My dealer has recommended that I replace the timing belt. He says Toyota recommends this. Is this a valid recommendation?
Check your owners manual or get a second opinion from another Toyota dealer. (don’t say what you’ve been told) You have to divulge the mileage on the vehicle.
It does have a timing belt and has to be replaced at recommended intervals.
Some are at every 60k miles some are replaced at a higher mileage.
It is extremely important that you replace the timing belt (on cars that have belts) when it is recommended by the manufacturer. Many if not most modern cars using timing belts can be seriously damaged if the belt breaks. They can’t be evaluated by looking at them so you must rely on mileage or time (which ever comes first)
The owner’s manual should list this. If you don’t have an owner’s manual, try to get one. It has a lot of valuable information.
Be very suspicious of a dealer who makes a different recommendation than the owner’s manual.
Also normally the water pump and tensioner is replaced at the same time since most of the labor is already being done to replace the belt and thee parts don’t last much longer than the timing belt.
BTW why are you taking your car to the dealer? Dealers are no better (or worse) than independent mechanics for almost anything you might need done on your car. They will almost always charge more per hour and often more for parts and supplies. They also tend to look at repairs a little different than the independent.
A dealer may well recommend work that strictly may not be needed, but could be connected to the problem or maybe replace a part when a little repair would fix it ALMOST as good a new.
There is no need to bring your car to the dealer for any service other than service that is going to be paid for by a recall or original warrantee. During the warranty period be sure to have all required (as listed in the owner's manual) maintenance done and to document all maintenance work.
I suggest that most people would be better off finding a good independent (Not working for a chain) mechanic.
Note: Never ever use a quick oil change place. They are fast cheap and very very bad idea.
You din’t say how many miles you have on your truck. Check HERE http://www.gates.com/downloads/download_common.cfm?file=428-1466_web1.pdf&folder=brochure to see if you have reached the magic number of miles. They do appear to be interference engines, so don’t let it go too far.
If it’s never been replaced before then you should consider yourself very very lucky the 9 year old belt has not broken already.
Mileage is not the only factor when it comes to a timing belt; time is too.
You did not state how many miles are on the truck but time-wise the belt should have been replaced at least 3 years ago along with the tensioner kit and water pump.
Good point.
That site says to replace the timing belt at 90k miles.