The reason that the camshafts are positioned at their respective "T" is to equalize lifter forces so the cams don't turn when the timing belt is removed. On my second timing belt replacement I followed the service manual and turned the crankshaft too far. As soon as the timing belt was off, both cams suddenly spun, stopping only when a valve hit a piston on each side. Fortunately this didn't do any damage, but it got my attention. Follow the video and hints in this forum to set the crank/cam positon correctly for belt removal, take off the tensioner, then turn the passenger side cam clockwise just a hair more to take the tension off the water pump loop. Now the belt is easy to remove and replace. (Don't turn either camshaft counterclockwise because the bolts are just covering a hole and they will likely unscrew.)

 

Thank you for mentioning this!
This is my 5th or 6th timing belt job, but first on this vehicle. I've followed "Nick's" youtube video in parallel with the Lexus service manual for the LS430, and the only real place it differs is with marking the timing on the crank shaft pulley (CSP): After you have the cams at top & the CSP at zero, the manual says to turn the CSP 50 degrees clockwise, and make the timing mark in-line between the CSP bolt and the No. 2 timing belt idler pulley bolt, which is 15-20 degrees further than the small marking post on the bottom timing belt cover.
Based on your experience, it sounds like that 50 degrees is too far, and the marking post on the timing cover may be the safer marking spot.
Does that sound correct everyone?

 

Use to post to line it up. The bolt method is too far. Using the post, the marks on the cam pulleys will line up with the "T"s cast into the rear covers.

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Info overload got me paranoid, so wanted to triple-check and save the mega headache & expense.

 

I envy you guys tackling this job

I decided to open up the wallet and spend $7xx to have a shop do it now, rather than end of year. I haven't hit 90 yet but figure what the hey, let's get this car tip top and be done with it...

 

With this price, was the dealer cost lower because a lot of work was already done? That's not a bad price, although I see $115 is low for this area. I think with an indie I'd rather pay the $7xx incl. parts, since this drives warranty or no warranty.

 

 

You won't really get a definitive answer on this one. A couple of members have said that no one's ever heard of a timing belt breaking from age alone, but the majority of owners will tell you "why risk it?". These engine are interference motors and you'll be scrapping the engine if it breaks while driving/running at all. To save a couple hundred dollars, buy all the parts you need from a website like parts.com that sells only OEM genuine Toyota parts for a lot less than a dealership would sell them directly to you, then bring the car to a shop that will do just the labor for you. Or you can do the labor yourself with the help of the many step-by-step threads with pictures that have been posted here over the years.

For what it's worth, I'm more of a "why risk it?" type of guy...

 

Agreed... I've done the timing belts on both my LS's in the last 3 months and neither one showed much wear at all. My 2005 had just 59,000 on it and the parts all basically looked new, and my 2001 with 197,000 had roughly 93K on the second belt, and it too looked to be in very good shape. The water pump was clean and showed minimal wear and the tensioner/idler pulleys all looked fine on both cars.

Piece of mind? You bet... And doing it myself saved me from spending more than I needed to. So for me it was an easy choice.

 

And something that hasn't been brought up before... sure a lot of people, like yourself, have changed their TB and said that it "looked new still" or "barely worn", but is it not possible that something like the TB can still "look fine" after so many miles and years but still be susceptible to failure? Just because something doesn't present any obvious signs of wear externally doesn't mean it isn't structurally degraded and weakened. I'd hate to take the timing cover off to replace it, see a belt that looks fine and put it right back together... only to have the TB snap in 6 months time.

 

 

Good point here.. First glance, it may look alright, but hidden dangers and all that.... The good thing is, that if the belt does start to come apart, you'll see the edges starting to fray when you pull the cover to take a look.

 

 

No, but again, it's not always the belt that could fail and cause problems (as a general rule). Could be a water pump, and idlers, tensioner, or a leak where coolant gets onto the belt that can cause issues....my .02.

 

True, however we don't know how much time/mileage is likely to pass from the time the edges start to fray to a complete failure. Unless a mass study has been completed on this topic with many subjects, you can't assume that just because the belt looks fine one day, that within the next few days/amount of miles that it might not start to fray, and ultimately fail. For all we know, from beginning to fray to complete failure might be just a few days and miles, so unless you keep an eye on it every day or two, you wouldn't know.