I've heard 100K miles for most cars, but if the dealership say it should be changed then i would get it changed. After all they work on those cars all the time so they would know best. Just in case you are thinking about ignoring it, If that belt breaks it could possibly lead to a Engine rebuild or a whole new engine which is usually more than a couple thousand dollars, compared to the couple hundred to replace the timing belt.

 

Dealerships are in the business of selling you stuff. They will recommend maintenance items many times well before they are needed - because it makes them money!

Check your manual and see when the belt change is recommended. You can visually inspect the drive belt(s) for any obvious cracks or excessive wear.

 

Unless they can point to a specific problem that you TOO can see or hear, then blow them off and tell them you might visit them again at 100k, if they can be price competitive with _______ yer favorite garage.

 

Visually it looks fine. I will go back
to them or a side shop at 100k. 76k seems way too early.

 

Dinosaur1, I would think you are good unless there is more info. My 06 HL V6 w/1MZ awd has 128K and I am hearing I'm on borrowed time with the timing belt and water pump. I heard they sell as a kit. Does anyone know if I should buy the kit and have replaced now?

 

I was just reading my owners manual to determine the next service I need to do for my 06 w/3mzfe it says 140,000 kilometers or 90,000miles for timing belt replacement.

 

Yes they sell excellent kits on flea bay, make sure the belt is Mitshuboshi, and the pump is Made by Aisin....Any idler bearings by KOyo are also a good choice...These are OE manufacturors for Toyota. Should be able to get an entire kit for under $220. note: belt is good for an easy 100k miles.....
here is a sample:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aisin-TKT00...ssories&fits=Year:2005|Make:Toyota|Model:Highlander&vxp=mtr&hash=item3a6b1e67b1

 

Rockauto. I installed AISIN Kit #TKT006, 30,000 miles ago.

 

Belt replacement

Has anyone here heard of a belt breaking on a Highlander?.....
Belts these day's are made of better compounds and less likely to break.
If anything they may jump a tooth (from stretching) and mess up your timing.
I just replaced my wife's belt at 135,000 miles and it looked fine.
We did notice a difference in the idle afterward. the engine seemed much smother.

 

Has anyone here heard of a belt breaking on a Highlander?.....
Belts these day's are made of better compounds and less likely to break.
If anything they may jump a tooth (from stretching) and mess up your timing.
I just replaced my wife's belt at 135,000 miles and it looked fine.
We did notice a difference in the idle afterward. the engine seemed much smother.

these are interference engines, jumping a tooth could be costly.

 

Oh, good, someone else to encourage unfounded paranoia...:disappoin

 

was that directed at me?
belts break. ive seen the destruction from it. why press your luck?
engines are expensive, belts are cheap in contrast. your call.

 

Nah, yn, you're just paranoid....no one suggests that anything over 90k isn't borrowed time, however statistics are on the side of people who wait even as long as 150k to change a modern nitrile compound timing belt.

Since it would appear that you are a current or former Toy employee, maybe you can provide some statistics on that topic and how many belts your dealership replaced, mileage and number of missing teeth (the belts).

Welcome to the forum! A few of us are quite snarky.

AV

 

Nah, yn, you're just paranoid....no one suggests that anything over 90k isn't borrowed time, however statistics are on the side of people who wait even as long as 150k to change a modern nitrile compound timing belt.

Since it would appear that you are a current or former Toy employee, maybe you can provide some statistics on that topic and how many belts your dealership replaced, mileage and number of missing teeth (the belts).

Welcome to the forum! A few of us are quite snarky.

AV

oh no, im with you, i know they'll go longer.
i just think hoping that it will "only skip a tooth" is a bit misleading, and potentially dangerous. and im not the least bit paranoid, i just know what happens when a belt strips teeth off, or slips. its not pretty.

personally, most belts ive changed(at recommended or higher miles) looked to be in great shape. but also, the belts ive seen with stripped teeth looked fine, except where the teeth were missing.

id have no qualms going 110-120k on a belt, but for SURE would want to check it closely, much sooner.
leaking cam seals will shorten that time aswell. and you might not be able to tell without checking.
so, ATLEAST have the belt checked at the recommended miles.


oh, and i am not currently, and have never worked for Toyota, i am a tech at a small independent shop.
ive owned a lot of toyotas tho :thumbsup:

 

There are no statistics gathered on 'failed belts'.

The service manual will have mileage or time recommendations, whichever comes 1st.
I don't have the Highlander service manual but my other Toyota requires 90k/108month belt intervals, whichever comes 1st. Are you past that 108 months? Your dealer should be able to show you the required mileage/time interval IN WRITING! Some of my older Toyota's required 60k/6yr intervals. What you require, time and mileage, is EASY for you to request in writing at the dealer, which should have access to the service manual. The, its has 75k and we need your $1000, just doesn't cut it!!!!!

The expense vs. gamble is for you to take.

You can't inspect a used belt and say its good. I've seen perfectly good belts snap a few days after so-called inspections.

 

Oh, there are certainly stats on failed belts. Whether dealers or OEM's publish them or not is another thing. Their databases are gold mines.

