Timing Belt Failure

[Spartacus]

Hi,

I'm writing on behalf of my dad we're new here but have owned an IS200 Sportcross for five years and I was wondering if anyone can offer a second opinion on a timing belt failure. We had the belt replaced by Lexus Stoke last year to the day on the six year service the car had done about 28,000 miles. We booked it in for this year’s interim service as it was due and what we thought was a reminder light had come on the display just before the weekend. It's currently done almost 35,000 miles.

We were advised the fault was due to the timing belt as it had come out of alignment. They claim the water pump had leaked and caused a piece of gasket to damage the belt and apparently the belt was so damaged the car would not have gone more than a mile before it broke. They also found and fixed a leak in the radiator. We hadn't noticed a drop in the coolant level despite checking it frequently.

The last service record confirms they replaced the timing belt but doesn't mention that they replaced the tensioner or pulley. Should the tensioner & pulley be replaced as part of the main dealer service when replacing the belt?

We were quoted £700 for the repair work (Timing belt, water pump, pulleys, radiator and code reading) plus the service cost and MOT. In total this came to £972.44 but after disputing this they reduced the price to £869.10.

In comparison Lexus Hanley quoted a more competitive £450 for the timing belt, water pump and peripherals replacement.

Has anyone else experienced a similar premature failure?

Thanks,

Jon

[rincewind]

When the belt is replaced they come in a kit with the tensioners/pulleys, and should therefore all be replaced at the same time.

It amazes me that two main dealers can be so far apart in pricing. They need to talk to one another. Alternately, you could talk to Lexus UK and ask the same question. I think they need to give you an answer.

[sparkystav]

sounds like a load of tosh to me

[LexIS200Sport]

They claim the water pump had leaked and caused a piece of gasket to damage the belt

I smell BS too. If your belt looks anything like this, then there is a high possibility that the tensioner has mis-aligned, causing premature wear on the cambelt.

I suspect that your Lexus dealer may have skipped the pulley replacements previously, only to have them fail now. And then they decided to blame a piece of gasket from the water pump to cover themselves...

Just my theory...

[true blue]

Hi I also think the dealer is covering their tracks to avoid a problem caused by the tensioner .I had a similar problem with my sportcross at 57000 miles ,the engine management light came on ,I posted the code on here and was assured it was the timing belt . I was very dubious about that but subsequently found the belt had jumped 1 tooth .I replaced the belt with the tensioner and idler and have had no further trouble .As I previously posted to the chap who did a cheap belt only change ,it is sound engineering practice to change the set especially with the history this car has with belt problems .By the way ,why are you using expensive main dealer servicing on a car this age ? I do all my own servicing , these cars are quite straight forward to work on so find yourself a good reliable independent garage and save some money .

[Spartacus]

Thanks for the responses just confirmed what we already suspected, we asked for all the parts back and the water pump did show signs of a leak which we didn't dispute however the belt doesn't appear damaged at all despite the advice we received that it wasn't fit to drive. I also think the belt skipped a tooth because they didn't replace the tensioner or pulley on the last service.

As for the price difference it just shows how much Lexus Stoke were willing to rip us off, we certainly won't use them again and I'll tell as many people I can not to either.