spoogie

There are boatloads of water pump / timing belt kits on eBay. Should I consider any of these or look at something else?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_kw...ump+Kit+GX+470

Extreme Dimensions

iTrader: (1)

The ones I clicked on don't even say what brand they are.....

When it comes to Timing Belts I only trust Dealer parts or Gates belts. Water pump wise I will only go dealer parts. Remember, these are pretty expensive repairs if you don't do them yourself, and if either fails it can lead to catastrophic failure.

cssnms

Not all parts are created equal - lots of Chinese crap out there.

Aisin makes the water pump etc for Toyota. There is an Amazon seller (ToyoLexus Parts Connection) that sells the complete kit which is the same as you would buy from Toyota. Another member on here has purchased the kit and compared the parts against what was removed from his truck and they are spot on.

This is a very comprehensive kit which includes the serpentine belt and cam seals too.

470reasons

Looks like a decent kit. Mitsuboshi belts are Lexus OEM at least on some Lexus models. Now if it was a Mitsubishi product, no way I'd put it on a Lexus!

spoogie

Good info. Thanks.

What should labor cost?

cssnms

It depends where you go, but a good indy may charge you anywhere from $300 to $450 labor.

spoogie

Not bad. I'll likely wait until 200-210k miles to do it, but buy the parts now. Thanks.

I also noticed that some come with a hydraulic pump tensioner (no idea what this is). Others come with a thermostat kit. Is it better to buy that way and have it done at the same time?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AISIN-OEM-TIMING-BELT-WATER-PUMP-KIT-W-HYDRAULIC-TENSIONER-TOYOTA-LEXUS-V8-/261110179012?_trksid=p2054897.l4276
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AISIN-TOYOTA-TUNDRA-4-7L-V8-COMPLETE-TIMING-BELT-WATER-PUMP-HOSE-THERMOSTAT-KIT-/261110186075?_trksid=p2054897.l4276

RCsGX

Timing belt tensioner....

cssnms

How many miles do you have on your GX?

spoogie

172k.The timing belt and water pump was changed at 100k.

spoogie

Does anyone here know if the timing belt tensioner, hoses, and thermostat should be performed at the same time as the water pump and timing belt? This is the second timing belt service on my GX.

BradTank

Personally, I wouldn't buy off of Ebay, there's a lot of counterfeit parts floating around. Someone selling parts out of their garage is a crap shoot, I've personally been scammed where someone sent me a new part in the box and it had clearly been swapped with something different. I'm sure most are legit, but the savings are usually trivial.

I would buy off RockAuto or Amazon, and would buy the Aisin kit with everything (water pump and tensioner). And I would buy new hoses, new thermostat (dealership on T-Stat) and also a new serpentine belt and radiator cap (dealer). It's worth the extra $80 or so, especially with your mileage to just get this out of the way.

I would also inspect your radiator, mine started leaking like many of them do on the lower driver's side.

spoogie

My Radiator was replaced at five years.

Why would you buy those certain parts from the dealer and not as part of a kit or some other discount source?

cssnms

Yes it is recommended, they are cheap parts and while they in there you might as well replace them.

BradTank

At the end of the day, the premium is incredibly small. It's cheap insurance.

An OEM Thermostat is like $12 whereas as an aftermarket is like $7. Some aftermarket thermostats are too universal (not the right temperature) Also, there's just a lot of failures with "AutoZone" quality aftermarket thermostats.

Radiator cap is basically the same concept. Cheap upgrade, not worth the headache to save $3-$4 on a part made in Mexico or China.