I did not question the fact that your belt broke. I suggested that something else failed which caused your belt to break. Now you say that your indie checked and confirmed nothing was wrong. If you had said that in your first post I would not have made that suggestion. Having said that, I agree with Code58 that it is more likely your TB was not replaced than it broke at 80k. I say that because I have personally experienced and have read many, many stories of dealer fraud but I have never heard of a TB breaking at 80k.

Here is what I posted:

"TB breaking at 80K? That is as rare as it gets. I wonder if there isn't more to the story? You will probably never know why this belt failed prematurely. I am guessing it had nothing to do with the belt assuming it was a factory belt."

PS. You never told us what the "engine failure" was that led to the dealer replacing the TB at 88K under extended warranty.

 

I'll tell you all of one experience, not at a Lexus dealership but at a GM dealership. I used to own a Saturn and I never trusted them after they told me that I needed a new power steering pump due to a leak. They put a new pump in and afterwards, the leak was still present, and upon further investigation, I found that it was leaking from the reservior where the supply hose was connected. I really came down hard on them for replacing the entire pump to the point where they refunded all of the funds paid to replace it. I firmly beleive that they do stuff like this and hope no one calls them on it. If they don't they make more money on unecessary repairs.

An honest mistake on their part? Don't think so - in fact, I trust NO car repair facility except for the Toyota dealership I take my vehicles to - my neighbor is the head mechanic and I am blessed to have this arrangement. Other things happened at that GM dealership where I know something was suspect but won't go into them.

Bottom line for me: Unless you can hover over the repair being done and verify with your own eyes that the repair was actually done, I don't care what the RO says, it's just paper.

 

Answering this post, my engine failed at 88k - the work order said "premature wearing of rod" - got a new engine under the certified used extended warranty and that work order at 88k claimed a new timing belt was also installed. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. At 168k driving down the road, heard a noise and the vehicle completely stalled out. That was when the dealer and independent mechanic both advised a broken timing belt with no other damage.

I currently use an independent mechanic for my other car, an Infiniti. He's a master Nissan mechanic and my favorite part about using him is he lets me in his garage and I can watch everything he does. It's a lot better than a service adviser claiming what the mechanic had done. So who knows if I really got a new timing belt at 88k. I also now use an independent mechanic for some things for my RX 300 but he won't let me in the garage due to insurance restrictions.

 

There is a sticker on my timing belt cover that says my belt was replaced at 56k from the last owner? Wierd? It has 65k on it now

 

As I pointed out on my ES, some might be changing them due to time and not mileage, which in your case may or may not be true.

Otherwise, all it means is you have almost 10k on your new belt...

 

I have a RX300 2001.
I got my engine (i guess major part) replaced as part of the oil sludge warranty from Lexus at 65K.
When i was at 100K and was thinking about the 90K mile service, i went through the old documents from the dealer for the 65K repair and it said timing belt as well as all the spark plugs were changed. But i doubted the dealer records and called the Lexus customer service line to make sure that indeed the TB and spark plugs were changed and they also looked at the records and verified that.
But again since these records were from the dealer it is quite possible that dealer never changed it and charged Lexus corporate for it.

Just putting this information in case the dealer just pocketed the extra money when doing the warranty work on Stemmer's car!!!

Anyways i am not planning to replace TB ever and keeping my fingers crossed on that

 

Is the lexus rx 300 high risk of getting oil sludge more than any other car?


I am worried now because I have changed from synthetic to Castrol Gtx 5w/30 conventional

 

It sure seems like a higher risk for sludge than the average car.

 

I have been using Castrol GTX motor oil and am not the least bit worried about sludge. I change the oil every 3-4,000 miles.

From what I've read over the years on this forum, sludge is only a problem when oil changes have been neglected or lower quality oil (e.g., cheapo oil-change places) have been used. It costs me over $20 for GTX oil and a Toyota/Lexus oil filter with crushable washer. You can't expect to get quality materials at a $17 or $20 oil change special.

 

Change your oil on a regular basis and you will have no problems...with any car.

 

It is more prone to sludge than other cars, but you won't have any issue if your oci is about 4,500 miles or less. Castrol GTX is a stellar oil in the conventional world, it should withstand sludge well, if you want another tough oil get pyb (yellow bottle). It's great stuff, for a cheap price.

 

pyb???

 

Bob, that's not really true. There have been sludge problems for years on cars that have had their oil changed on a REGULAR basis, less miles than factory recommended even. And it's NOT JUST T/L that has had problems either. T/L isn't just being the good guys and replacing engines on vehicles that have been horribly abused by the owners by not changing the oil regularly. Go to Toyota sites about sludge and engine failure problems. I read one some time ago (with pictures) of a little old ladies Camry with VERY LOW miles that had engine failure because of solid sludge and proper maintenance. T/L TRIED early on to blame it on improper maintenance but when most of the people were able to produce receipts from the DEALER proving otherwise, eventually they only looked like fools proceeding on down that road. I wouldn't blame ANY manufacturer for denying warranty when a quick oil change shop used CHEAP oil, but that WAS NOT normally the case.

 

hypervish assumes everyone knows code...pyb I guess, is Pennzoil Yellow Bottle. You're supposed to knowt that, Code58!!!

 

haha, sorry about that... Penzoil Yellow Bottle. I'm used to bitog language (bob is the oil guy forum)