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Timing Belt advice please.

Hutton

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When I bought my 2001 Cruiser five years ago it had just had the timing belt done. The mileage was 117,000. The mileage is now 137,000 which wouldn't warrant a belt change but should I replace the timing belt as it is five years since it was last changed. All advice appreciated.
 
Off the top of my head, the belt change interval is 90000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes sooner. For the relatively small cost of a belt, I would certainly change it as its been 5 years. My own experience was similar, as I bought the car with only a few thousand miles on a cambelt that had been changed 9 years before. I did the change to be on the safe side, although there was no visible sign of problems with the old belt. Peace of mind and all that.

Quite straightforward to replace other parts while you're at it... water pump (plus coolant flush), idler pulleys, cambelt tensioner, serpentine belt and the V belts.

From my maintenance log, I bought all the bits from Roughtrax in 2021 and costed as follows:

Cambelt & tensioner & pulley & front camshaft oil seal replaced£ 174
Both V belts replaced£ 9
Serpentine belt & idler pulley & tensioner bearing replaced£ 47
Water pump & thermostat replaced£ 98
Red coolant changed£ 69
 
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Many thanks for your post knicko. That’s exactly the info that I was looking for.
 
My experience is that the timing belt lasts long on these engines. I guess it's a combination of age and wear. In your situation I would gladly postpone it a year or two, unless planning for a longer trip (~ 10 k miles).
One factor is the water pump: It normally doesn't quite last 2 x 90 k miles without starting to leak, so if it wasn't changed at the last TB change, it would be due soon. Otoh, if it was changed, and you change the TB now, I wouldn't bother with the WP.

I changed the TB and WP after 8,5 years and 132 k km. The TB had no visible wear - hard to distinguish between new and old belt. The WP was weeping (at 282 k km). That is now 5 years and 35 k km ago - not planning to change anything on the engine for the next 2 years, at least.

Btw, on these engines, it might as well be the tensioner or roller bearing that fails, not the belt itself.
 
One thing I've always wondered @uHu - what on earth is 'Shamowang' in your signature?
 
Thanks uHu. That is very good advice.
 
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One thing I've always wondered @uHu - what on earth is 'Shamowang' in your signature?
It means "King of the desert" in some Chinese language. I started my Land Cruiser career in desert-like areas in the middle east, while working there in a multi national environment. So, that's always the name of my current cruiser.
 
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