Timing belt necessary at 35K miles for a 2004?

I recently bought a nice 2004 Tundra with only 35K miles on the odometer. Is it really a good idea to replace the belt with so little mileage? Hard to believe it is worn out, though I suppose aging takes its toll?

 

Replace the timing belt

 

Replace it, regardless of miles it should be in its second TB.

 

This. Don't risk it. Consider replacing the old radiator too.

 

Replace it.

But first post a pic of your Tundra!

 

Its not based just on miles. The manual says 90K miles OR 9 years. So, whichever comes first. And you're way past 9 years.

 

Just to drill the point home, I'll say it too: REPLACE IT.

The unfortunate part about older low-mile vehicles is a higher-mile vehicle will typically get more maintenance, more attention, and won't have as much time for things to dry out. While it's cool you found a low-mile truck, as I did, there's been no shortage of crap I've dealt with, and honestly, the crank case on a vehicle with 3x as many miles looks better than mine did when I had to replace the dried, shrunken valve cover gaskets.

If that timing belt is dry and breaks, like, on your way to the mechanic, your nice 35k mile engine is toast. Like, beyond repair toast. Is it worth it to you?

 

Welcome to the group.
I have a 2003 RC with 33k miles that I am rebuilding.
It sat for years with road salt on it and has been a lot of work so far.

 

100,000 miles or 84 months, replace it now.

 

At the risk of getting yelled at, but to show how good mine has been, my 2001 I bought in 2002 with 3000 miles on it, now has 145K miles.
The only thing I've replaced on it is a radiator, drive belts, spark plugs and O2 sensors. Everything else is original. It does have a first gear whine though. (AT)
It only gets driven once a week now that I'm retired but it runs like it does when new. Always had Amsoil in it and doesn't burn a drop of oil with yearly changes.

 

You are living on borrowed time with that original belt. You can pop the timing belt cover off in less than 5 minutes and see what the condition of the belt is. Or just send it if you don't care what happens.

 

It’s just dumb to ignore the timing belt.

 

belts are rubber. rubber deteriorates over time. its recommended to replace it AT LEAST every 10 years if your not at the mileage limit.

belt failure + new engine. so its cheap vs the other option when it does fail

 

It's abnormally difficult to replace the timing belt and with only 35k miles it must be a super old truck that just sat there for years and years, the timing belt is shot and the whole truck is basically junked. Let me know where I can swing by to pick it up free of charge and I'll even pay you for the title to take it off your hands.

 

There are such nice people on this forum! God bless you............you sick bastard.

 

Honestly, I figured the darn truck has lasted this long, being retired and not needing it much anymore, I figured if it blew-up tomorrow, I'd be OK with that!
But.......Now that I think about it, I need something to do anyway, I'll probably just spend the $300 in parts and just do it. Doesn't seem that hard to do.

At the rate I'm going though, it will take another 20 years to put just 20K more miles on it!

 

See, it's not that uncommon! Post #109

What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

 

Big difference though. With mileage comes use, which can help keep things "conditioned".

When something rubber sees (at least) routine movement, it's getting flexed and doesn't have time to rest, dry, and stiffen. Your case is a classic example of how "lack of use" can easily land a mint vehicle at the junkyard.

Get the Aisin timing belt + water pump kit. do the work if you need to if you've got the time, tools and know-how. But if you're not on a fixed income or lack any of the prior, even paying someone $1k for parts & labor is worth it based on the value you already got out of your truck and how much a replacement truck (or used engine) would cost you right now.

 

My understanding was that the 2uzfe is non-interference? I've seen more than a few documented cases of people belts snapping on the highway with no damage to the engine. There is even a guy on youtube who does a timing belt replacement on one and the cams jump forward, causing no damage to the valves or cylinders. There is another video of a guy who does a teardown of a junked engine (it was junked because the timing belt snapped, with the person thinking the engine was toast), and there was also zero damage to the engine. Seems to be a lot of conflicting information on this.

 

I agree. I remember one member that had his belt snap at low speed and the engine was fine but we've also had one or two members have theirs snap and it destroyed the engine.

I guess my question would be, why risk it?

 

Tell that to @thefish712 : https://www.tundras.com/threads/potentially-snapped-timing-belt.90981/

But yes. At least the iForce V8 is . <-- That link has details you need to look up your specific make/year/model to confirm also. My '06 2UZ absolutely is. If yours is also, and it snaps, expect a fun ride like Fish's thread I linked.

 

Actually, it looks like the 1st link in DJ's post @ the TS forum was broken, maybe due to forum upgrade.

This was the other post he was linking to, his 5th reply: Again, "certified Toyota mechanic" trying to say it's not interference. But plenty of technical sources online saying it is. If someone manages to snap their TB w/o damage, if I was them, I'd be buying a lottery ticket.

 

I wonder why there is confusion over this. My friend had his timing belt break on his old Xterra and the engine was fine but when I Googled it I got conflicting info on whether or not it was an interference engine. Seems to be a common debate for many vehicles.

 

As an aside, DJ is one of the kings when it comes to alignments, dude knew his stuff.

 

I think the confusion comes from the fact that timing belts break and engines are fine, while others seem to have special edition interference engines of the same engine model. Either way I wouldn't want to be in the position of having my timing belt snap and finding out I had one of the special edition engines.

 

I thought the VVTI were more interferencer than the non vvti. The lucky ones seem to be non vvti

 

So a lot of talk about interference or not is on the V8.
How about the V6?

 

I have it on good authority that DJ, the Alignment/Tire Balance King, is no longer with us.
Someone posted on his behalf that he had passed on some time ago.
I always found him to be the The Authority on all things alignment oriented ~ the most knowledgeable guy around.
Gone now but not forgotten.

 

Using the Gates Parts Interchange by Application lookup... it doesn't show the '01 V6 as being interference in the comments as it does with my 2UZ FE. NOTE: This isn't me saying "V6 is non-interference", just that ... if it were, I'd expect Gates to note that specifically. Consult a professional if in question.

Note these four different lookups, maybe it'll answer y'alls questions and quash any rumors non-VVTi = non-interference:


V6 2001 (no note of being interference):

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V8 2006 VVTi (clearly noted as interference):

​

2000 V8 non-VVTi (clearly noted as interference)

​

2006 V6 (no note of being interference):

​