hey guys, just wandering at what mileage is the cam belt suposed to be changed??
, it looks like a real pain in the a.. to get to!
thanks
rich

There is no timing belt! Timing chain only! :D

yup...i was surprised when i first found out its timing chain...

thought they only on expensive cars

yup...chain only

on chains i think your supposed to get it looked at around 100.000, or have the guy at the shop to see if your mechanic sees any indication of wear when you get your breaks done or tires rotated or somthing.

on chains i think your supposed to get it looked at around 100.000, or have the guy at the shop to see if your mechanic sees any indication of wear when you get your breaks done or tires rotated or somthing.


this advice is inaccurate. you have the serpentine belt and the timing chain. the belt will most likely get changed before 36,000 (under warranty) becuase you complain of a "sound coming from the engine." when they get dirty and ____ they make noise. if it doesn't make noise do like a normal timing belt every 5yr or 60K.

the timing chain can't be seen when you get a normal service as suggested above. (if you could see it, you wouldn't have made this thread). the only way to see it is when you take off the valve cover. and this shouldn't be done until major leaks are present, and expecially not by a novice. when your car gets major miles it will have oil leaks. toyota is one of if not the leakiest cars. so when you deal with major service down the line, you can have it checked.

so just forget about it for a while

Toyotas are one of the "leakiest"cars? Since when? These cars dont have serpentine belts either. Timing chains of late usually last the life of the engine. I haven't changed one yet on a VVTi motor. If you hear a rattling noise at idle or at startup, then look at the chain, until then don't worry.~~~~~~~~~~~scott

Serpentine belt is the accessory belt, going to the various engine components, while timing belt/chain keeps cylinders synch'd, right? Timing chain on a car doesn't eliminate the serpentine belt, 2 different things there. My saturn sw2 had steel timing chain, all staurns do. It also had an accessory belt, which started to get squeaky prior to getting the xB. After warming up the squeak would stop, and my cheap butt wouldn't get it fixed. I was lucky, if it broke I expect there are several items that could be damaged. Timing chainmakes a tiny bit more noise but is less likely to need service. The chain can still stretch over time though, so it doesn't eliminate all possibility of a problem there. If I'm confused or wrong just slap the back of my head. :D

Is there an online diagram of the engine? I would assume such a motor would have a belt, but guess not, chains seem to be where the car manufacturers are focusing.

Hey I have a joke. Remember that time my timing chain snapped and my motor blew up? Yah that ruled.

my guy told me: don't need to bother the timing chain at all. if it broke, just a unlucky day in the life. but the thing need to watch out is the tensioner. it happened to my Nissan before, the engine is strong with a metal timing chain, but the stupid Nissan put a rubber or plasic tensioner work with the metal chain. the tensioner broke around 120k miles, the machinist could just pick out the pieces from the hole on top of engine block :shock: but the car still runnig good with that when i was waiting the part :? so later on, I replaced a aftermarket matel tensioner ($450) and drive it till i donated it..

Hope Toyota not as stupid as Nissan, put a plastic tensioner work with a metal timing chain :D

my guy told me: don't need to bother the timing chain at all. if it broke, just a unlucky day in the life. but the thing need to watch out is the tensioner. it happened to my Nissan before, the engine is strong with a metal timing chain, but the stupid Nissan put a rubber or plasic tensioner work with the metal chain. the tensioner broke around 120k miles, the machinist could just pick out the pieces from the hole on top of engine block :shock: but the car still runnig good with that when i was waiting the part :? so later on, I replaced a aftermarket matel tensioner ($450) and drive it till i donated it..

Hope Toyota not as stupid as Nissan, put a plastic tensioner work with a metal timing chain :D

Ugh, that brings back memories. I helped do the timing chains on my brother's VR6 and the newer tensioners and guides, etc. were all plastic compared to the older parts which were metal. We had to delay the project to wait for metal parts instead.

Is this motor an interference motor?

Very good question... Is it an interference motor...?

bump for a response/ answer.. if anyone has one.

I'll run this by my Toyota tech the next time I stop in... definitly good questions!

timimg chains don't normally go bad. if they do you can hear them making a racket before they break, or so I've been told. I drove an Echo 300,000 miles and never touched the timing chain.