Expensive

[Jay2TheRescue]

Rusty ran his original timing chain for 190,000 miles, dad & I replaced it ourselves for a couple of afternoons time, and about $100 in parts. The Beast has a timing chain, and it runs extremely quiet. Most 4 banger Toyotas are noisier at idle than The Beast, despite having an engine less than half the size.

[theholycow]

Hmm...my truck's at 190,000 miles, should I consider replacing the chain?

[dieselbenz]

Originally Posted by shatto

Mantainence costs on Toyota vehicles are supposed to be low, because nothing goes wrong or breaks. Right?

I planned and calculated, plotted and studied before I bought 'Clyde the Ride' and got a very good deal, so I thought I was "in like Flint."

Oops. Seems that, every ninety thousand miles there is a mandatory mantainence, and it is costly. One Large. One C-Note, a grand, one thousand bucks. Hurts even us rich guys. All to replace the timing belt. The parts are half the cost.

I won't do it myself because I lack a crankshaft pulley-puller, torque wrench, motivation and inclination and because the time it would take me is what it would cost a professional to do the job correctly. And I don't give a warranty.

Last vehicle I buy that uses timing belts.

Learn how to work on and maintain your own car. Profit.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by tjts1

Learn how to work on and maintain your own car. Profit.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Hmm...my truck's at 190,000 miles, should I consider replacing the chain?

Rusty's chain & gear were so worn down that there was slack in the chain, it was running like crap, and would barely go over 30 MPH. You're obviously not to that point.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by bobc455

Just about every engine nowadays is an interference engine AFAIK.

Besides being quieter, timing belts help the knock sensor to be more sensitive (don't get me going on that one again).

In the old days, Buick used to use nylon-covered timing gears. However the nylon would eventually fall apart, causing all kinds of fun (such as plugging up the oil pickup and skipping a tooth, ask me how I know). Replacement units are steel.

-BC

Yeah, Rusty's original timing gear was nylon (I think so, the teeth were plastic), and the teeth were worn down, and there was slack in the chain. We suspect it jumped a tooth on the chain to cause it to suddenly run really bad. I replaced the worn gear with a new steel one.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Don't know just why ANY engine should be an interference engine. Many older engines had depressions in the pistons for the valves.

Those nylon timing sprockets were fun...not. One time, after a fight with the old lady, I gunned the engine in my '85 Continental. Ford 302 engine. Engine went WAAAHHHHH.....stop. Hit the starter...no compression. Twigged right away to what happened...nylon timing sprocket self-destructed. Fortunately, it was a relatively (compared to Shatto's truck) cheap repair.

BTW, a C-note is a hundred. (C is Roman Numeral for 100). But, wow...a kilobuck!

[VetteOwner]

yea if its not making noise and truck still runs fine i wouldnt mess with it. the s10's anyways once you replace them the replacement tentioners suck ***...

[shatto]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Hmm...my truck's at 190,000 miles, should I consider replacing the chain?

My Dakota went 623,000 miles on one timing chain.

I would never even think of replacing a chain unless the diagnosis of finding out why the 'check engine' light was on or not passing smog, led to the valves being out of sync, which was caused by a stretched chain.

The computer in modern engines will adjust for a multitude of minor mis-adjustments.....ergo, leave the darn thing alone until something goes wrong.

[theholycow]

Oh good. I really didn't want to have to replace my timing chain!

Originally Posted by JoeBob

Don't know just why ANY engine should be an interference engine. Many older engines had depressions in the pistons for the valves.

Wouldn't sharp edges around a depression encourage preignition? Also, the piston would have to be heavier or weaker.