Service History - Query

[Andy TT]

My '93 LS400 has 14 stamps in the book, 12 from Lexus dealers and 2 from a Japanese car specialist.

The 'B' service states that the cam belt should be replaced after 60,000 miles - one of 35 items in the 'B' service.

Is there any reason to think that a reputable Lexus dealer - H R Owen, Park Lane, London in this case - wouldn't have changed the cam belt at the appropriate service? I can't think they would do all the service except the cam belt and then still stamp the service book? If they did, and didn't comment the service was incomplete then surely this would void the Lexus warranty?

[Bluesman]

Hi Andy, I think you should be able to find out from the service record that any Lexus dealer should be able to give you. Mike

[Malc]

Andy, if it's Lexus serviced it will probably be on their central computer and they might be happy to provide you with the printout service history to confirm...... but I guess it's not too current !

Mine has H R Owen numberplates, provided when it was put on a private plate by a prior owner sometime.

Malc

[ambermarine]

The reccommended belt change is dependant on the owner paying at that time around £600 on top of the service.

There should be a white sticker(if done by Lexus) on the front of the engine compartment showing the date and mileage as to when or if the belt was last changed.

You might run into the dreaded data protection hurdle on previous history of the car.

[n4chv]

I ran a 1998 'R' Lexus LS400 for 13 years (it was the Mk 4 version) and the cambelt had to be changed either every 4 years or every 63k miles, whichever is sooner.

For the last few years of my ownership, I was fortunate enough to get a 20% discount on the labour costs for my servicing and other jobs from my Lexus dealer. I used to be charged for 4 hours labour and the replacement belt for around £400.

If you have any doubts about when this was last changed, I would get it changed - the damage that could be done in the engine if the belt were to snap doesn't bear thinking about.

[steve2006]

That's interesting as I have never seen the recommended mileage/time interval in my 1994 owner's manual, mine just says inspect the condition of the belt for both A and B services, could you give me the page number of the section concerned please.

Up to October 1994 the engines were non interference so no damage would occur if the belt were to break.

[cruisermark]

steve nach is talking about a mark 4 - not the early LS400s

Also i thought the early ones were non interference therfore no serious damage occurs if the belt goes hoever there is an early LS400 for sale which mentions engine rebuild following a snapped cambelt?? can anyone confirm?

[Malc]

Nach, hi, ...... there's lots of prior forum comments on Ls400 cambelt change intervals ................. up to Mk3 ( incl ) it has been quoted at 63k and / or 10 year intervals and Mk4 onwards 100k miles and 10 years.

The USA forum quotes 100k miles for all Ls400s.......... same engines of course.

Destruction point of a cam belt has been said to be 150k miles + ........... the waterpump is more likely to fail before a cambelt !

The Ls430 might well be 100k miles and 10 years

Malc

[n4chv]

The timings I have mentioned were ones which have been given to me by a number of different UK Lexus Dealers and during my LS400 ownership, I changed the cambelt 3 times

I wouldn't want to chance it so rather do it more often than risk having belt snap

I have read from some owners that you should also change the water pump too - I did have to replace mine at 185k miles when the original one failed. That's not bad going. The replacement part was only £85 and it was 1 hour's labour for my local garage.

[VKP]

I have also read posts that advise changing to water pump (no sense changing the belt only to have the water pump fail and foul everything up anyway)

I recently bought my car and had both belt and pump replaced (it was due and it is peace of mind)

Viren

[Bluesman]

That's interesting as I have never seen the recommended mileage/time interval in my 1994 owner's manual, mine just says inspect the condition of the belt for both A and B services, could you give me the page number of the section concerned please.

Up to October 1994 the engines were non interference so no damage would occur if the belt were to break.

Can the belt be seen for checking purposes without dismantling the front of the engine? Mike

[ambermarine]

Only on the engines prior to Vti as they had plastic covers you could easily remove on the camshaft Pulley end .the Vti is a bit more complicated.

Just to clarify the situation on cambelt change.

The early engines were reccomended by Lexus Uk to be changed every 60k miles ,although it said in my 1990 mark 1 owners service schedule only change the cambelt at that interval if the vehicle was used as a Taxi or delivery vehicle.In other words lots of stops and starts which is when the most torque is placed on the cambelt.

The car I have is a1998 Mark IV and I spoke with Lexus Uk as to the fact it had only done 18k miles but was 13 years old, they said the reccomended cambelt change for that model was 100k miles 0r 10 years whichever came sooner .So I renewed it as it had never been changed since the car was new.I inspected the cambelt when it was changed and the old one looked brand new.

The cambelt is a highly engineered composite of synthetic rubber and woven cordage built in many ways similar to a tyre

and will take a lot of pain to break it .

[Mybikes a cx500]

From browsing years of posts, the belt only breaks if the pump seizes, which I think would only happen if the wrong coolant is used.

I'm going with 100k miles or 10 years, change the pump and belt, and I suspect the belt will look new

[Andy TT]

Steve 2006 - in the 1993 service book the 'B' schedule is on page 26 - 3rd item down - it just says 'Replace the timing belt at 60,000 mile intervals, extra charge for replacement'. I have made quite a few enquiries and no-one I have come across has first hand knowledge of a timing belt snapping.

[ambermarine]

As the only recorded cambelt failure on my Mark 1 I have answered this query a dozen times on this forum and once again I will restate the facts.
My mark 1 had two recommended cambelt changes and 16k miles after the second one the water pump failed that incident is on this forum in the archives .

The cambelt failed(stripped the teeth) because the water pump seized which had nothing to do with coolant integrity as the car was always serviced by Lexus and the two cambelt changes were done by Lexus the coolant replacement cost was on the invoice.

The repairs were done by Lexus and it was only after this incident that they started recommending water pump renewal at the second cambelt change.

As we are all aware a lot of the changes that auto makers introduce are based on customer and service feedback and this is just one example of that.