Should I replace 36K mile timing belt?

I bought my 05 Tundra 2UZ late last year. Previous owner lived in Southern California, and I'm in central Arizona. The timing belt was replaced at 100K miles, and it now has 136K. But, it was replaced in December 2014. I know it should be replaced every 90-100K miles, but I haven't read or heard anything about age. Should. I spend the money to have it replaced after only 36K miles? It's an interference engine, so a broken timing belt means a new engine.

 

There is a replacement age recommendation, I’m fairly certain it’s 20 years.

I have a 2000. Bought it at 72,000 miles maybe 4 years ago. Had original timing belt. I did swap it due to age.

 

Toyota recommends every 9 years IIRC. Most say 10 is fine

 

9 years or 90k miles, whichever comes first. That advice only applies to genuine OEM belt, not that gates or other aftermarket nonsense. The Aisin kit with the mitsuboshi belt is the preferred replacement for OEM. I would not drive yours again until I replaced the belt. The maintenance is cheap compared to the fix for failure.

 

Low interference engine. Chance of destruction seems to increase with RPMs/load. We've had people snap one in parking lots, or right after startup, and be OK. We've had others who snapped the belt on the highway and ended up needing to replace the engine. I want to say the most recent guy who snapped his belt (it was Gates brand, 60k miles) hasn't yet got the truck running again? So it's wildly variable.

I'd replace it, especially if there's no evidence they specifically used Toyota genuine parts or the Aisin kit everyone should use (and don't buy your auto parts on scAmazon or fleaBay, knockoff risk!).

Understand something very important here: Toyota gives you those maintenance intervals under the assumption you're using their OEM parts. They know how long their parts will work. Toyota cannot guarantee aftermarket parts will meet or exceed their quality control and construction standards, so a Gates or Continental brand timing belt may only last half as long - with critical stuff like this (lower ball joints, radiator, timing/water pump, electrical sensors) you always want to use genuine OEM, or at least stick with the OEM brand. Some brands - Denso, Aisin, Sumitomo, Koyo, Dana/Spicer to name a few - provided Toyota the OEM parts, and still supplies Toyota with parts, so it's a pretty safe bet using their replacement parts.

That said, I just named a couple of the big killers of these trucks:

• Using non-OEM lower balljoints, or failing to refresh the lower balljoints after 100k miles.
• Failing to replace the timing belt/water pump/tensioner (for V8 trucks) with the OEM-supplier, Aisin, kit ending in part# -021 every 100k miles or 10 years of service life - Toyota says 90k/9yr as long as you use OEM-grade equipment, and OEM is one of their OEM suppliers, settle for nothing less. We've seen (even recently) stories of other brands, including big names like Gates, failing with as little as 50k-60k miles, which isn't good for a low-interference engine.
• Radiator, specifically "pink milkshake", the transmission fluid passes thru the bottom of the radiator and the seals on that connection are known to give out, sending coolant into your transmission. Best bet: Replace with a new Denso brand unit when you do the timing belt, it's an extra $125-150. Always use pink-colored SLL coolant! If you have anything else, you should really purge at the radiator/both drain blocks, flush once or twice with distilled water, install pink SLLC.
• And not mentioned, but crucial, and also probably not a problem for you: Rust. If you're not launching your boat into salt/brackish water and don't live in an area that salts the roads, not a problem.

One analogy that seems to hit well with some folks... would you trust your tires if they were that old? Both are belted rubber products. Are you going to feel good rolling around on 10-year-old tires? If not, why would you roll around on a 10-year-old timing belt? It may be OK. But why trust it?

 

It's rubber. So age matters. I was going to use exactly the same tire analogy as shifty'. The other thing is it's always going to be at the back of your mind. You could inspect it for cracks, but you are simply on the wrong side of 10 years now and rubber hates time.
It also allows you to check other things at the same time. Tensioners, pulleys, water pump. If the radiator has 'gone brown', good time to do that too.

 

YES, the answer is YES

 

Yup - yes

 

Hell no….

 

@shifty` has spoken, thou shall heed thy command....

 

Meh, I don't want it like that. Majority has spoken, and that's what I'd be heeding.

 

I jest, but yea, all the above have been solid advice, and not just Tundra, but just about anything that's at least 10 years or old.

 

I really need to get a new set of tires

 

I just did mine at 9 years and 12k miles

 

What did it look like? Any pics?

 

Should have looked brand new

 

I changed mine's belt after 52k miles and 16 years. It was stiff and shiny compared to the new one. The engine was noticeably zippy-er to start and rev afterwards.

 

Just get it replaced. I was so worried about my Tundra I had it rollbacked to a stealership as I didn't trust the local small shops to actually push it into their bay without starting it. Mine had 201,000 miles when I bought it and no idea when / if the belt had ever been changed. Apparently it had at some point as the belt that came off looked pretty good but ugh.....6 previous owners and no records.