Check Your Timing Belt Early!

[duttnut]

I'm a new member on the forum, Only had my IS200 for about two weeks, and I'm very happy with it in general. There's a few niggles to sort out, but as I consider the car was a bargin I don't mind spending some time and a little money on putting it right :)

One reason the car was cheaper than usuall was its lack of service history, but after a test drive and a good listen to the engine, etc, I decided to go ahead and take a chance

So, one of the first jobs on my list was to change the timing belt, It'd done 89,000miles so well on the way to the 100.000miles recomendation which most people seem to go by, but over the "or 6 years" which seems more realistic!

So as I'm pretty handy with my tools, and an engineer of sorts :D I decided to do the belt myself and change the water pump at the same time, the job was fairly simple and I must say that the quality of engineering on the car was fantastic.

Note, there was no unusual noise coming from the engine and no lack in performance.

This is what I found when I removed the top timing belt cover,

Wow :o

Yes the belt should be twice the width!

and with the bottom cover removed,

The remains of the other half of the belt are plain to see. The tensioner pulley had worn and gone out of line and was trying to throw off the belt, luckily the guard was close enough to stop it coming off in one go.

You can see in the next pic how the tensioner pulley on the left is out of alignmentcompered to the others,

The old belt and its remains!

The problem it seems wasn't the belt at all, Half the belt was still doing the work fine, but the tensioner must have been worn for ages, so even if your belt looks good, you could still be in for a supprise!

So if your belt has never been changed even if your car has low milage , do it! You may not be as lucky as me!

[aido]

Bloody hell that's bonkers!

Looks like it's a good job you did it when you did as that oculd have caused a nasty problem if it had let go!

[Parthiban]

Yep that is pretty scary how thin it's got, Lexus actually revised the cambelt change for the IS to 6 years or 60,000 miles, and it's clear from those photos why!

[lexol]

Amazing!

I just had my cambelt done at 101,000 miles as I had no service history when I bought the car and didnt know if it had been done.

The belt they removed was as new, no wear at all was aparent but the tensioner did have signs of heat damage/marking on it. It makes me think mine must have been done @ 60k or 6 years as my car is a 1999.

How the rest of that belt didn't get chewed up is pure luck surely?

[Caspian Beast]

Yep that is pretty scary how thin it's got, Lexus actually revised the cambelt change for the IS to 6 years or 60,000 miles, and it's clear from those photos why!

Thats what you call lucky, sound advice to change early to avoid an expensive nightmare.....

[DJ Wozza]

Very lucky you checked it mate, phew !!

[Steviewevie]

You had a lucky escape there !

P.S. Mods, this would be worth moving to the IS200 forum, wouldn't it ?

[DJ Wozza]

may even be worth a pin TBH

[duttnut]

Whoops, sorry hadn't realised I'd put it in the wrong section :o

[dgman]

Whoops, sorry hadn't realised I'd put it in the wrong section :o

no worries over here,chains only.

[johnboy]

Moved and pinned, def a warning to those thinking of leaving it too long.

[k33rjd]

this is why the belts must be checked every 10k after the 60k service. the tensioner pulley wears and as you can see pushes the belt onto the cover, wearing it down to nothing. ive never come across one thats snapped yet but i have found them as small as 9-10mm!!!! so do please check your belts its easy to do.

using a 10mm socket and rachet (1/4 drive is good enough for this as its small and the bolts shouldnt be over tight) remove front air duct- air box (need a long extension to reach the 10mm bolt at the back) take care and pull this up slowly and remove the oil breather pipe also- and the top engine cover (take care with this also as it can become brittle and break).

then still using the 10mm socket and rachet remove the top half of the cambelt cover- two bolts at the top, one near the by-pass hose/water pump and one the other side which is partially covered by a bracket but you should still be able to remove it. then the cover is ready to be taken off.

now a visual check of the belt can be made- look at the belt - has the smooth side got any marks on it (such as a constant wear mark that runs the whole length of the belt), is the belt a similar thickness as the pulleys? (if not, is it sitting to far forward or near the block?), is the belt in good condition? (i.e. has no cracks or perish marks)

the belt should be sitting evenly and and be in good order, have no cracks or contamination. if in doubt ask a professional. but an early check can save you alot of problems.

[James S]

This post proper scared me, my cam belt is due a change asap. And saw these pics last night, and had to check.

So had a quick look and belt looks fine. Bit tired, so still going to change it.

Anyone in Leeds area who has done this to their own 200, that might be willing to give me a hand??? Will be gettin parts in next couple of weeks :winky:

[kev dood]

I spoke to the guy at ABM when I had my service done and apparently it happens more on the 1999 to 2003 cars. Not sure if they changed the design of the idler a bit since then??

[gibbsy]

hi all as we speak my is is in getting water pump and belt done as it was rattling on reving, probly tensioner/ pully ive just called garage to see how thay r getting and he said im lucky with 5mil of belt left, lucky me, but he also said that the housing for water pump has i tiny leak and may need changing, as anyone heard of this before and how much am i looking at, many thanks.

[Steviewevie]

Housing for the water pump ? If you're already changing the pump itself, I wonder if he means the bypass pipe/O-rings, which is prone to leaking.

[gibbsy]

Housing for the water pump ? If you're already changing the pump itself, I wonder if he means the bypass pipe/O-rings, which is prone to leaking.

[gibbsy]

hi i will pick the car up 2day and try and let you know what he was talking about but, the good news is he said it is running sweet but i couldnt pick it up coz of shift work thanks to all that replyed

[Asi]

thats lucky mate. if you had left for longer you would have been gutted!

[abbott]

bloody hell , its like a corrogated elastic band !!

Now that could have been disastrous ....

[frenchyboy]

hi all ive had my 200 for about 2 weeks now was gona check my belt when i service it but i wasent that lucky and it dident make it i was just on my way home about half a mile doing 50mph and it snaped if there is any lotto winners out there and feel sorry for me please dont hesatate to call!!!!

[gibbsy]

hi all i now av images but i dont know how to put them on here, who can help ?

[aaronabbott]

open an account on photobucket and copy the links in

[Steviewevie]

There are some handy guides on posting up pictures here and here.

[boro1607]

I'm a new member on the forum, Only had my IS200 for about two weeks, and I'm very happy with it in general. There's a few niggles to sort out, but as I consider the car was a bargin I don't mind spending some time and a little money on putting it right :)

One reason the car was cheaper than usuall was its lack of service history, but after a test drive and a good listen to the engine, etc, I decided to go ahead and take a chance

So, one of the first jobs on my list was to change the timing belt, It'd done 89,000miles so well on the way to the 100.000miles recomendation which most people seem to go by, but over the "or 6 years" which seems more realistic!

So as I'm pretty handy with my tools, and an engineer of sorts :D I decided to do the belt myself and change the water pump at the same time, the job was fairly simple and I must say that the quality of engineering on the car was fantastic.

Note, there was no unusual noise coming from the engine and no lack in performance.

This is what I found when I removed the top timing belt cover,

Wow :o

Yes the belt should be twice the width!

and with the bottom cover removed,

The remains of the other half of the belt are plain to see. The tensioner pulley had worn and gone out of line and was trying to throw off the belt, luckily the guard was close enough to stop it coming off in one go.

You can see in the next pic how the tensioner pulley on the left is out of alignmentcompered to the others,

The old belt and its remains!

The problem it seems wasn't the belt at all, Half the belt was still doing the work fine, but the tensioner must have been worn for ages, so even if your belt looks good, you could still be in for a supprise!

So if your belt has never been changed even if your car has low milage , do it! You may not be as lucky as me!