94 Camry 4 Cylinder, Is it time for a Timing Belt?

[Microman]

Bought the car with 120,000 two years ago. Has 172,000 miles on it now. Previous owner coudnt tell me about Timing Belt History.

Just had a tune up, and runs great now.

Is it time for a Timining Belt and Water Pump?

Looked at the How To: here on ToyotaNation, but it looks like it would take too much time for me, and I think I will go with a local place for around $580.

Another place quoted $375, but when I asked about other items like tensioner bearings, and antifreeze, it came up to $550.

Is this the kind of engine, that if the Timing Belt breaks, it will mess the whole engine? Or does this timing belt not cause that kind of damage. (Non-interferance, I think he said)

Wait or not wait?

And will it be a good investment?, People say that this car could go, 300,000 miles, and I would certainly keep it after daughter moves up.

Thanks.

[93celicaconv]

Your drive train certainly can make 300,000 miles, easy. I have a Celica that has that on it now. But the 300,000 mile goal requires certain maintenance work to get there. Timing belt changes are in that maintenance work.

Your owners manual will tell you for sure in your maintenance schedule section, but as a rule of thumb, timing belts should be changed every 60,000 miles. If all your driving involves long trips on the highway, with very little idling time or low speed driving, you can get more out of a timing belt. Some people on this forum have gotten 200,000 miles on a single timing belt, but I think that would be rare. You can check the physical appearance of your timing belt by taking off the top timing belt cover and looking - you will know by visual inspection if you need to change your timing belt soon. And it is always best to replace the water pump when a timing belt is changed - like you said, there is a lot of work to get to the point of replacing the timing belt, and the same effort is required to change the water pump by itself, so why not save money and loss of vehicle time by changing both together. Oil seals and belt tensioners/idlers should also be considered for replacement at the same time.

Your 5S-FE 4-cylinder engine is non-interference. It won't destroy itself if the timing belt breaks. But you should also ask the question regarding safety: are you prepared to react to an engine that suddenly stops while the driver is driving it where ever that might be when it fails, and not be the cause of an accident?

[xtremeskier97]

Definitely keep up the maintenance and it will get you there. My wife's 4 cylinder has over 366,000 miles on it and my V6 just past 250,000 miles last week. Im changing the timing belt on hers in a couple weeks. It's got over 165,000 miles on the current belt.

[esvipron]

Mine broke at 155 K, then I replaced the water pump and all belts with it.

[ricamryman]

Change the belt for piece of mind!