V6 timing belt replacement

A little bit more complicated on the 6 cylinder motor but no real special stuff required. Why not ask your mechanic?

I have a V6LE, 1995 Camry. I got the timing belt replaced around 66k miles. Right now it has 145k miles. 90% of my miles are freeway miles.

Its that time again -- to get the timing belt replaced. I have a mechanic who is trustworthy. I am not sure if he is capable of a timing belt replacement. Is the process of timing belt replacement in a V6 very complicated? Does it need any computerised equipment etc? I know this mechanic did a good job on timing belt replacement for toyotas with 4cylinders.

The mechanic could be 150 to 200$ cheaper than the dealer, hence the question.Thank you for helping me make my decision!

Best regards

John

If he did a good job before let him do it.

You have 79K miles on your timing belt. I think they are supposed to be replaced every 60K miles. If the belt breaks then your engine is "DRT" or dead right there. If your mechanic has replaced belts in 4 cylinder engines then he shold be able to do it in a 6. Even if dealer does the job that will be only a fraction of what an engine would cost.

Bill

I have 92k miles on a 97 Camry V6 timing belt. Shooting to change it at

100k. maybe :) The accessory belts look ok, why should the timing belt be frayed?

I replaced the belt on my 97 camry v6 at 65k. I t looked perfect, if looks mean anything. Maybe could have gone longer??

-- John M. Darnielle Remove anti spam phrase from reply address to e-mail me.

Timing belts can fail in a number of ways. I have had belts that looked perfect fail by shearing off several teeth. Or they can started jumping teeth. Or they can just break in two - even when they look great. The accessory belts can slip and usually nothing bad happens. When the timing belt fails, bad things will happen. On some engines you can afford to take a chance. On non-interference engines, when the belt breaks, the engine just stops and can be restored by just retiming the engine and replacing the belt. Interference engines are a different story, if the belts breaks, pistons can crash into valves and break expensive parts (valves, pistons, cylinder heads, etc.). Fortunately for you, I don't think the 3.0L V-6 in a '97 Camry is an interference engine. If this is true, when the belt breaks, the engine will just stop running. This in itself can be dangerous, but the engine shouldn't be damaged.

However, I can't see any reason to postpone replacing the belt any longer if you plan to keep the car for a few more years. If you change it now at a convenient time you may save your self a lot of hassles later.

Regards,

Ed White

AV wrote:

FWIW

I'm on my 6th Toyota and I always replace the timing belts every 60,000 miles. I do all of the recommended preventive maintenance when called for. That may also explain why I've never had any problems in the last 24 years with Toyota's.

Interference

I had 87K mi on a (my second) belt that jumped a tooth this summer. -

90 camry, 4cyl. I suspected it imediately because I had a couple of days earlier accidentally over-reved the engine, but had not experienced any immediate problems from that. When it jumped, I was driving very gently up a small incline. First noticed symptom was extreme pinging upon ANY acceleration, and very rough idle, and unburned gas fumes out the pipe. The car would drive at constant speed with mild surging, but the moment any acceleration was attempted extreme loud pinging and low power was noticed. I barely managed to drive it to the dealer where I used a timing belt coupon for ~$190. Came out running better than before. (changed plugs too). Gas mileage improved from 32 to 35. Dealer tried to gyp me by claiming it was the distributor cap, coil and rotor & labor for the ridiculous price of $400. This is what they use coupons for - to get your car in there, call you at work and lie to you while you're busy about problems that it doesn't have. I told him I had already diagnosed the problem. I came down to the dealership and actually looked at the cap which they said was fautly. It was fine - a little corroded, but not cracked or burned as they had implied. I refused to buy. - same parts at Advance are $75. "bad" distributor cap/coil has been on the car for 7000 mi now. I will have the timing belt changed at 70~80K from now on, but at a different dealer or mech. I kept the old belt, and it looked fine. Another thing that happens is the tensioner spring gets weak. They replaced that too.

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