Timing belt change at 68,000 miles?
#16
milosk, I have an 01 LS430 and had the timing belt, water pump and serpentine belt all changed at 76730 miles in May of 2015. At that time the LS was 14 yrs old and I wanted piece of mind! Because, as I'm sure you know, if that TB breaks your engine is shot. I looked at the belt that was replaced and it looked in great shape. But you can't see that until it's removed. I still have the LS and it now has 86500 on it and it still rides and drives great!
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milosk (10-13-18)
#17
The following 2 users liked this post by Gronemus:
Jabberwock (10-15-18),
milosk (10-13-18)
#18
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
milosk, my mechanic did all of the above (including spark plugs) for $979 back in November 2016 on our 2006 LS 430 at 59K miles. The timing belt was over 11 years old at the time and I wanted the peace of mind. However, the timing belt looked in great condition. I couldn't find the original thread but photos are below. My mechanic is in Sacramento, about two hours away from Santa Rosa/Bay Area if you think the drive is worth the savings. My mechanic has 20 years experience as a master tech at Toyota/Lexus dealerships before he opened up his own shop, Folsom Japanese Auto Repair.
UPDATE: So I drove 3 hours to see this car that looked so good in the pics and it was terrible! Supposedly driven by the seller's 88 year old father-in-law but it had grime spots all over the seats and doors and lots of stuff didn't work etc.. Oh and I'd asked on the phone if he had service records and he said yes, but when I got there he didn't - just carfax records. He most likely bought it at auction. Anyway, needless to say I didn't buy it. I want a car that has been looked after and babied.(I notice in his ad, he's dropped the price twice now to $1500 less than his original ask.)
Instead just today I bought a 2001 LS430 with 118,000 miles that was in really really nice condition for just $600 more than that guy was currently asking (and less than his original ask).. I'm v happy with it. I'll pick it up Wed after the owner's finished detailing it.
So on this one, the timing belt got changed 5 years ago at 70,000 miles, so I've got 40,000 miles or 4 years left on this one. And I'm buying it from Sacramento! I would get it done there if it needed it. I'm actually in Lake County so Sac is only about an hour further from me than SR and better yet, there are no mountains to drive over! So great, thanks for the recommendation to your mechanic FatherTo1, I'm sure I can use him for all my LS 430 needs! [EDIT: Funny, I just checked and Folsom Japanese Auto Repair is just 3 miles from where I'm buying the car! I'd bet the owner got his work done there.]
Last edited by milosk; 10-13-18 at 11:50 PM.
#19
Lexus Fanatic
Thanks guys for all the help and suggestions.
UPDATE: So I drove 3 hours to see this car that looked so good in the pics and it was terrible! Supposedly driven by the seller's 88 year old father-in-law but it had grime spots all over the seats and doors and lots of stuff didn't work etc.. Oh and I'd asked on the phone if he had service records and he said yes, but when I got there he didn't - just carfax records. He most likely bought it at auction. Anyway, needless to say I didn't buy it. I want a car that has been looked after and babied.(I notice in his ad, he's dropped the price twice now to $1500 less than his original ask.)
Instead just today I bought a 2001 LS430 with 118,000 miles that was in really really nice condition for just $600 more than that guy was currently asking (and less than his original ask).. I'm v happy with it. I'll pick it up Wed after the owner's finished detailing it.
So on this one, the timing belt got changed 5 years ago at 70,000 miles, so I've got 40,000 miles or 4 years left on this one. And I'm buying it from Sacramento! I would get it done there if it needed it. I'm actually in Lake County so Sac is only about an hour further from me than SR and better yet, there are no mountains to drive over! So great, thanks for the recommendation to your mechanic FatherTo1, I'm sure I can use him for all my LS 430 needs! [EDIT: Funny, I just checked and Folsom Japanese Auto Repair is just 3 miles from where I'm buying the car! I'd bet the owner got his work done there.]
UPDATE: So I drove 3 hours to see this car that looked so good in the pics and it was terrible! Supposedly driven by the seller's 88 year old father-in-law but it had grime spots all over the seats and doors and lots of stuff didn't work etc.. Oh and I'd asked on the phone if he had service records and he said yes, but when I got there he didn't - just carfax records. He most likely bought it at auction. Anyway, needless to say I didn't buy it. I want a car that has been looked after and babied.(I notice in his ad, he's dropped the price twice now to $1500 less than his original ask.)
Instead just today I bought a 2001 LS430 with 118,000 miles that was in really really nice condition for just $600 more than that guy was currently asking (and less than his original ask).. I'm v happy with it. I'll pick it up Wed after the owner's finished detailing it.
So on this one, the timing belt got changed 5 years ago at 70,000 miles, so I've got 40,000 miles or 4 years left on this one. And I'm buying it from Sacramento! I would get it done there if it needed it. I'm actually in Lake County so Sac is only about an hour further from me than SR and better yet, there are no mountains to drive over! So great, thanks for the recommendation to your mechanic FatherTo1, I'm sure I can use him for all my LS 430 needs! [EDIT: Funny, I just checked and Folsom Japanese Auto Repair is just 3 miles from where I'm buying the car! I'd bet the owner got his work done there.]
Hope you have years of carefree motoring....I have 2 so far!
