Where would you go for a timing belt change, apart from dealer?
 

See text... any shop recommendations for a Lexus?

hmm, lexus/toyota timing belt is pretty straight forward. so any sponsor that can do a honda timing belt can do a toyota one =)

hope that helps.

i suggest u call them up and find which one gives u the best price.

I went to Garage5 they were awsome

don't forget about replacing the water pump, idler and tensioner bearings...

dealer isn't THAT expensive... nothing goes wrong during the job at the dealer, and most offer loaner vehicles for that type of time consuming job...

Yes! Do it all.

You'll need:

Timing Belt/Chain
Tensioner
Idler
Water Pump
Coolant
Seals/Gaskets (while you're in there you might as well)

I think the dealer quoted me about $3000 with parts.
I got it done incl. parts and labour for like less than half of that.

what car is it? most toyotas are really easy to do the timing belts on, except the V6's are a bit tricky since you need to take the cam gears off to take out the water pump. $3000 is a lot though..

i actually went to our sponsor mf to change my belt/pump/tensioner. Not to mention the valve cover gasket and spark plugs too. Also changed diff oil, tranny oil and engine oil. Charged me $10xx. But I bought the spark plugs, engine oil, diff oil, tranny oil, and pump myself. All other parts mf ordered for me.

You guys keep forgetting to change your "Front Main Seal"(Crank seal). That's very important as well.

Thanks for all your responses, this information has been very helpful. I have a 2002 IS300 @ around 140k KMs. I do plan to do it all at once, including the timing belt, water pump, coolant etc. and probably will get a look at the clutch as well, which is why it's extremely important for me to go to a shop that won't mess things up, but also avoid a trip to the Lexus dealers where each extra piece of maintenance makes my cost exponentially more.

I don't want to just seem "cheap", but come on, I drive an 8 year old car worth about 14-15K, am I really going to care about what loaner I'm going to get (don't even want one), or nice couches and free coffee, or a leather treatment for my seats afterwards for thousands more? As long as a reputable shop can do the work *properly* and people have had good experiences there I'll be willing to just cab home and back.

I'll get some quotes from the sponsors + Garage5. I actually haven't gotten quoted by Lexus yet, and the Toyota dealerships have told me they will charge about the same as Lexus for the timing belt. Thanks!

^

You and I have the same car of the same year too. :haha:
I got everything mentioned done during the summer at 135k, now im at 142k. Which is good because its getting cold!

My friend works at mf and his boss keeps telling me to change my clutch. Once it starts to slip, I should get it changed because the car will "lock out" the clutch once its too worned down. I don't quite understand that bit but he said he has had several IS300 getting towed in because of this failure.

ohh, same 2jz-ge.

the funny thing is technically you can wait on the water pump.

most ppl tell u to get it done at the same time as the timing belt BECAUSE the waterpump usually resides inside and runs off the timing belt BUT on the 2jz-ge we have, the water pump is off the accessory belt outside. so technically, u can wait til its actually busted or starts failing before changing it because you dont need to take the timing belt off to get at the water pump.

Seee, the black pulley on the left side is the water pump
http://www.revscene.net/SorrGwa/Sony/DSC01686a.jpg