RX400h cambelt advice

[GarethA]

Bought a low mileage (65k) RX400h 2008 six months ago.

It had previously been serviced by a Lexus dealer but I am now being told that the cambelt (and you might as well do the waterpump too)

needs replacing because it is 10 years old. And the spark plugs front and back will need doing too. I was told that the cambelt should have

been done at the last service but wasn't, even though there is a dealer stamp in the book.

Should I be asking Lexus why the stamp is there but the work wasn't done?

Does the cambelt / waterpump / plugs really need replacing, as the mileage is so low (now 67.5k)?

 

Thanks

 

Gareth

 

[Herbie]

Yes, cambelt is 100k miles or 10 years, whichever comes soonest.

Most people replace the water pump at the same time because it's located in the same place. As an example, say the cost of changing the belt comes to £350, changing the pump at the same time might add £50 to the job. However, if you don't do it at the same time, 90% of the work done to change the belt will need to be done again to get to the pump so you'll end up with another £300 bill.

Note that if you get Lexus to change the belt then that's literally all they do. They do not change the belt idlers/tensioners at the same time, even though it's best practice to do so, unless you pay extra for that. If you're good with the spanners and wanted to do the job yourself you can buy cambelt kits that include the idlers/tensioners and everything you need, but like I said, when Lexus give you a price to replace the cambelt, that's all they do.

Most people change spark plugs on a mileage basis rather than time and I would do them at whatever mileage your owner's manual says they should be done.

[BachelorDays]

A big variable in all this would be your own annual mileage. If you aren't going to hit 100k for another 5 years I'd go easy on everything but the essential (belt) and probably give that some time too.  If you're a 20k+ user then it's all coming up soon enough anyway. 

I don't know about the cambelts on the Lexus but the cambelts on Toyotas in the '90s would suffer most if the cars were driven very hard (and I mean red-lining the RPMs), otherwise come off at the prescribed intervals looking pretty much like new. 

I wonder what experience members here have of their belt condition at replacement?

Do shop around for the work.  This is just the sort of thing that a good garage (specially an Independent) will do just as well as the dealer, but will be much cheaper.

[GarethA]

Really do appreciate all the info and would also like some advice on the fact that the Lexus dealer has

completed a service 10 years on and not changed the cambelt, is this correct practice?

 

Sorry, meant to add, future mileage will only be 10-12k.

[BachelorDays]

If you've bought it off Lexus then it matters.  Otherwise all they've done is to follow instructions given to them by the owner.

I know what you mean about them stamping the book at the 10 year mark without doing an extra piece of work marked for the 10 year service.  You could always take this up with them but I don't think it'll wash.

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, BachelorDays said:

A big variable in all this would be your own annual mileage. If you aren't going to hit 100k for another 5 years I'd go easy on everything but the essential (belt) and probably give that some time too

Not sure I'd agree with that but then again, maybe I'm just overly cautious.

Whenever I buy a second-hand car I always change the cambelt (unless there's a record of previous owner doing it in the recent past) and also all fluids including coolant and ATF - only then can I rest happy. In my opinion it's not just 'moving miles' but also how long the engine spends idling. Because this is a hybrid if the previous owner has ever been parked up listening to the radio or whatever, the engine will have fired up to keep the traction Battery from discharging too much. I do this myself - park up on a sea-front or Promenade somewhere and spend ages just enjoying the view, with the radio on, and I know that the engine fires up quite frequently.

I also remember that someone on here recounted a story last year that a milkman had had a belt give up on him because he spent a lot of time out of the van with the engine idling while he delivered the milk to individual houses. The odometer showed some value (think it was about 70k) but the engine actually had a fair few thousand miles-worth more use because it spent almost as much time idling as it did moving.

I know that I'm paranoid about it but to me, it's just not worth taking the risk and I'd rather do jobs like these too early rather than too late.

[GarethA]

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

Yours

 

Gareth