Cam Belt longivity

hello to all,

My first time on this forum. I just inherited my mothers 89' Camary and I need to know how long the cam belt "CAN REALLY LAST"! Less than 20,000 miles ago my mother and I gave the dealership allot of money to replace the cam belt,water pump and the engine seals and the cam shaft seal. Now they're telling me that it needs all this again. I think I'm being taken for a ride. Am I wrong or right?

They said the cam belt rotted away since it's not driven much. I tell them how come? They look on they're computer bank for the records and walk away from me. They come back and tell me "it needs to be changed soon". Well how soon? They tell me soon. What the heck is that?

Also is it standard practice to automatically change the water pump when the cam belts changed?

Lastly. How often does the cam shaft seal wear out? Including all the seals?

Looks like to me that these parts are mde of pure rubber and not some synthetic type that might last longer.

Opinions anyone.

rimfire,22:screwy:

Current Toyota belts should be inspected/changed at 90000 mile intervals.

As well as previous belts. Yes, it is good preventative maintenance to replace the water pump because most people severely disregard proper cooling system maintenance.

Don't replace that belt unless it is scheduled to be replaced. They are trying to take you for a ride, as you suspected - of course, that is assuming you have told us everything there is to know to make a decision about this issue.

The cam seals may last the life of the engine, but they may wear out much sooner. There is no way of predicting that. They are certainly not made of natural rubber. If they were, they wouldn't last a year at that temperature and in the presence of oil. Oil deteriorates natural rubber very fast, particularly at high temperatures.

hello guys/gals,

OK, I contacted another dealership that very well known in the Los Angeles area. They told me that the water pump doesn't require changing every 60,000 miles along with the "timing belt" like the other dealerships have requested. This one said that the typical water pump in Toyotas are made really well and last longer than most people think. It's not part of the 60,000 mile service in either case.

Tonight I'm gonna try and review my records and see if and when the last time it was changed. My mind tells me it was done at 180,000 mile service. Boy! my mom and I gave them allot of money that time. I'm sure we did the whole nine yards on that one. Why it's recommended again I can't really say BUT the alarms in my head is sounding-off! I could be wrong though. Besides I need a couple of months anyway to get a breather cuz I'm still paying off Christmas stuff. The credit card companies are having a field day on my card. I know to play it safe I'll have a transmission service done and perhaps the belt and seals.

Be strong everyone and cross your fingers on my behalf.

rimfire,22:banghead:

89 Camry timing belt change is 60k miles.

rimfire,22
Just because she paid a lot of money, does not correlate to any service at all being done. If there isn't a record, or clear memory of something being done - it never happened.

Old schedule was 60,000 mile timing belt, replace tb & water pump every other.
New schedule (Superseding old schedules) is 90,000 mile tb & water pump.

Because 99% of the cars on the road do not get their cooling system flushed every other year. The majority of the cars on the road have a coolant mixture that is corrosive. This in turn corrodes the water pump fins off. It's not a quest of the water pumps wearing out, but being destroyed.
Same for radiators. Since Toyota's swap & over-estimated lifespan of Toyota red they have also killed many radiators from people not flushing it out as well.


The reason Toyota changes water pumps so early, is not because they don't last when taken care of. It's that the vast majority don't take care of them.
A $75-100 part, and less than an hours labor during the timing belt change keeps people out of major trouble, and keeps Toyota from having to go ballistic with owners about changing coolant often.

rimfire,22
Just because she paid a lot of money, does not correlate to any service at all being done. If there isn't a record, or clear memory of something being done - it never happened.

Old schedule was 60,000 mile timing belt, replace tb & water pump every other.
New schedule (Superseding old schedules) is 90,000 mile tb & water pump.

Because 99% of the cars on the road do not get their cooling system flushed every other year. The majority of the cars on the road have a coolant mixture that is corrosive. This in turn corrodes the water pump fins off. It's not a quest of the water pumps wearing out, but being destroyed.
Same for radiators. Since Toyota's swap & over-estimated lifespan of Toyota red they have also killed many radiators from people not flushing it out as well.


The reason Toyota changes water pumps so early, is not because they don't last when taken care of. It's that the vast majority don't take care of them.
A $75-100 part, and less than an hours labor during the timing belt change keeps people out of major trouble, and keeps Toyota from having to go ballistic with owners about changing coolant often.


Toysrme,

I had reviewed ALL my records of this car and found that most everything has been done already. It's back to the "timeing belt" issue again. It shows it was done at the proper time/mileage 180,000. In about a month it's due for a major service anyway but since it appears to have been done early perhaps it just nneds seals and the belt. Everything else a quick check. Thanks for everyone's imput... for now it's a done deal.

rimfire,22:grinyes:

Food for thought: I've got an 87, I've changed the timing belt twice at 116,000 and 208,000 miles. It now has 270,000+ on it. I have never changed the water pump, pulleys, or seals. I do however flush the coolant system every other year. If there is no functional problem with the engine, I see only one reason to change the belt before it's due, and that is if oil or grease has leaked onto the belt. Did these heros at the dealership pull the cover off and inspect the belt or are they shooting from the hip? Everytime I finish a job my main thought is I just kept big bucks in my wallet and didn't fork it over to some rip off artist at a dealership.

Food for thought: I've got an 87, I've changed the timing belt twice at 116,000 and 208,000 miles. It now has 270,000+ on it. I have never changed the water pump, pulleys, or seals. I do however flush the coolant system every other year. If there is no functional problem with the engine, I see only one reason to change the belt before it's due, and that is if oil or grease has leaked onto the belt. Did these heros at the dealership pull the cover off and inspect the belt or are they shooting from the hip? Everytime I finish a job my main thought is I just kept big bucks in my wallet and didn't fork it over to some rip off artist at a dealership.

RIP,

To my knowledge the info give to me was from a pure observation on their part. I can't say if they pulled the cover off or not. Since the longivety of your timing belt is so long has not the dealership asked you if you need/wanted to change your belt? I do know it's recommended to do the swap at 60K. The water pump, seals etc. didn't need changing either? HMMMMM? Something to ponder over. In either case I need about 3 months just to pay off my other car bills. In that time I'll consider changing it out including the seals. In addition I'm planning to go back to synthetic oil.

Thanks for you imput. For problem solved of put off til my CC gets better.

rimfire,22