Timing Belt kits. i didnt order from capt before he ran out.

[tryme]

Has anyone purchased the timeing blet kits out there that i see?  looks like most have all the same part numbers.  is there anythign i should watch out for?  i know try to stay away from cheap stuff but how do i know if it is cheap.  i have see a couple toyota dealers selling them for the trucks.  what is your opinion?

[farnorthfarmer]

I ordered a kit from from Rockauto.com this summer that had all the pieces...water pump, belts, tensioners, pulleys everything. The belt was a OEM and the quality of the kit was very good. Luckily I have a certified Lexus Master Mechanic as a good buddy and we swapped the parts out in my garage in a couple hours. He was the one who recommended Rockauto.com to me initially. My kit complete was under $180.

[farnorthfarmer]

I ordered a kit from from Rockauto.com this summer that had all the pieces...water pump, belts, tensioners, pulleys everything. The belt was a OEM and the quality of the kit was very good. Luckily I have a certified Lexus tech as a good buddy and we swapped the parts out in my garage in a couple hours. He was the one who recommended Rockauto.com to me initially. My kit complete was under $180.

[IndianaEPIC21]

Would you happen to have a "kit" number?

[brad]

Not sure if Wakejunky is on this site much these days, but in some correspondence with him recently he suggested the following:

"The timing belt , seriously my professional opinion don't change it til 1000 hrs. I changed mine before I sold my boat just to make a potential buyer happy. Given all the talk about timing belt changes on the forum I didn't want it to be an issue. With that being said I have a 2001 Lexus ls430 with 130k miles on it with the original timing belt. I won't even think about changing it til 150k. It's a very strong belt. The one off my boat still had lettering on the top of it at 560 hrs. It looked like new. I even showed the buyer the original belt and not being a mechanical guy ( software engineer) he even asked why I changed it. I told him what I'm telling you. Don't sweat it. Not yet anyways."

Another source for Toyota parts at a reasonable price is:

Gary Smith
Parts Manager
Toyota of Newnan
2 Herring Road
Newnan, GA 30265
(678)854-9601
garys@toyotaofnewnan.com

I bought a timing belt kit from him for my T100 pickup. 

[farnorthfarmer]

I changed our belt at 500hrs just for piece of mind. I think the recommendation in the book was 10 yrs or 1000 hrs

I purchased the kit from Rockauto.com. I ordered for a 2000 Lexus LS400 4.0 L V8 (kit works on many models with the same motor). I ordered after talking with a Lexus tech that was familiar with the Epic boats.

Part# TCKWP298 - Timing belt component kit.

[Rambling Wreck]

Farnorthfarmer, I need a little more assistance....

I entered the info at RockAuto and it comes back with 2 kits with the same kit number - one by Gates ($163.79) and one by ACDelco ($196.79). I want to be sure I get the right one.

[HCollado]

Wreck,

Are you going to do this yourself?

 

[Supraman]

Hey Wreck,

Here's a list of parts manufacturers that was recommended to me by previous epic owner (and Lexus technician) Wakejunky. These are the OEM manufacturers for Lexus. Make sure you don't cheap out on the waterpump as there is some cheap knock offs out there.

I ordered everything from Rockauto and installed it myself. It wasn't too hard of a job, just need to take your time, label every part removed. The guide posted on this forum was a great resource.

   PART         -                   MANUFACTURER
cam and crank seals  - NOK, stone arent bad
waterpump - AISIN ( it will be stamped on it) and come with a steel gasket
tensioner - NTN
pulleys - NSK  or KOYO
timing belt - MITSO _ _ _.  something can remember exact but it starts with that. To be Honest ive never seen a timing belt made for a lexus that was bad or cheap. gates makes good belts
drive belt - BANDO or MITSO - and not everybody makes good drive belts ive seen some shit out there, gates is good. goodyear gatorback- is horrible

[Rambling Wreck]

Hector, I am not going it by myself. Jeff Monday owns the marine repair facility that operates that back half of Dock Depot on Hwy 51 in Hartwell. I got to know Jeff well when I had some old Seadoos that had seen their better days. Jeff agreed to do this for me and I couldn't be happier. In fact, if not for him, I would probably let it ride for a while since no one has said they were anywhere near being at risk on this particular maintenance. I will let you and others know how it goes.

Supraman, thanks for the additional info. I got incredibly frustrated trying to find OEM parts. I got jerked around on price when I first decided to get the maintenance performed. Fortunately, I got a gracious offer from a member to help out. I went on a quest to find the parts myself to prevent the member from having to put himself out. To get the ball rolling, I ordered the thermostat gasket and outlet O-ring online and they came in completely wrong. I went to both the Toyota and Lexus dealers and asked for the same part numbers and sure enough, they were exactly what came back wrong in the first place. I think I have found the exact thermostat gasket and a very close O-ring at Advance Auto Parts. I will let everyone know once I get back to the boat and try them. I printed out all of the part numbers from the various posts here and was surprised at the discrepancies. I was just about to break down and contact the member when I saw this thread. Needless to say, I was excited. It isn't about the price, it is about getting this over with and off my mind! If you can recall the part numbers, I don't mind ordering individually. I just want to get the parts and get them over to Jeff before I am ready to get back on the water.

[Supraman]

What I did was go to rockauto's website (www.rockauto.com). Select 1999 Lexus SC400 as my vehicle and order the Aisin timing belt kit.

I searched through my inbox and here's the part #s that I ordered:
1999 LEXUS SC400 4.0L V8  -  AISIN TKT001 Timing Belt Component Kit $ 159.79
1999 LEXUS SC400 4.0L V8   -  GATES K060878 Belt $ 25.79   - This is just a serpentine belt... Not required, but changed for piece of mind.

When I ordered mine the belt kit that included the tensioner was out of stock, so I had to order that seperately. I believe I got it from amazon.

It appears that rockauto has the Aisin kit in stock that includes the tensioner. Part #TKT021
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=3290529&cc=1356128


For the thermostat o-rings, I believe they are a marine specific part. I think I ordered one from Rick and the other one was out of stock, so I sourced something simliar from a local auto parts store's bulk o-rings.

Let me know if you need anything else. Hopefully this helps.

[Supraman]

And while you're placing an order from rockauto, get a new set of plugs for your boat.

From wakejunky:
"My secret is to run factory denso sparkplugs for a 2000 or so model year Toyota tundra 4.7 liter. They are less than $2 a plug from the dealer. they are a standard plug with a much larger electrode area."

[farnorthfarmer]

Hey Rambling Wreck, sorry for the late response. I went with the Gates kit. Hope the swap goes smooth.

[toyotafreak]

Fingers crossed. Okay shit had to replace my S4 and don't know how to turn spelling 'correction' off. I'll write straight through and see if you can decode. I ordered two a is in kits from Rockauto. Replaced the Sequoia ' s before Christmas at 11 years and 150 thousand miles. Same kit waiting for S22. Anxious but have been busy. Key for me was to practice on the truck so things will go easy on boat. Can replace the truck, right? Must protect The Precious.

[toyotafreak]

Engine's the easy/bulletproof part. Had to pull some pilotage on the depth transducer, and know the message center days are numbered. Two top concerns are the upholstery (just can't imagine any aftermarket solution maintaining Epic DNA), and  some gel coat issue where underlying reinforcements have been starting to show through in a beige way. The colors in my gel coat are so completely awesome (light gray dark gray and blue) that I'm afraid the next gel coat guy won't match :-( Love my old girl, and she's still a looker, but like all the greats (Meg Ryan comes to mind) her days are numbered.