BigBird63

I'm going to do the timing belt and water pump, per this great thread.

While I'm at it, what else should I do?

2004 LS430 with about 103,000 miles on it. It spent a good bit of time near the ocean, mostly garage kept. Things look pretty good but I don't have a real trained eye. My plan is to drive it until it dies.

I figure that I may as well also do while I'm at it:
- new serp belt
- thermostat & gasket
- spark plugs
- coolant flush (you sort of half have to)
- new coolant hoses

Anything else to proactively replace at this point, rather than wait until they fail?

For coolant hoses -- I need to check, but if you know, please dope slap me -- there is an upper, lower, and also a heater core hose? Is that right? Will clamps be reusable?

In looking up hoses on the Continental site I saw there was a pretty expensive idler pulley for the serp belt. c. $50. Or you could get a cheap one from Dorman. My thinking is to leave it alone for now, not spend for a good one absent any squeaks or other symptoms, not go broke saving money on a cheap new one that may cause as many problems as it solves.

rkw77080

You should consider replacing the radiator with the larger Tow-package version by Denso.

BigBird63

This one? About $80.

Do you know if it goes right in or there is some jiggling and hacking involved? I see it's a bit thicker.

It's not a part I would have expected to go soon, and I haven't run hot. Is this a generally accepted good idea of an upgrade / preventative move?

A little searching for threads on the topic led me to this guy who does not seem to be a fan, but there's always pros and cons. I'll dig some more and will probably run into the happy customers.

Johnhav430

jmo....didn't some folks have issues with Denso aftermarket....I think we've agreed that at the price, it's not equivalent of OE...maybe if it ain't broke, don't fix it, be a shame to toss a perfectly good OE radiator...the toyota part is $442 list, non tow $365 list16400-50231
16400-50251

BigBird63

^ that's what I was thinking with the idler pulley and it seems to carry over nicely to the radiator

bradland

With 103,000 miles you don't have a "perfectly good radiator"
You'll want to remove it during the timing belt job so why not throw in a new one with the new hoses ?

Catalina45

BigBird63

I got the ASIN kit so have the tensioner and pulley for the timing belt.
The idler I asked about in the original post was for the serp belt. I went back and edited for clarity. I need to root through the kit and make sure that's not already included.
PCV valve - yes, slam dunk. Thanks.
I'll look at the rest. Rear cylinder coolant plugs -- I don't even know what those are, ha ha, so I'll do some homework.
Thanks a bunch.

campisi

Just get the kit and put all the parts in. The only thing I might add is coolant hoses and clamps but thats it. No to radiator, coolant plugs, spark plug tubes, valve cover gaskets (if they're not leaking). All this stuff is easy to get to when or if they ever do need to be replaced.

Johnhav430

With my timing belt/water pump/idlers job, my indie told me, we don't generally replace the thermostat at your miles (86k) because there's no problem with it (Maxima is 20 y.o. never replaced that or water pump yet). Also, if you needed hoses or belts, we would advise you and there wouldn't be any more labor, but we don't just replace things if they're not faulty, unless you insist, it's your money (I see Nissan is still up to their old tricks--my buddy said Nissan told him he needed new drive belts at 39k, 3k out of warranty, they did that to me in 2000 with my Maxima).

So I liked their integrity, and the only thing I insisted upon was the serpentine belt which is cheap if Bando--I think this is one case where a Toyota OEM is available (the Lexus OE is quite expensive). Yes, I used a $89 radiator on my Maxima because I wasn't looking for 10 years out of it, it was fine. But this LS430, I may just spend over $300 to get the genuine part, when or if the time comes....

p.s. I believe it's been 1 yr. and about 16k, since I had my timing belt/water pump/idlers done and no issues at all, so the indie was as they said, experienced with the 3UZ and other iterations of the Toyota V8....