#20
Lexus Fanatic
milosk, my mechanic did all of the above (including spark plugs) for $979 back in November 2016 on our 2006 LS 430 at 59K miles. The timing belt was over 11 years old at the time and I wanted the peace of mind. However, the timing belt looked in great condition. I couldn't find the original thread but photos are below. My mechanic is in Sacramento, about two hours away from Santa Rosa/Bay Area if you think the drive is worth the savings. My mechanic has 20 years experience as a master tech at Toyota/Lexus dealerships before he opened up his own shop, Folsom Japanese Auto Repair.
#21
Racer
Thanks guys for all the help and suggestions.
UPDATE: So I drove 3 hours to see this car that looked so good in the pics and it was terrible! Supposedly driven by the seller's 88 year old father-in-law but it had grime spots all over the seats and doors and lots of stuff didn't work etc.. Oh and I'd asked on the phone if he had service records and he said yes, but when I got there he didn't - just carfax records. He most likely bought it at auction. Anyway, needless to say I didn't buy it. I want a car that has been looked after and babied.(I notice in his ad, he's dropped the price twice now to $1500 less than his original ask.)
Instead just today I bought a 2001 LS430 with 118,000 miles that was in really really nice condition for just $600 more than that guy was currently asking (and less than his original ask).. I'm v happy with it. I'll pick it up Wed after the owner's finished detailing it.
So on this one, the timing belt got changed 5 years ago at 70,000 miles, so I've got 40,000 miles or 4 years left on this one. And I'm buying it from Sacramento! I would get it done there if it needed it. I'm actually in Lake County so Sac is only about an hour further from me than SR and better yet, there are no mountains to drive over! So great, thanks for the recommendation to your mechanic FatherTo1, I'm sure I can use him for all my LS 430 needs! [EDIT: Funny, I just checked and Folsom Japanese Auto Repair is just 3 miles from where I'm buying the car! I'd bet the owner got his work done there.]
UPDATE: So I drove 3 hours to see this car that looked so good in the pics and it was terrible! Supposedly driven by the seller's 88 year old father-in-law but it had grime spots all over the seats and doors and lots of stuff didn't work etc.. Oh and I'd asked on the phone if he had service records and he said yes, but when I got there he didn't - just carfax records. He most likely bought it at auction. Anyway, needless to say I didn't buy it. I want a car that has been looked after and babied.(I notice in his ad, he's dropped the price twice now to $1500 less than his original ask.)
Instead just today I bought a 2001 LS430 with 118,000 miles that was in really really nice condition for just $600 more than that guy was currently asking (and less than his original ask).. I'm v happy with it. I'll pick it up Wed after the owner's finished detailing it.
So on this one, the timing belt got changed 5 years ago at 70,000 miles, so I've got 40,000 miles or 4 years left on this one. And I'm buying it from Sacramento! I would get it done there if it needed it. I'm actually in Lake County so Sac is only about an hour further from me than SR and better yet, there are no mountains to drive over! So great, thanks for the recommendation to your mechanic FatherTo1, I'm sure I can use him for all my LS 430 needs! [EDIT: Funny, I just checked and Folsom Japanese Auto Repair is just 3 miles from where I'm buying the car! I'd bet the owner got his work done there.]
Sorry you drove three hours (one-way?) to be disappointed by that first LS. It is a waste and shame to see LSes that have not been maintained well. My Dad now has our 06 LS and he keeps it in the garage, with a car cover, when it isn't driven...same habit he did with his first Lexus, a '95 ES 300 all those years ago. Dad absolutely babies that LS and keeps it immaculate.
Last edited by FatherTo1; 10-14-18 at 09:24 AM.
#22
Moderator
You will not have any issues with the idler pulleys on the LS. Here is a picture of mine after disassembling them to see what kind of wear there was after running 125K miles. There was virtually none. These things could easily go 500K miles in my opinion. It seems like such a waste to have replaced them in retrospect...
I've installed the Aisin TB kit a few times on other cars and never had any problems but always felt the water pump was questionable so this time I used a Gates kit and a OE Toyota water pump. Very happy with the OE pump and the Gates kit came with Koyo bearings. I also used an NTN tensioner from Rockauto.
So for anyone driving on an old timing belt this hopefully provides a realistic perspective of what you might find when removing the timing covers. The engineers know the life expectancy of these parts and the 90k mile 9 year service intervals are, in my estimation, about 50% in order to protect the end user. Just my 1.5 cents YMMV...
#24
Driver School Candidate
Thread Starter
Sorry you drove three hours (one-way?) to be disappointed by that first LS. It is a waste and shame to see LSes that have not been maintained well. My Dad now has our 06 LS and he keeps it in the garage, with a car cover, when it isn't driven...same habit he did with his first Lexus, a '95 ES 300 all those years ago. Dad absolutely babies that LS and keeps it immaculate.
Last edited by milosk; 10-15-18 at 05:23 PM.
#25
I've been under the impression the interval for timing belt change was every 70k, where did 90k come from? If I could get that confirmed it would actually be great because it would give me another year before i'd have to have it done.
#26
Racer
#27
Racer
#28
The Lexus Driver's site lists the following maintenance interval and is recommended to change the timing belt at 90K (or 9 years). Ninety-thousand miles is the number I've always had in my mind for Hondas and Toyotas.
#29
Instructor
Might have been changed due to time not miles.
#30
Lexus Champion