I'm looking to do my timing belt and water pump in a couple weeks. I'm gonna do the whole shabang. Belt, pulley,belt tensioner, actuator and water pump. I was gonna do a timing belt kit and get the water pump from Toyota. The cheapest price I could find on a quality pump was from dealer. Any recommendations on what brand timing belt kit to get? There is actually a full ,kit from Dayco that includes pump for $330. I know their belts are good, but is the kit and pump also good from them? Is gates a good kit? What about Aisin or Beck Arnley? Thanx in advance for any recommendations.

 

Most things are made in China. You can't help it.

Most stuff from China, or Germany like in this kit, are good enough to outlast your ownership of the car.

The only pump that is crucial, is the oil pump, I would go OEM on that.

Everything else, you can save a few bucks:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-98-3-0-TO...461806&vxp=mtr

Welcome to CL.

 

Thanx for the welcome! You posted a link for an SC300. I gotta big dog bro, SC400. LOL Yea I saw some good kits deals on Ebay and Amazon. I wasn't necessarily avoiding China products. There are just a lot of choices out there and I'm not familiar enough to recognize the quality names yet. I don't have money to throw away, but I don't mind spending on quality stuff.

 

use rock auto.com, they are generally a great deal cheaper than anywhere else and use all quality name brand stuff. Recently did a head job on my 94 gs300, all the stuff thru a local auto parts store was gonna be 500+ it was like 250-300 through rock auto, same brands

 

Well in that case, I have just recently installed the GMB kit onto a 160k mile SC400. I thought the quality of the bearings and casting were on par with factory.

Good aftermarket:


-Nakamachi/ NTK/NGK
-GMB
-Aisin


The only things that are crucial are:

-Oil pump

-Bearings

-(some) Sensors


These deserve OEM replacement.

Rock auto is the best, that's for sure!

 

I was surprised to see you recommend GMB. They are consistently the least expensive where ever I research. I know expensive doesn't always mean better, I just had wrote them off as low quality because they were always the cheapest. So would you recommend against Beck or Gates or Dayco? Actually the Dayco kit comes with a GMB water pump, weird.

 

Please no China parts on ur beautiful reliable bullet proof sexy japanese car.

 

Use this belt kit with tensioners and seals http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-97-4-0L-L...fc8d96&vxp=mtr

Use this water pump http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEXUS-LS400-...78e864&vxp=mtr

And this hydro tensioner http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dayco-85016-...05ec94&vxp=mtr

This is the best cost effective solution with quality parts that you can get away with as I went this route my self last week and it comes with all gaskets you will need as well so just go out and get 1 gallon of toyota red antifreeze and optional thermostat and upper and lower radiator hoses and you will be set for a good long while

 

All said and done I have less than 250 in the whole t-belt job including radiator hoses and thermostat.
Also the tensioners in the kit are GMB .

 

Wow! That's a good price. I see it comes with cam and crank seals. Even if I don't get this particular kit are the seals something I should do anyways? How hard are they to remove and install?

 

Yes the seals are part of the service and should always be done while you are there and since you are there it might add another 1/2 hour of labor also it's fairly easy.

 

which part of arizona are you in? ill give you a hand when it comes time; id much rather see what im in for before i start with another party rather than tearing down a block at the yard as a test run.

 

I use autoparts warehouse...I tried rock auto and got some "refurbished" duds

 

I'm not sure I like that kit. The seals and belt are made by Evergreen in Taiwan. They might be good. I just don't feel comfortable about them. I think I'm gonna go with the Aisin (OEM) kit which includes the water pump and gaskets for $187.00. The actuator will be an extra $33.00. The seals will be an extra $30.00. So for the same money I will have OEM stuff. I'll spend a little extra for hoses and thermostat. So for an additional $40 - $50 I'll have piece of mind of KNOWING I have high quality parts. Who knows, maybe your stuff will last 10 years and mine will break in 6 months. I just think you can't go wrong with OEM, especially when the cost is competitive with non OEM. I do appreciate your help.

 

I'm in Mesa. Gonna do it in three weekends. Gotta wait until payday to order parts.