99 Sienna Timing Belt Change - 322,000 Miles

[kschachn]

For probably the last time, I changed out the timing belt and water pump on my old Sienna. The belt and cooling system looked good, no major issues except a stuck bolt in the engine mount support. Water gets down inside the support and corrodes the aluminum against the steel bolt. Anyway, I bought a new support and bolts and with a little destructive demolition I got the support removed.

No leaks and the engine started up fine. Getting the belt on properly is a bit difficult since you can't directly see the rear sprocket timing mark. You have to use a mirror and making sure there aren't parallax errors is somewhat fiddly.

So it has a new timing belt, new idler pulleys, new water pump and new accessory belts (Aisin kit and Toyota/Mitsuboshi accessory belts). We'll see how much longer this old vehicle will last, the transmission is starting to act weird at times and that may be more trouble to fix than it's worth. I don't know


The pictures below are just the water pump part of the work as I was crunched for time getting it back together and didn't take any pictures of the belt. But that was nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[andyd]

Isn't it amazing to get that kind of use from a car? When I was a kid people gave me '56 Fords that were junk at 70 K miles and 7 yrs old.

 

[hypervish]

These vans are solid. I haven't changed the TB on mine, it's at 151k miles. It's non-interference though so I'll change it when It breaks. I wouldn't dare do that on a VVT-I 1MZ-FE though.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: hypervish
These vans are solid. I haven't changed the TB on mine, it's at 151k miles. It's non-interference though so I'll change it when It breaks. I wouldn't dare do that on a VVT-I 1MZ-FE though.


Yeah, my wife uses the van for her restaurant and drives at night a lot on various highways. I didn't want her stranded anywhere. It wasn't the belt I was worried about though really, it was more the water pump and tensioner pulleys. The first time I changed the belt I didn't change the pulleys and about 40,000 miles later one started making a knocking noise. I had to take it all apart again to replace them.

IMO I wouldn't wait till it breaks. How do you know where that will be? What if it's miles away on a Sunday night? That belt is long and if it gets wrapped around stuff when it breaks you could be looking at a bigger repair than just the belt. And although it is noninterference does that apply at high speeds? The clearance is very, very close. My $0.02.

 

[hypervish]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: hypervish
These vans are solid. I haven't changed the TB on mine, it's at 151k miles. It's non-interference though so I'll change it when It breaks. I wouldn't dare do that on a VVT-I 1MZ-FE though.


Yeah, my wife uses the van for her restaurant and drives at night a lot on various highways. I didn't want her stranded anywhere. It wasn't the belt I was worried about though really, it was more the water pump and tensioner pulleys. The first time I changed the belt I didn't change the pulleys and about 40,000 miles later one started making a knocking noise. I had to take it all apart again to replace them.

IMO I wouldn't wait till it breaks. How do you know where that will be? What if it's miles away on a Sunday night? That belt is long and if it gets wrapped around stuff when it breaks you could be looking at a bigger repair than just the belt. And although it is noninterference does that apply at high speeds? The clearance is very, very close. My $0.02.


Agreed, I don't typically hold off on maintenance like this however this van was only used for a 2 mile commute. But, recently the commute has become longer and the van will be making much longer trips. So, I do plan to change the belt and associated components sometime this summer when I have some time to dig in to it.

I'll be sure to take some pictures of the old belt and other components for any notable wear.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: kschachn
Yeah, my wife uses the van for her restaurant and drives at night a lot on various highways. I didn't want her stranded anywhere. It wasn't the belt I was worried about though really, it was more the water pump and tensioner pulleys. The first time I changed the belt I didn't change the pulleys and about 40,000 miles later one started making a knocking noise. I had to take it all apart again to replace them.

IMO I wouldn't wait till it breaks. How do you know where that will be? What if it's miles away on a Sunday night? That belt is long and if it gets wrapped around stuff when it breaks you could be looking at a bigger repair than just the belt. And although it is noninterference does that apply at high speeds? The clearance is very, very close. My $0.02.


How often did you change the belt on the Sienna? I've changed the t/b and w/p on my 98 Sienna back in 2010 at 197,xxx km (122,xxx Mi). I had the same issue with one of he bolts breaking on metal timing belt cover.

How many hours did it take to do the belt and water pump?

 

[Lubener]

Great job. It is always satisfying doing the work yourself, knowing it was done right and you saved a ton of money.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: JC1
How often did you change the belt on the Sienna? I've changed the t/b and w/p on my 98 Sienna back in 2010 at 197,xxx km (122,xxx Mi). I had the same issue with one of he bolts breaking on metal timing belt cover.

How many hours did it take to do the belt and water pump?


I stuck to the 90,000 mile interval in the manual for the most part, give or take. The first time I didn't replace the pulleys and when they failed at about 40,000 miles later, I put on another new belt because the marks had worn off of the old one and I didn't want to mess with trying to mark it myself.

The bolt I had trouble with was in the aluminum engine mount support, the metal thing that has two long bolts running through holes in it. This is the old support (and bolt without head) here:

Subtracting for the time spent removing that bracket it took about 4 hours, but this isn't my first time at this rodeo. Having someone help when you put the new belt on is invaluable as it likes to jump a tooth on the crankshaft pulley if you don't hold it, and there is no way to zip-tie it in place unlike some other cars.

The Aisin kit on Rockauto is worth every penny. All OEM supplier parts and a price that is unbeatable,

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: hypervish
These vans are solid. I haven't changed the TB on mine, it's at 151k miles. It's non-interference though so I'll change it when It breaks. I wouldn't dare do that on a VVT-I 1MZ-FE though.


It will break at some point leaving your stranded and needing a tow. I might push the change some miles but would not ignore it until it broke.