How often do you replace your timing belt on your V8?

Ok, so I get home and I’m poking around under the hood and noticed a sticker up on the inside of the hood, a timing belt replacement sticker. It was replaced at 196,159 I THINK it says. So that’s good ‘cause I’m at 222,000. I’m gonna take the cover off the other one when I get time and see what it looks like.

 

That sticker implies kilometers, not miles.

 

Good catch but….was the mechanic that put it on there implying that? I mean….is this common? I’ve never had an oil change sticker or anything remotely like this….in kilometers. The previous owner was in the military as far as I know because there was a Fort Bragg parking sticker on the windshield so it could be possible that it’s kilometers if it was done at a base or something. The odometer reading is in miles, as far as I know because I’ve checked the mileage and nothing was off about that…a little over 17 mpg.

 

Pull the timing belt cover as suggested and take a photo of the belt and post it for opinions, if it was done at 190,000+ miles it should still look almost new, or close to it.

 

I musta missed it although I’m on the mobile version, I think.

 

At least they change oil. All the vehicles with dummy maintenance lights and people still dont do it.

Hate to say it but Jiffy Lube is still better than no maintenance.

 

I’ll do that when I get a chance, I have to mow because it’s gonna rain for the next three days or else I may need a bushhog.

 

That’s probably true, as long as they put the drain plug back in

 

I don't believe that the sticker implies kilometers at all.

The first thing it says is "mileage replaced."

Kilométrage is french, and Kilometraje is Spanish. The kit that was used probably also included French and Spanish directions.

Whatever is written down should reflect the odometer reading, in whatever units the odometer is displayed.

 

And just how many beers were consumed during said timing belt replacement??

 

Probably "several."

During that time, it was probably a lot of Jaeger bombs as well.

 

Nice! I keep my Jaeger liquid courage in the freezer!

 

So I guess the real question would be....did it run after ya'll were finished, if so does it still run??

 

I'm sure it did. And he likely drove the snot out of it. He puts a ton of miles on his Runners.

 

Yes! I drove it to 157K and traded it in for a '15 Taco in spring 2017.

Looking at the dates on the pictures, it looks like I only put on about 17K in about 22 months, which is probably because I had a work vehicle and we did a lot of traveling in our other vehicle during that time.

I also found that those pictures were taken at 11:53 and 11:55 pm, so we had definitely had a few drinks by then.

 

That’s a damn astute observation and I appreciate the hell out of it!

 

Ah yes, jager bombs…it’s been a long time but….usually, when doing jager bombs and timing belt changes, I just toss the leftover bolts.

 

If I had attempted to do it alone, I probably would have had leftover parts. I specifically asked my friend, Bill, because he's more organized than I am with these types of projects.

 

Just replaced one on a 3.4 that was over the mileage or time. Heavily cracked. They are lucky they changed it when they did.

 

Timing belts are great IMO. Way way easier to change than a timing chain. It's part of regular maintenance, like an oil change. Replace it on time or early and you won't have an issue.

 

Haha!

I actually remember feeling almost nauseous when I pulled the cover off and looked at it. The belt is still hanging on my friend's wall of shame in his garage.

 

Good call

 

If they were easier and cheaper to change sure. I don’t consider it regular maintenance, changing your oils, brakes, lubes, filters etc, to me , that’s regular maintenance. Someone mentioned that the V6 that is used in these 4runners have a timing chain….and there is no mention of regular replacement because they are expected to last the lifetime of the engine. I’d rather have a timing chain.

 

Plenty of timing chains have failed or become so worn out they needed replacement on the 1GR engine. It's normal practice to pull the engine out when they go because getting the timing cover off is a nightmare inside the truck. They do fail plenty, and they are much harder and much more expensive to repair. Timing belt gets the W. There is no lifetime timing chain on any engine.

 

Yeah, I bet they are a ni

How many miles over was that?

 

Not sure how many miles over. I'd guess 10 years old at least. Time is a bigger contributor to them breaking, than mileage, I assume.

 

A year too soon is better than a day too late.

 

Curious, did the dealer warranty the work given that you provided the parts?

 

Good question. I didn't specifically ask, nor is it written otherwise on my receipt, so I have to believe that yes it will be warrantied. They highly advised to use OEM parts which I did. If I brought non-OEM I can think that they would not warranty the work and would probably have put that in writing.