So if a perfectly good belt suddenly snaps and an perfectly bad one doesn't, does that mean the person making the judgement is an oxymoron?:naughty:

Therefore (irrefutable logic to follow); I think we should accord (wow, a pun) timing belts the same folklore we give oil and transmission fluid and change them at say 50,000, just "because it makes sense". Toyota engineers can't find their butt with a mirror on a stick anyway, and we are all much better judges of which advice to follow or ignore in the owners manuals.

That way we'll never have worry about snapping belts, except for that pesky statistical failure rate that strikes fear in all, waiting in the shadows with a engine scythe.:smokin:

That section on jacking points? Idiots-- I already tore that out! :clap:

 

I searched Toyota Nation before replacing my timing belt and
No where did I see ANYONE mention having a timing belt break.
I doubt a belt jumping one tooth would have such an impact on an interference engine.
Not that long ago it wasn't that uncommon to have a belt break.
Now a day's it is much less common due to age as opposed to other engine problems that might affect an engine.
I went to a toyota dealer and spoke with a mechanic changing a belt at 140,000 miles.
You can go much longer with a belt but why wait when you will notice an improvement in performance and gas mileage?

 

I just had a dealer (that I had never been to before and he knew I lived out of town) suggest a timing belt replacement on a 7 year old 3.3L engine with only 57,000 miles on it. He said it was due to age. I think he just wanted to get some money out of me.

Toyota recommends replacement at 90,000 miles or 9 years for this engine. You can bet they are being conservative. That is probably the lower 3 sigma limit from their durability testing (meaning 97% will last longer).

 

lmac, your logic is solid. I'd venture that with timing belts they are probably at 4 and maybe even 5 sigma for these interference engines; a few thousand reported premature TB failures among the fleet or particular engine series would be a bad deal for Toyota. I don't recall even one premature belt failure report in the time I've been on TN, and we have a particular concentration of reported problems due to forum nature.

 

I'd venture that with timing belts they are probably at 4 and maybe even 5 sigma for these interference engines; a few thousand reported premature TB failures among the fleet or particular engine series would be a bad deal for Toyota.

You're right. Fifteen failures per 1000 (lower 3 sigma limit) would be way too high. I will do mine at 9 years and won't lose any sleep worrying about it until then.

 

kind of like expiration day on a can food. I still eat them months after (wife? she thinks I have to throw it away).
Seriously, 90K is to 1) protect them from lawsuit, 2) make profit. from engineering stand point, the belt should last at least 2-5 times the recommended length unless in rare cases (less then 1 % maybe?)

 

I've seen a LOT of cars with just over 100K snap timing belts. Many just shred some teeth off of the inner surface. I don't just mean Toyotas. It's not at all uncommon.

Belts have improved over the years, but think about how many trips around that rubber belt has mad at 100K. Replacing them is just good maintenance.

 

mmm, I'll take the bait; approx how many is "a lot" and during what period of time (i.e 1980 to 1990)? The context are vehicles built in the last 10~15 years using nitrile long service life belts.

How many belt breaks or teeth shearing are mentioned in the Camry and Corolla forums (since a bazillion of those have been sold and the concentration of complaints in a forum ought to have statistically significant failure sampling)?

 

I buy cars for a living. Many are late model trades bought at auctions like Manheim. I see a lot of mid year 100K vehicles also for sale at these auctions in the "non run & drive" section. TB is written on the windshields of cars there with timing belt failures (Also listed in the auction guide along with other details such as year, mileage, etc.). It's quite common. The auction sells several thousand cars weekly.

I don't have a count for you. Lots of them is a perfectly valid description.

 

:facepalm:

 

indeed : )

 

High mileage belt

I changed my wife's belt at 130,000 and it looked just fine.
Assuming the engine is maintained, (and a lot of these cars at the auction are not) and in good running order I don't see modern belts failing due to age or mileage (within reason).
It makes me think of the 4-cyl engines that used to overheat and blow head gaskets. eventually they fixed that problem.
It used to be going over 80-100,000 miles on a belt was taking a big gamble.
Like the 4cyl they have made big improvement with belt technology.

 

I did my belt at about 92K. Looked pretty good. I'm also pretty sure these are non-interference engines - at least Gates Belts doesn't list it as interference. Anyway, since "half the engine" is apart anyway, I replaced the pulleys and water pump. And the spark plugs...make sure all the ground straps on the back are replaced or you might have transmission shifting issues.

 

ok hey just to let some people breathe a little easier my sisters 01 highlander 3.0 had the original belt and water pump and i changed it at 180,000 miles lol. Belt and pump looked great for how old it was but the w/p was starting to leak very small amounts from the weep hole so I changed it. I don't recommend anyone do this but thats toyota t belts for you, great stuff. I replaced mine with oe belt and w/p. also if no one wants to buy it online the aisin w/p can be bought through carquests worldpac, it was cheaper then dealer and almost the same price as online if I remember correctly but the belts aren't mitsuboshi IIRC

 

The 3.3 liter HL has a non-interference engine. Your engine will not be damaged if the belt breaks, but will just stop running.