1998 camry 1 mz-fe timing belt.

[fisherman partner]

hi everyone!
I live in munich germany and bought last month japan made toyota camry 3.0l 1 mz-fe motor with original 51k miles ( 82 000 km ).
This car still runs on original timing belt and is in great shape - was served once a year at toyota dealership.
My worry is about timing belt change.
On different forums I read that many camry owners made 130k miles ( 200 000 km ) and 15 years on original belts without any problems.
Toyota service manager at dealership counter tells that timing belt must be changed at 150 000 km or 10 years.
Toyota tech in private conversations are telling me following: don´t worry at all, just drive it another 5-6 years, timing belt brakes on this cars somewhere after 180 000 km, nothing happens to the engine, because it free wheeler.
Toyotapartsandservice.com notes belt changes for 1998 model every 90 000 miles under severe conditions and tells nothing about normal use, but notes then 90 000 miles or 6 years from 1999 model on.
So much different info and I am not sure at all at which time and milege I have to do timing belt job.
This car was never used under severe conditions and I plan to move it for about 10 000 km per year in normal use.
I´ll be very gratefull if you can write me few words of recomendation.


regards
fishing partner

[RU2CHKN]

Welcome! Nice to have you on these boards. To the best of my knowledge I know for the gen 3 V6 timing belt intervals are around 60,000 miles. You're probably correct about the interval for the gen 4 intervals. It's usually recommended to replace the water pump, idler pulleys, and tensioner when you replace the belt.

[carsrus]

Age doesnt really affect these belts much. I would just drive it untill 90k miles and then change the belts, water pump, tensioners and oil seals.

Changing it at 60k would just be a waste of money. Ive never seen a timing belt dry rot, at most theyve had small cracks which are just cosmetic.

[ajkalian]

I wouldn't worry about the timing belt breaking, they rarely do. I changed mine with over 100,000 miles on the belt, and it looked brand new. But when I compared the old one to the new one, the old belt was 1/2" longer.

That 1/2" equates to two teeth on the timing belt. So the timing will be off factory spec the more the belt stretches. The performance improvement was quite noticable after I replaced the old stretched one with the new timing belt.

Since you only have 51,000 miles on your car, it will be a while before you need to change out the timing belt.

[AlmightyCamry777]

as far as i know the recomended timing belt change interval on the V6 is 90,000 miles (144,840 km).

[redtigerrocks]

Timing belt should be changed around 100k but you can always do pull on with the belt till it breaks (their will be no harm done to your engine but you might end up having to tow it if it breaks down in the middle of no where)

[zythr]

Nothing wrong with changing it at 60,000. It would still equate to 5 yrs of being installed taking into account 12,000 milesa year. This is still a long time. Just be sure to record when you have it done.

[fisherman partner]

hi, thank you for recomendations and welcome words.
they are important for me, because there isn´t so much camry´s around as in the states. should i simply stick with 90k miles and forget about years driven?

regards
fishing partner

[RU2CHKN]

I changed my belt and etc about a couple weeks ago and my old belt still looked new. The last time I had the belt replaced was six years ago but the mechanic never recorded the miles it was replaced. That's why I replaced everything for peace of mind but that's just me. Since a few members says to replace it at 90,000 I guess it would alright. The design of these belts are built to last a long time. Just out of curiosity, are the new model camry V6s interference motors now?

[JohnGD]

Rubber degrades with age. Therefore it's usually recommended to replace after about 6 years. In the US the timing belt interval is either 5yr/60K miles or in later years 6yr/90K miles. However, that's only because Toyota assumed people drove 12K miles a year or 15K miles a year.

However, that is not to say the timing belt won't last until 200K miles. And if the timing belt breaking won't cause you too much inconvenience then some owners may decide to keep using it. Do keep an eye on the water pump however. When it fails it can cost you an engine -- unlike the timing belt breaking in this non-interference engine (valves won't hit the pistons) will only stop the car (and hopefully no accidents).

The engines are slightly different in sales regions. So I'd check your local Toyota web site's service schedule and see what it tells you.

