.There's a full Asin timing belt kit that has everything. Belt tensioner water pump, the lot. Get the kit and do everything.

However. If we're talking your 99', and we're talking while you're in there, there's also this:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10411641



And the cost really starts to add up fast with these things. I don't really have a great answer, considering how it's a pretty difficult and labor intensive timing belt repair job. These things are certainly a while you're in there item, but your car could be like mine. And the engine is utterly and completely dry and healthy and in beautiful shape (knock on wood!). I never replaced mine (I didn't know about it at the time). So I'm just gonna cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

thanks again. great info

 

Just my experience, but I went from June 2005 to Sept 2021 and about 70k on the belt that the previous owner did at Lexus in Ohio. Car was a midwest car up until May 2020 where I brought it over to AZ. Belt showed no signs of cracking due to age even after 16 years. I bought an Aisin TB/WP kit to replace everything along with a new crankshaft seal since I had my old 97 fail at around 18 yrs in 2015.

If you have records of the car having the belt service done at a Lexus dealer with OE parts, then I'd say you could easily go 10 yrs 100k without any question, 15 yrs probably as well and still 100k as long as it didn't sit for a long duration or was stored in the winters. I have seen people even push it 120k. I think the old guy that owned it before me drove it year round and garage kept it in his million dollar house before buying a Tesla 3 in 11/2018 when I got it.

 

Much appreciated. Seller has been standup guy, car has been babied garaged warm climate.records are available, great lexus shop did last tb work oem parts 55k ish miles ago and has worked on it since, although it was that shop that said belt overdue and should be done when they did ppi. This is all such helpful info I appreciate it. I came from owning old Land Rovers which always had issues, moved to my daily driver a 98 then a 2000 Land Cruiser which made me never look back and want to add a highway driver that my elderly fam members can get into as LC height has been challenging, and after researching these LS models, this is a good fit for reliability, classic lines, and comfort. Not a real fan of newer cars so these seem like the best of the best if you are going to do a classic daily driver.

 

The timing belt replacement interval for my LS is 90k miles or 72 months (6 years). The belt below was replaced at 90,216 miles and is the original belt (276 months old). Visual inspection of the belt is performed on the toothed side of the belt. However, with extended mileage or time, I think this doesn't hold true.

IMHO, when it comes to replacing timing belts on any vehicle it's either mileage OR time, whichever comes first.

 

thank you for the pics and input

 

I'm with ya on the newer cars. I hate 'em. Back in 08 I did extensive research on the LS400 for reliability and that's why I've owned one ever since. Everything has problems though. My first 93 I did 2 T-belts, the first was only cuz everyone was saying "do it". It didn't need it at 110K, 2nd was cuz I used aftermarket belt and it slipped. My 94 had it done at 120K by original owner, still had that one in when I junked it at 220K (due to rotted break lines and more). This last one I did a year ago (only cuz I had other work to do which required the belt to come off) That one was original with only 85K. (29 years) The belt was still fine but the bearings were about to seize up. I have only had 93-94 main reason was it's a non-interference engine. But because yours is an interference engine I would say do it very soon just for piece of mind.

 

Peace of mind at the end of day because if it grenades, and my wife is in it, I'll get homicided.

 

lol !

yeah it comes down to that, then you have your answer. i didn't replace mine until past 130k and it was just like the picture above.
also keep in mind it's no only the belt being replaced, but also the idler and tensioner. idlers are known to seize and take a belt out too!

 

thank u will do and all this has been very helpful. great forum!

 

I once answered an ad about a grenaded LS400 that was offered for sale very cheap due to timing belt failure . That breakdown happened at 130.000 miles.
Unknown history but I suspect that it was the original belt. I exchanged the original! belt on my 1995 LS400 when I bought it in 2015 with 90.000 miles on it. It looked clearly stil serviceable.
I drive my two LS400 probably about 70000 miles each in a 10 year period. I am planning on doing 10 year swaps including idler , waterpump, tensioner if I keep them that long ( likely) . Next swap in 2025...
My 1995 LS400 needed some new bearings in the idler and tensioner for the poly V belt. They were overdue a change because they were noisy. The grease inside looked like black cheesey chunks. Hence when doing the timing belt check the other stuff for noisy bearings and play. Fan bearings/alternatorbearing/AC compressor idler bearing/ AND be prepared to buy parts and change them if needed. 20+ years on LEXUS ballbearings with original grease is mostly doable but quite a lot generally speaking.

 

thank you for this info. much appreciated.