I have a 1993 Camry XLE v6. When do you replace the timing belt ? If you tow or do extreme driving, the owners manual has 2 maintenance schedules. Schedule A if you tow or do exterme dirving. Schedule B if you drive “normally”. For extreme driving the owners manual says every 60K miles. The manual does not say when to replace the belt if you just drive the car in a normal way. Also do you replace the water pump when you replace the belt ?
For cars of that era, the usual schedule for replacement of the timing belt is every 5 years or 60k miles, whichever comes first. If your timing belt has not been replaced under that schedule, I would advise you to do it now. And, you should replace the water pump, serpentine belt, and all belt tensioners at the same time.
I don’t know why the timing belt would see any difference between normal and towing service. The engine operating temperature as controlled by the thermostat would be the same. Who could say that the extreme vs normal service result in more or fewer engine revolutions and therefore more or less belt flexing? I’d go with the normal service for the belt. If only one belt mileage/time specification is provided, then that is what you must do. No timing belt in any brand that uses one can go indefinitely.
Yes, change the water pump if it is driven by the timing belt and change the tensioner or tensioners too. A failed pump or tensioner can take out the belt so new is installed as a precaution.
You are due for about your 4th timing belt. If it has never been changed, now is the time. Forget about miles, that belt is old. If the car had -0- miles it would need a new timing belt.
Actually, the car has 209K miles on it. The last belt change was at 158K miles…so the current belt & water pump have 60K.
When you call Toyota Customer Service, they reference the owners manual which indeed recommends 60K for extreme driving. Customer service rep said she had internal documentation that recommends 60K but no later than 90K for normal driving.
With a vehicle that old I would wait the next 30k miles. Changing all that out is relatively pricey with a Toyota V6.
When my cars (2 with timing belts) go past 200K miles I’m not sure what I’ll do. They each will get timing belts at about 180K. When they would be due for a 3rd belt at 270K miles I may just let it ride. The cars (an '01 and '03) won’t be worth much at that point.
You maybe facing a similar question soon with your car. Is the body and rest of the car in good shape? The belt on the car now could last past 300K miles. It is your decision, spend the bucks or let it ride?