please help me

[bachmyvo]

I plan to buy a car. One of my choice is Toyota Camry 2001 model LE V6 engine with 108,000 miles sold by a dealership. The sale man at the dealership told me that he did not know whether a timing belt has been changed or not but the current timing belt is not the original one . He concluded that he inspected timing belt and it is still good.
I want to ask you a question . When I take the car to the body shop, can the mechanic inspect the timing belt and tell me whether the timing belt need to be changed later or now by just looking at the timing belt ? Does he need to have any special machine to test it ?
This Toyota Camry is a trade in car. When I touch the tires, I found out some black dirt come to my hand. It looks like that the dealership sprays something to the tires to make it new.
The asking price is 5400 plus tax, title and miscellaneous fee would be 6000.
I just have the confusion about the timing belt. My friend tests drive the vehicle and she really likes it.
Please give me any suggestion that you may have.
I really appreciate your help.

[71Corolla]

If there is no service sticker to indicate when the belt was changed, assumed it needs to be changed. And don't trust a single thing the dealer says, most will tell you damn near anything to get the car sold.

As for inspecting the belt, you can determined to a certain extent if the belt is bad or not by looking at it. But again if you don't know when it was done, assume it needs to be. And if it was done and no service sticker was put in the engine bay with the mileage, whoever did that is stupid.

[ZOMBIEWOOF73]

T-belts on these engines are due replacement at 90k miles. This is not an "interference" engine.(valves don't hit pistons when belt breaks) You just have to fix the belt to run again. I see t-belt specials all over town here. Usually about 169-239$ to replace. If you can't confirm replacement any other way, just budget a new belt in the purchase price.

[zythr]

I agree. If you're unsure how long the timing belt will last/changed, you may be able to use that as a bargaining tool. Previous owner could have had a used T-belt installed, because they were going to sell the car, in the near future. Body shop should be able to at least check it if they also have some mechanical knowledge of the Camry and the timing belt. If after all this, you're still not happy, walk away. There are other decent used cars out there. Good luck

[71Corolla]

Originally Posted by zythr

If after all this, you're still not happy, walk away.

Best possible advise.