I have a '99 rx300 which I recently purchased. It has 107,750 miles on it. I paid a mechanic to replace the water pump and the timing belt. I have since discovered this mechanic has a questionable reputation. I'm concerned that he may not have replaced either the belt or the water pump. Looking at what I believe to be the water pump (Bottom of engine near firewall) I can't tell by the angle I'm at as to whether it looks new or not. Also, I read some posts on the engine and from what I read I couldn't conclude if it was a interferance or non-interferance engine. Can anybody out there help.

Thanks

 

Definetly non-interference. I think the confusion started when gates, a manufacturer of timing belts, listed the RX as having an non-interference engine then about a year ago when they updated the list, they changed it to interference. I sent an email to Gates and they responded that it is non-interference.

 

Thanks for clearing that question up Mikey00. Any ideas about the durability of water pumps for the RX300? Just by looking at mine I can't tell if has been replaced or not.

 

It seems most Lexus dealers like to change the water pump when they do the timing belt. I am not really sure how necessary that is. I had my timing belt done at a Toyota dealer. Both the service advisor and the technician claimed they inspect the wp when changing the timing belt and if it is not leaking and the bearing turns smooth it is a waste of money to change it. Both claimed the wp is not an item designed to be changed as routine maintenance. It is only changed at failure and it rarely fails on that engine. I thought they most likely see this engine more then anybody and went with their recommendation. If I insisted on changing it, they would have graciously accepted my money.

 

Keep this as a favorite:

http://www.gates.com/downloads/downl...older=brochure

FWIW, I never let an independant mechanic do serious remove/replace of parts without asking for the old parts. I did this once with a Nissan Maxima and they threw away the parts ( or so they claimed). I never went back there again.

Gary

 

That favorite is the gates document that incorrectly identifies the RX as interference.

 

A good mechanic should be able to inspect and tell if the belt is new. The teeth (for lack of a better word) are square (sharp edges) on the new belt and the leading edges show a rounding off after time. Aged belts also build cracks on the outer side.

In summary there are tell tale signs of the belt has 10000+ miles to differentiate with a new one. Inspection can be done by removing a cover, which should be easy.

Note: visual inspection only shows superficial signs of wear, which should be good enough for the current purpose BUT should NOT be used to postpone replacement.

The Lexus dealership affixes a decal by the radiator, stating milage at which belt was replaced.

Salim

 

Most technicians will recomend to replace the water pump when doing the timing belt is while the engine is taken apart for the timing belt, you can replace the waterpump now which will save much more money than if you wait, and the possiblity the water pump goes bad later. SInce most car's water pump runs off of the timing belt in general, I think it is a good idea. If a timing belt is replaced only and not the pump at the same time, and the water pump locks up later, it will most likely shred the timing belt in the process, and might leave you stranded.

It is more of preventive maintenance to avoid a potential major failure later. Also if the pump just springs a leak later, you will have much more labor costs involved to replace it , than if you replaced the pump with the timing belt.

 

I will definitely just change out the water pump when I do the tbelt at recommended period , I think that is around 90k. By then the parts will be 8-9 years old and won't owe me anything and the marginal cost of the pump is minimal imo.

A tbelt about 7 years old I had the shop give me back on a 20-yr old car looked like new as far as I could tell, fwiw.