My Dealer has sent me a reminder to get my timing belt replaces along with a 10% discount offer. The dealer suggests that I do this now that my car has more than 90,000 miles on it. Should I do it sooner rather than later?
Check your manual, and I think yes is the answer you will find. Many replace the water pump at the same time, someone knowledgeable on that could please advise.
- Open glove compartment
- Find Owner’s Manual
- Refer to Toyota Maintenance Schedule contained in Owner’s Manual
- In the Maintenance Schedule, find the replacement interval for your vehicle’s timing belt.
Note that there will be an odometer mileage value and an elapsed time value, with the proviso, “whichever comes first”.
Since you did not tell us how old your Corolla is, you will have to determine if the timing belt is due for replacement on the basis of elapsed time.
You did not tell us what year you have, and I am not sure if it has an interference engine or not.
If you have an interference engine and the belt breaks, you can plan on a very very expensive repair. Timing belts don’t last forever and when they go the car stops with no warning. Do you want to risk that?
At 90,000 miles you are likely on time (past the sooner zone, and waiting will put you into risky (later) zone.
This does not need to be done by the dealer. Any good general independent mechanic should be able to handle it. The dealer will likely do a good job, but will also likely charge you considerably more than the independent mechanic.
Your dealer sent you a notice for timing belt replacement? What year is your corolla? Toyota hasn’t used a timing belt in a Corolla since 1995 or so, they are all chains.
According to the Gates timing belt directory, no Corolla has used a timing belt since 1997, and those all had specified replacement intervals of 60K miles. That said, V6-powered Camrys do use timing belts, and coincidentally their replacement mileage is 90K.
I’m thinking the dealer mistakenly believes you own a Camry, not a Corolla.