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YACT: Is a driving belt change necessary after 100'000km?

N

ndee

Lifer
Our car(Toyota Carina http://www.autogazeta.com/g/351/sb1_s.jpg '97) now has 100'000km (divide it by 1.6 to get miles) and they told us we would have to change the driving belt. Is it necessary to get that fixed, because it costs like $1600 and that's quite alot for such an "old" car. In general, we didn't have any problems with the car so far.

Thanks in advance
 
Driving belt?

Do you mean timing belt?

Better get it changed. If your car has an interference engine and the timing belt breaks, you can wreck the engine! Bent valves, cracked pistons, etc.

$1600 to change it is a blatent ripoff. Unless of course it's majorly labor intensive to do it which may be the case. I don't do riceburners.
 
driving belt = timing belt. For older cars its supposed to be changed at 60K miles / 100k km.

It shoudlnt cost 1600, shop around, you can get it done cheaper.

I would check teh belt for squeals when running and also for if its frayed and cracked.. if so time to replace. I am at 90K miles on my focus, but at 100K i am to change my belt, the belt looks fine, so i am changing it then.

As a good reference point, change the water pump too, since you are going in there anycase, that way you dont have to worry about the WP for a while.
 
At 60k miles ~ 100,000 km, you should replace both the timing belt (driving belt) and the accessory belt(s) for your Camry. The timing belt replacement should cost no more than 300 USD and the accessory belts will have to be removed as a part of that work - so the extra cost to replace those should only be a parts-cost.
 
Doesn't Toyota use timing chains instead of belts? I was under the impression that chains had a longer lifespan than a timing belt (i.e. longer than 60K).
 
Originally posted by: DingDingDao
Doesn't Toyota use timing chains instead of belts? I was under the impression that chains had a longer lifespan than a timing belt (i.e. longer than 60K).
Click to expand...

No. Subaru and Nissan do in many of their engines, including the Nissan VQ series.
 
Yes get the belt changed as well as the water pump which is usually attached in fwd. easier to hit both at the same time. Dont know if they would be changing the pulleys too. There is definately gonna be some slack which throws your timing off degrading permance and gas mileage.

$1600 is a RIP.... I would do it for low low price of $1599.95!!!

j/k... but if that was a (im assuming "they") dealer price it would sound about right, even though they have the tools to make it oh so much easier. It could be pretty labor intensive as they would probably change the mechanical seal, and other gaskets and move/remove many other parts.

 
Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
Yes get the belt changed as well as the water pump which is usually attached in fwd. easier to hit both at the same time. Dont know if they would be changing the pulleys too. There is definately gonna be some slack which throws your timing off degrading permance and gas mileage.

$1600 is a RIP.... I would do it for low low price of $1599.95!!!

j/k... but if that was a (im assuming "they") dealer price it would sound about right, even though they have the tools to make it oh so much easier. It could be pretty labor intensive as they would probably change the mechanical seal, and other gaskets and move/remove many other parts.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely a rip. I drive an Audi A4, and my dealer quoted me $1600 for the job as well. If my German-made luxury Eurobox dealer can charge me $1600, how on earth does Toyota try to charge the same price with a straight face?

I found a local mechanic who used to work for Audi and is fully certified by Porsche and Audi. He did the entire job (timing belt, water pump, serpentine belt, etc etc) including parts and labor for $700. If you can't get a price better than that, keep looking. No way on earth is my car cheaper to maintain than yours.
 
Originally posted by: DingDingDao
Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
Yes get the belt changed as well as the water pump which is usually attached in fwd. easier to hit both at the same time. Dont know if they would be changing the pulleys too. There is definately gonna be some slack which throws your timing off degrading permance and gas mileage.

$1600 is a RIP.... I would do it for low low price of $1599.95!!!

j/k... but if that was a (im assuming "they") dealer price it would sound about right, even though they have the tools to make it oh so much easier. It could be pretty labor intensive as they would probably change the mechanical seal, and other gaskets and move/remove many other parts.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely a rip. I drive an Audi A4, and my dealer quoted me $1600 for the job as well. If my German-made luxury Eurobox dealer can charge me $1600, how on earth does Toyota try to charge the same price with a straight face?

I found a local mechanic who used to work for Audi and is fully certified by Porsche and Audi. He did the entire job (timing belt, water pump, serpentine belt, etc etc) including parts and labor for $700. If you can't get a price better than that, keep looking. No way on earth is my car cheaper to maintain than yours.
Click to expand...

I think it's also more expensive because we life in Switzerland. Switzerland is pretty expensive in general. And yes, I meant the timing belt, the dictionary gave me driving or timing belt 🙂

Thanks for the info guys!
 
Originally posted by: njmodi
Originally posted by: DingDingDao
Doesn't Toyota use timing chains instead of belts? I was under the impression that chains had a longer lifespan than a timing belt (i.e. longer than 60K).
Click to expand...

No. Subaru and Nissan do in many of their engines, including the Nissan VQ series.
Click to expand...

Still needs to be changed tho. The definitely can stretch and break as well. Just not as likely. A belt is still more precise.
 
The car dealer mechanic told you it'll cost $1600? I don't know how it is in switzerland, but around here, you can get a local mechanic to do it for you w/ new parts (not necessarily original manufacturer) for far less, including labor. I think I got mine done (timing belt) for less than $300.
 
Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
driving belt = timing belt. For older cars its supposed to be changed at 60K miles / 100k km.

It shoudlnt cost 1600, shop around, you can get it done cheaper.

I would check teh belt for squeals when running and also for if its frayed and cracked.. if so time to replace. I am at 90K miles on my focus, but at 100K i am to change my belt, the belt looks fine, so i am changing it then.

As a good reference point, change the water pump too, since you are going in there anycase, that way you dont have to worry about the WP for a while.
Click to expand...
1600 CAD isn't bad. Remember that a timing belt is not a serpentine or accessory belt and that pretty much the entire front of the engine must be taken apart to get to it. There's a lot of labor involved with changing a timing belt.

ZV

EDIT: Sorry, my mind saw KM and immediately thought Canada. Those of you talking about 1,600 being bad, remember that his price is likely in CHF, which makes it about 1,360 USD.
 
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
driving belt = timing belt. For older cars its supposed to be changed at 60K miles / 100k km.

It shoudlnt cost 1600, shop around, you can get it done cheaper.

I would check teh belt for squeals when running and also for if its frayed and cracked.. if so time to replace. I am at 90K miles on my focus, but at 100K i am to change my belt, the belt looks fine, so i am changing it then.

As a good reference point, change the water pump too, since you are going in there anycase, that way you dont have to worry about the WP for a while.
Click to expand...
1600 CAD isn't bad. Remember that a timing belt is not a serpentine or accessory belt and that pretty much the entire front of the engine must be taken apart to get to it. There's a lot of labor involved with changing a timing belt.

ZV

EDIT: Sorry, my mind saw KM and immediately thought Canada. Those of you talking about 1,600 being bad, remember that his price is likely in CHF, which makes it about 1,360 USD.
Click to expand...

I converted the price to USD so you guys aren't confused 😉 It's definitely between $1500 and $1600.
 
How long do you plan on keeping the vehicle? If the recommended interval is 100k KM, you got lots of life left in it. I wouldn't worry too much about it, you have plenty of time to shop around and maybe even find a mechanic to do it for cash.......
 
If you're going to keep the car, I'd get it done, but $1600 is way out of line. $500 - 600US is more like it, and that should include the w. pump and belt.

BTW, we've always considered 130,000 mi. the fail safe time for a belt, if you feel like gamblin' a little bit.
 
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