Belt and Hose Life

Replace all belts and hoses and timing belt. I hope you have changed the coolant before, no im not an experianced "Tech" , so what.

The life of belts and hoses depend on how well the car is maintained. Heat is a major source of problem under the hood, and the primary mode of failure these days for hoses is actually electrolysis from lack of coolant changes.

If you change your coolant (say with Toyota red) and distilled water at least every 2 years, then modern Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) hoses will last a long time.

Given that, I'd change them out with the timing belt even if they look fine. I mean ~$15 per hose for an excellent Gates product? Cheap insurance.

You'll be fine with Toyota hoses, but I personally prefer Gates belts and hoses.

Gates belts:

The following site also tells you how to check your hoses ("Give a Good Squeeze to a Bad Hose"):

Gates hoses:

Johndole Belt life has Nothing to do with maintenance, of course you cant find a refrence to one. Hose life has little to do with maintenance, you will clog your cooling system causing more than the few $ hose value

Gates Rubber says every 4 years, but of course they like to sell belts and hoses. I would say six or seven depending on the mileage. Ozone is hard on rubber.

Personally, I prefer the Toyota genuine parts. Have a Toyota belt awaiting installation on my truck's water pump. Just counted the reinforcement plies by looking carefully at the side of the belt. There are six. Of course the aftermarket parts will "work" if by that you mean the car will run. The question is how well and for how long. I realize hose are hoses, but there are diffrences in the Toyota hoses. For example, I once replaced all the vacuum lines with aftermarket. The genuine Toyota vacuum lines are quite costly. The cheaper vacuum lines I used do work, but they harden whereas the genuine vacuum lines stay pliable - because I did buy one section of genuine Toyota vacuum line and it has aged quite differently.

I live in Southern Calfornia, so presumably there is ozone. Toyota hoses are twelve years old and still function like new.

Obviously your choice.

Dan, most likely Toy vacume hoses have a high silicone content, pure silicone hoses are very expensive.

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A friend of mine's wife worked at the PPG plant several years back which supplied windshields and other glass for domestic vehicles, not sure which of the big three or possibly all of them. PPG was trying to expand so, they tried to get a contract with Toyota's Georgetown, KY plant to supply windshields and etc. for them. Bunch of Toyota engineers and honchos toured plant, looked at final products and declined. Said they had too many flaws, Toyota considers a wave in the glass a flaw but you see this all the time in a big three vehicle or aftermarket glass, especially the windshield. PPG now supplies glass for Toyota but they had to go through some major changes in their manufacturing process before Toyota would accept them. So, like you said, Toyota parts are made better, may cost a little more but will last longer. Dave

True, most of the statistical failures they show begin around 6 years or so, probably include the big American V6/V8s. For small engines like the Camry it'll last longer than that.