Check Timing Belt ? How ?
I mean HOW without taking off enough stuff to waste 1/2 the day. After how many miles is the belt considered worn out ? My 3.0L engine seems very quiet and well looked after by its single owner so maybe at 265k KM / 150k Miles it could be OK?

Is there an inspection hole or an easier method to judge the amount of wear and tear on it ?

Worried about engine damage ...

 

take 1/2 a day to take off 1/2 the parts or just remove 3 10mm bolts to pull one of the cam sprocket covers.

no damage if it breaks, just a tow bill and HUGE inconvenience

 

When was the last time the belt was replaced?

 

just remove 3 10mm bolts to pull one of the cam sprocket covers.

no damage if it breaks, just a tow bill and HUGE inconvenience

OK ! I can Take cam cover off to inspect ? -- that works for me ! State of belt life should be apparent. Sudden death of belt I would think is unlikely.


...last time the belt was replaced?


Unfortunately I dont know when or if the belt has ever been replaced. I am not worried about the "tow bill" or the inconvenience just the expense of a blown motor

thanks for the tips !!

 

if you blew your motor, it would one happy-lucky motor

if the timing belt fails, all that is damaged is your time you lost when it broke, there is no 'blown' motor issues as a result

 

I was thinking that a timing belt would not BREAK in half leaving the valves not turning but perhaps jump a few notches and bang the valves into the pistons --- I stand to be corrected for this faulty reasoning since I know little about these engines or timing belts in general or the clearnace of valves to piston for that matter....

..my engine experience comes from racing motorcycles where valves and pistons meet !!

.. no I mean .. like BLEW up -- exploded i.e. "it blew up real good" -- John Candy

 

if you understand how to use internet search methods, you could go to a web page of a company that makes timing belts where they list if an engine has valve-piston interference (like Gates belts)

 

If you do decide to replace the belt, by all means, also replace the water pump. The pump is driven by the belt and everything you have to remove to get to the belt also has to be done for the pump so best to do them both at once.

 

and while you're in there, might as well put in new cam and crank seals since they are notorious for leaking with high miles and age.

 

How long is the timing belt good for ?? Recommended change at what mileage? Toyota cars says 100,000 KM / 62, 500 miles. so begs the question how many miles on a used van recently bought or how to find out ? Worried .. cuz my van has 165,000 miles

Not likely to do this ..unless I see evidence of a problem developing ...
"and while you're in there, might as well put in new cam and crank seals since they are notorious for leaking with high miles and age."