Originally Posted by fisherman partner

hi everyone!
I live in munich germany and bought last month japan made toyota camry 3.0l 1 mz-fe motor with original 51k miles ( 82 000 km ).
This car still runs on original timing belt and is in great shape - was served once a year at toyota dealership.
My worry is about timing belt change.
On different forums I read that many camry owners made 130k miles ( 200 000 km ) and 15 years on original belts without any problems.
Toyota service manager at dealership counter tells that timing belt must be changed at 150 000 km or 10 years.
Toyota tech in private conversations are telling me following: don´t worry at all, just drive it another 5-6 years, timing belt brakes on this cars somewhere after 180 000 km, nothing happens to the engine, because it free wheeler.
Toyotapartsandservice.com notes belt changes for 1998 model every 90 000 miles under severe conditions and tells nothing about normal use, but notes then 90 000 miles or 6 years from 1999 model on.
So much different info and I am not sure at all at which time and milege I have to do timing belt job.
This car was never used under severe conditions and I plan to move it for about 10 000 km per year in normal use.
I´ll be very gratefull if you can write me few words of recomendation.


regards
fishing partner

[zythr]

Some of you assume, or hope, that if the belt does indeed break, it won't be a safety issue, but the fact is the belt can break anywhere at anytime. Worse case scenario is breaking on the highway with other traffic and/or an 18 wheeler behind you. (hence the 2 or more car lengths you're supposed to be behind another vehicle, or on the on ramp trying to accelerate to get on the highway. If you're at all suspicious, get the belt changed.

[73sport]

^^ +1

Ever think about making a turn in front of traffic and having the engine stall? Not a pretty picture. . .

Expect the unexpected. It might keep you alive!

So here's the contradiction; I ran mine to 120,000miles. Looked like new (well minus belt markings).

[fenixus]

man, just change that rubber belt! it's only like $20 plus labor, of course there is tons of stuff that should get replaced together with it (water pump, seals & gaskets) so the total around here in the US gets to range $500-900 for parts and labor included at local shop depending on what parts (and how many you replace) and local mechanic labor rates.
at the dealer you can simply double those numbers.
if you can do the labor yourself than great for you, only cost is parts and best if you get the new OEM parts or at least go with known good reputable aftermarket with good long term reviews on them.

just keep in mind that having a non-interference engine does NOT mean you should wait until the belt breaks apart - that would be still unhealthy for the car (and yourself if you cause an accident) and as pointed out above keeping old belt and old water pump can be fatal for the engine if things go wrong at inconvenient time.

bite the bullet and replace those old things (covered by periodical change intervals) on your engine. this way you keep it on the safe side for a long time.

[fisherman partner]

toyota service book recommends to change timing belt at 150 000 km or 10 years, assuming that owners make 15 000 km per year. complet tb job price at toyo dealer will be between 1000-1200 euros ( 1300-1600 us ) .
it is 100% sure for me that only complet tb repair have to be done.
the point is that i am not sure at all when to do it!
just don´t want to waste money and make it before the time.
by the way, 1 mz-fe´s on camry´s are the same - build in states.
europian market camry´s have just stiffer suspention than cars made for states.

[fenixus]

well, i bought a 6-yr old '00 camry solara 2.2L with 35k original miles (around 56k km) back in 2006. it had of course all original parts (passenger side of body was rebuilt with OEM parts after accident which happened when car was brand new).
original (Aisin) water pump started whining and working loud 20k miles later when i hit 55k miles. replaced it with timing belt and crank seals (also new tensioner) using aftermarket parts (Bosch pump, Gates t-belt).

second pump (non-OEM - Bosch from local parts store) started leaking from the weep hole another 13k miles later.

last time i replaced it with only OEM parts all over again and I also did the oil pump seals and all gaskets on the way, second idler and tensioner spring paying almost double for the additional labor time (for my 5S-FE engine this is respectively 5.9hrs with oil pump included vs 3.5hrs without oil pump job) at local workshop leaving the car to mechanic i knew (i gave him my own parts and owner agreed I only pay for the labor by the labor time book - bible of all mechanics).

good thing in US is that you can buy original OEM parts online cheap (they are new from dealer). this way you get here OEM parts at almost (usually) only slightly higher price than aftermarket. same parts over the counter at the dealer can cost from 30% up to 100% more expensive. those online stores (on trademotion.com platform) gather actual dealers only who agreed to sell those parts at cheap almost wholesale prices to public.

not sure if in Germany or other EU countries something like that exists (not counting junk yard parts networks).

i would say, you can try keeping your original parts for some more time e.g. 20k km tops while observing how everything works. any noise from the timing belt cover, go straight to the shop which agrees to get some quality parts (or have your own OEM parts handy when the time comes).

remember that those rubber things are very old and when going by mileage (whatever this word is for kilometers...) is kind of wrong, because time play more destructive role on them than distance they traveled on car.
i hope you get my point.