Timing belt 5 years, change?

[Mailo87]

Hi!

So my Lexus dealer adviced me to change the timing belt because it is 5 years old (changed at 60'000 km, car is now at 115'000 km). It's an 05' is200.

Did an inspection of my belt, and this is how it looks:

What do you think, i think it looks good?

Should i change or not?

 

btw, price for the change here in norway belt and tensioner/pulley: £797.....with waterpump: £1269 :(

-Robin

[gdh300]

Hi, and welcome.

I would have thought changing a belt with five years and 55k on it is a bit early. And I know Norway is expensive, but £797?! In the UK Lexus dealers do fixed price servicing for older Lexus, and they quote £295 for a belt change. Are you committed to that dealer, or do you have a few within reasonable distance? For a competent local mechanic with a good local reputation, it's a relatively straight forward job.

[ColinBarber]

as above. Pay for a local mechanic to do the work, there is nothing in the job that needs a Lexus specialist.

In the UK the interval was 100k miles but was revised to 60k miles because the belt could be worn down if a pulley/tensioner when out of alignment. You don't have any of that wear so there is no reason to think it would fail before 100k miles (although I would check at least once a year to see if wear starts to occur).

[Mailo87]

I am not committed to this Lexus dealer, in fact i asked for the price from three different lexus dealers, and £797 vas the cheapest. the most expensive of the the three was £895.

All my previous services has been performed by lexus garages. Isn't there some advantages that all services has been done by lexus?

I agree that my belt looks good, so i think i will wait with the repair for now, and as you say check it a few times a year.

[sorcerer]

3 minutes ago, Mailo87 said:

All my previous services has been performed by lexus garages. Isn't there some advantages that all services has been done by lexus?

If the car was relatively new then yes, having a full main dealer service history helps to keep the resale value up a bit. However, a 2005 car is now 11 years old and having a full Lexus history will not mean very much anymore.

When we bought our 2005 RX300 six months ago it had done almost 80,000 miles and the timing belt should have been done at 100,000 miles or 10 years, whichever came first, so we had it done straight away. Timing belt, new tensioners/pulleys, new water pump and coolant change came to about £360 if I remember correctly at a local independent garage.

Oh, and my car doesn't have a full Lexus history

[Mailo87]

Just checked with a local dealer....£750...

Almost more economical to drive to the UK and get the repair done there 

Just out of curiosity, what would my car's selling price be if it was in the UK? For comparison I had one guy offer me £10'300 this summer. Other IS200 is on sale online here in norway from £5'000- 8'000 atm, older and lower KM than mine.

[Malc1]

......... do you need to change any of the peripherals as well as just the belt ?  55k kms seems a very low interval to make any changes at all  and at 115k kms overall I'd only be thinking to change the belt alone, checking the pulleys etc for undue wear and expecting the water pump to last many many more 000's kms yet !

When you do have it all done, as you intimate, bring it over for a holiday to the UK and save the cost of your trip by having it all fixed at an indie rather than a Lexus main stealer.

BUT don't blame me if you're unlucky and nothing lasts beyond tomorrow !

Malc 1

 

I'm running an old but cherished Ls400 and cambelt change at 100k MILES is the norm ( in the USA so why not here too ) and when mine's next done at 205k miles in about 18 months time ( 190k miles now ) at it's 3rd change ( I'm the 2nd owner ) we'll just check if the peripherals need changing but will most certainly change the probably original waterpump.