Time for Timing Belt - What else?????

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mikeinaustin

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Ok folks, it is time to change the timing belt in my 2002 toyota tundra v8 engine. there seems to be two thoughts on this:

1) change belt and water pump.
2) do complete front end (belt, water pump, pully/tensioners, seals, etc).

i agree with #1. Not so sure about #2. But you guys have more experience than me. What are your thoughts?????
 
Because it's the labour cost of RE-n-RE during t-belt changes that cost the most (time involved), it's usually a good thing to do all the things at once while you have your T-belt, sprockets, etc.) out of the car.

2) is always a good thing (always use OE no matter how costly it is, if you cheep out with lousy parts it's definitly gonna come back to bite you big, big time) for it would guarantee consistent, reliable service further down the road.

Q.
 
Belt, pump, and coolant. The rest you can forget. No need to replace items beyond "wear" items if they aren't typically worn.
 
X2 with sciphi's recommendation. Not to hijack the thread, but I wonder what the true reliability curve of a toyota water pump looks like?? That's a good question for folks here...has your water pump ever failed before the timing belt service?? Was weeping evident at the time of change?? From the domestic side I have seen many, many water pumps last out to 200k before they finally bleed out.
 
As Quest has well said, the labour to tear down a timing belt again to replace a water pump or leaking cam/crank seal is high for a low $ item. It's entirely up to you whether you wish to replace the water pump, tensioner and seals, plus the coolant when doing a T-belt job.

I have seen people who don't replace these and get along fine till the next T-belt change, and I have also seen those who have a leaking water pump 100 miles after a timing belt change, and wished that they had changed it out earlier.
 
#2 for sure. What happens when your idler pulley starts to squeal like crazy? You will have to take it in (again)
 
Is there a typical T-belt component failure point on this engine? For many, a tensioner will weaken and cause issues. For some the water pump will leak/seize, or an idler pulley bearing or tensioner pulley bearing will go, cause wobble and drop the belt. It's almost never the belt itself that fails. It's one of the driven components or possibly a coolant or oil leak that causes them to fail. All those components can fail just as easy as the belt.

Joel
 
Originally Posted By: pickled
X2 with sciphi's recommendation. Not to hijack the thread, but I wonder what the true reliability curve of a toyota water pump looks like?? That's a good question for folks here...has your water pump ever failed before the timing belt service?? Was weeping evident at the time of change?? From the domestic side I have seen many, many water pumps last out to 200k before they finally bleed out.


No never had a water pump fail before doing the timing belt.

Yes plenty of weeping evident at time of change even though coolant loss was not detected prior to the job.

When I had the timing belt done on my 2001 Neon the following items were replaced:

-Timing belt
-Hydraulic tensioner + pulley
-Water pump
-Crank seal
-Cam seal
-Power steering/AC idler assembly
-Upper engine torque strut

It was obvious the water pump needed to be replaced as it was with the pulley assemblies that no longer ran smooth.

The old timing belt itself looked brand new but who knows what it was like internally.

I had the job done about 5k before the maintenance schedule recommendation as putting this maintenance item off on an interference type engine is like playing Russian roulette.
 
i plan on keeping this truck basically forever.

regarding water pump failure, the answer is yes, my friends pump just died long before the timing belt needed to be changed (approx 20 thousand miles before).

i "hear" that with these engines, the tensioner fails long before the belt fails, but it DO NOT know that for certain.
 
From what i can see on a catalog your tensioner is a hydraulic unit. I've never done a Tundra v8 yet but if its like the 3.4's you should replace the tensioner pulley and idler pulley. You can reuse the hydraulic tensioner by collapsing it and putting a pin to keep it compressed until you release to tighten the Tbelt. If your very particular its adviseable to replace the tensioner but please make sure its a japanese unit. Please only buy a japanese made water pump for reliability.

I would use the red toyota coolant but if your in a jam use the yellow global stuff. I always use a bottle of coolant sealant for reasurance. Get your torque specs for the water pump bolts.

Pickled, In the domestic v6 or v8 world the water pump is not a crucial component to change since it is not run by the timing belt. If the domestic water pump goes it just either siezes or leaks. If a water pump leaks on many japanese makes and it so happens to sieze, your in big trouble. My observations is not like yours when it comes to the 200k mark. Whats scary about the domestic cars is that there are no more "north american made" replacement water pumps to be found. The chinese water pumps are "roll the dice" so to speak.
 
Mike,
Fellow TSer,
I did #2 on my '02.
Then parked an '07 next to it.
Plus I would add serpentine belt go Gatorback.
And change the Thermostat.
Drive it for another hundred thou!
 
Originally Posted By: mikeinaustin
well.....i'll drive it for another 90k before i have to do this service all over again.


I usually do #1 for the first round and then #2 for the second round.
 
Typically a Toyota dealer won't replace the belt without the pump, some say the tensioner as well.

It's cheap insurance. Put it on.
 
Originally Posted By: MrCritical
Typically a Toyota dealer won't replace the belt without the pump, some say the tensioner as well.

It's cheap insurance. Put it on.

Not true. Toyota dealers in this area only replace the timing belt and replace the other items on an as-needed basis. What you described is a common practice with Honda dealerships.

I would replace the timing belt, water pump (because pump failures on recent Toyota products are common), all drive belts and the timing belt tensioner (because the 4.7 is an interference design).
 
My bad.

What I should have said was that Toyota Dealers (in my area) typically wont' replace the belt without the pump, as in show you the door.

Because they know "pump failures on recent Toyota products are common" just as you say. Protect the customer from his/her own stupidity.
 
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