Lexus IS300 timing belt and water pump change

By jason, November 25, 2007 on 3:17 pm | In car stuff, commentary | 7 Comments

The Lexus was due for a new timing belt and water pump so I decided to tackle it on my own and save the $400 or so that I would have paid for labor at one of the local independent shops. (I’m a total DIY’er geek too.) There was a pretty good post about how to do it over at my.is and I just wanted to add a couple comments based on my experiences here.

1. The crank bolt is hard to get off, but all you need is a 22mm deep socket and a big cheater bar if you have a manual transmission. Just put it in 5th gear, pull the emergency brake, and pull really hard. One tip is to wrap a pillow in a garbage bag and put it where your cheater bar might hit the fender in case you aren’t able to stop pulling in time.
crankbolt

2. The timing belt tensioner can be compressed with a bench vise, but make sure you put the pin and rubber seal on the right way. I had it backwards the first time which isn’t apparent until you try to put it back in the car.
tensioner

3. I marked the old timing belt so I knew how many teeth were between the camshaft gears and the crankshaft gear. That helped me put the new one on correctly the first time. (The second time I wasn’t so lucky… see number nine below.)
timing belt

4. A standard harmonic balancer puller works great to pull the crankshaft pulley. Just make sure you have metric bolts.
crankpulley puller

5. The PCV valve in my car is threaded on. The replacement one I bought has a grommet instead. Make sure you get the right one for your car.
PCV

6. You don’t need to pull the power steering pump like it says in the service manual. You just need to remove the power steering pump bracket out of the way so you can access one of the timing belt cover bolts.
pspump bracket

7. I bought the Toyota Extra Long Life coolant. It was friggin’ $23 compared to the Prestone universal kind at $12. I didn’t think it was going to be that much more but oh well… I guess it’s not a big deal if you just change it once every 100,000 miles. (Tip: the parts guys said the “super” long life coolant is the same as the long life, just pre-mixed with water so you don’t have to dilute it yourself.)

8. Make sure you engage the number 2 water bypass pipe when you install the water pump. I missed it the first time and didn’t realize it until I was almost done buttoning it up and realized I had 2 extra nuts that didn’t have a home. Doh! That really sucked as I had to tear everything apart to fix the problem.
water bypass

9. Make sure your timing belt position stays true after you release the tensioner. (I would release the tensioner before you put anything back on and count the teeth between pulleys again.) I had thought everything was fine until I put the crank pulley back on and found out that I was off by a tooth. Doh! Had to take a few steps back (again) as a result.

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  1. [...] It’s great to have somebody that set aside time to take pictures and document their work during the work. That’s more helpful than anything else IMO. I’m creeping up on 90K and will be ordering parts soon. Question: How much coolant did you put back in to top it off after disconnecting and reconnecting the hoses and the sort? I intend to get the super LL so I don’t have to mix. It was flushed at 60k so I just want to top it off for now. Probably get it flushed again in the spring. Same with the transmission fluid(automatic). How much did you/anybody use to top it back up after disconnecting the lines from the radiator? I don’t want to be sitting on a boat load of extra fluids. ATF is not good on cereal. Coolant, however, is. One request: I know I mentioned a DIY is the most helpful IMO but could the link for the service manual be re-enacted again? Possibly made into a 4kb torrent which is then emailed to me then seeded to completion? I may be able to walk somebody through this if needed. I saw parts of it here and must have more. I find service manuals fascinating. I can’t apologize if these topics are beaten to death. The old head is spinning from finally being able to put together part numbers from the many many many threads already covering the topic. [...]

    Pingback by my.IS - Lexus IS Forum - DIY: TIMING BELT & WATER PUMP also includes Serpentine Belt — January 8, 2008 #

  2. i know this entry is over a year old, but can you please post up the part numbers for all the parts that were necessary for this job. that would be REALLY helpful for me and anybody else who may stumble upon this page in the future.

    Comment by Charles — October 6, 2008 #

  3. Here’s a post that has the part numbers:
    http://my.is/forums/f87/diy-timing-belt-water-pump-348511/#post5204154

    I didn’t order my stuff from Toyota, I got mine from autopartswarehouse.com but I can’t find the receipt right now. If I find it, I’ll post it here.

    TIME:
    - 5-6 HRS

    TOOLS NEEDED:
    - 10mm Socket Wrench
    - Breaker Bar
    - Chain Wrench
    - Modified 10mm Wrench

    PARTS NEEDED:
    - Timing Belt: Part No. 13568-49036
    - Tentioner: Part No. 13540-46030
    - Idler: Part No. 13505-46041
    - Drive Belt: Part No. 99366-D1930
    - Water Pump: Part No. 16100-49876-83
    - T/Stat: Part No. 90916-03093
    - T/Stat Gasket: Part No. 16325-62010
    - PCV 5/2000-5/2001: Part No. 12204-46030
    - PCV 5/2001 and up: Part No. 12204-46031
    - PCV Grommet: Part No. 90480-18001
    - O-Rings Bypass Pipe: Part No. 96761-24022 (Qty=2)
    - O-Ring Bypass Outlet: Part No. 96761-24028

    Comment by jason — October 6, 2008 #

  4. Is changing the IS300 belt the same as the Altezza ? cant find a walk through for the Altezza.

    Comment by Bustercherry86 — November 30, 2008 #

  5. I think the Altezza is just the JDM IS300 except that the US didn’t get the 2 liter version. So if you have a 3.0 liter Altezza, I think it’s the same.

    Comment by jason — November 30, 2008 #

  6. My 2003 IS300 is just hitting the 60,000 Miles Marker and the dealership is advising that I change my timing belt. Is that too soon?

    Comment by Jessie — April 11, 2009 #

  7. Unless there’s some special reason (prematurely frayed belt, bad pulley/bearing or something like that), I don’t see why you would do it prior to the factory manual recommendation. My feeling is that the dealer just wants your money. My belt still looked great after I took it off with 100,000 miles. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to do it early, but it’s a significant expense to take on for no good reason. Whenever you do it, make sure you replace the water pump as well since all the labor to take the timing belt off needs to be done to remove the water pump anyway.

    Comment by jason — April 11, 2009 #

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