Extreme Luck

[mrfil13]

Changed the cam belt 2 weeks ago at 91000 miles, was told that it had been recently done. Get the cover off, basically this recently done looked like they had taken the cover off and decided :censor: that.

The belt was the original toyota belt, this belt looked like the original belt, 30k long overdue. :ffs:

[GT4 BOOSTER]

best to have it changed reguardless , take no ones word for anything that could end up costing you a fortune , though apparantly the celica engine is ok if the belt snaps . by the way how much was it to have it changed £ 90 ish ??? or did you diy ?

[mrfil13]

my dad is a mechanic :) so we did it, £20 for the belt, i think he asked toyota and they said it would be £170 :) bit of a saving and fortunatly did not have to replace the tensioner

[mrfil13]

plus got myself chiltons manual from Amazon, pritty good instructions

[Cubic Incubi]

great, good to have a decent pair of hands to help you out..

[mrfil13]

worrying hands, its a pain really cos my dad never swears until something goes horribly wrong, when he put the tensioner back in the threads on the bolts had taken taken the threads out of the engine :( all i heard was a constant stream of :censor:

got sorted in the end though, bit bad the bolts only go into about 1cm of the engine, not much to hold it in really.

[sotal]

apparantly the celica engine is ok if the belt snaps . 

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Is that all the Celica Engines or just the 2.0? Just wondering if the 1.8 7A-FE is the same. Some one tried explaining once about the different types of engine and how depending on how they work it would either total the engine or not do a thing.

I had a 1.6 16V Escort a few years back - had the belt changed when I got it, then the tensioner deceided to shatter. That bust all 16V.

The 1.8ST I have got now had service histroy showing the belt didn't need doing for another 20k miles but I got it done anyway £80 inc VAT from a local garage - strange thing was they wouldn't gaurantee it for the full length - I think the manual says it should last 72k miles or something, but they would only gaurantee it for 2/3 of it's service life??? Is that normal??

[GT4 BOOSTER]

not sure sotal , but good ole ford and their rock hard plastic tensioners lol, they even sell you one now with the new belt

same as the alternator belt when it snaps on a ford it kindly wraps up into the timing case and snaps the timing belt too.

cheers ford for the expence.

[sotal]

Just found out the 7A-FE, 3S-GE and 3S-GTE Engines are an "INTERFERENCE" type engine. The possibility of valve-to-piston damage in the vent of a timing belt failure is MOST LIKELY to occur.

So unfortunatley it looks like the celica engine would not be OK if the belt snapped :(

[mikeb]

There seems to be confusion regarding whether the 3s-ge engines are interference or not. Some people have had the cambelt let go at motorway speeds and it hasn't damaged then engine. When I googled it, I uncovered lots of contradictory information.

Maybe the 'official' line from toyota is that it is an interference engine, in a plot to get your car serviced at a main dealer.

All I can say is IF the 3s-ge is non interference, then the 3s-gte must be as well. Not sure about the 7a-fe though.

[sotal]

Well it doesn't mean that you have to have anything done at a main dealer. I think it is something to do with the config of the engine - Apparantly all the Gen 6 Engines are interference engines - so it is most likely that it will be a block of scrap metal if the belt goes - It doesn't mean it will always (just most of the time)

Infact after a quick check all Toyota Engines are identified as "interference" engines except the new 1ZZ-FE engines which aren't identified as either interference or non-interference (probably because of timing chain??)

[mikeb]

You can get the cam belt changed somewhere else if you want, but not if you want to keep an official FSH. And the belt still needs to come from somewhere, would you want to trust your engine to some cheap pattern part? Admittedly, the ones Mr T sells are made by Mitsubishi. I mean, you'd have thought a compay the size of toyota would be making their own belts. I've never had a quote for a belt change from an independent garage, so I don't know how much you can save.

I think the gen 6 version of the 3s-ge has a slightly higher compression ratio than previous ones, so thaat could push it into the 'interference' category. Also, the gen 6 has different cams, and if they increased the lift then that could also cause it to become interference.

It's a bit misleading if toyota are claiming the 1zz-fe is non interference solely due to it having a chain. Chains can break too.

[sotal]

According to the data I have the gen5 3s-ge engines are Interference engines as well. Also the fact that the chain can break doesn't make the engine an Interference engine - I also said it didn't say the 1zz-fe was interference and it didn't say it wasn't!

I had my cambelt done at an independant garage - £80 inc VAT but they only gaurantee it for 2/3rds or it's service life so really I should get it changed after 40k miles instead of 63k miles (not sure if it was 63 thinking about it now!)

[mikeb]

Sorry, my last statement on the 1zz-fe didn't read as I intended it. I was trying to say that it's a bit lame of toyota to not state if the 1zz-fe is interference or not, just because it has a chain. Of course, there may be another reason.

Can I ask what your source of information is on the 3s-ge? Like I said earlier, it may be the official line from toyota is that they are all intereference engines. There are so many contradictory reports on the Internet (and I know it's not a 100% reliable source of information), that I couldn't make a judgement on it.

There was someone in the MR2 section who claims their cambelt let go at 80mph on the motorway, without damaging the engine. I know perfectly well from experience (not a 3s-ge though), that you can be 'lucky' with an interference engine, and avoid damage. But that would usually be at a low engine speed and with the gearbox in neutral or clutch depreseed. At motorway speeds, it would be not far short of a miracle to get away without damage to an interference engine, in the event of a cambelt failure.

To guarantee an entire engine against cambelt failure for 2/3rds of the service life is pretty good. I would be surprised if even a main dealer would rebuild your entire engine, if the cambelt went at that sort of mileage.

[andrew98]

The 3S-GTE , ie 2 litre turbo out of the GT4 and MR2 Turbos are technically non interferance, However if there is a build up of carbon deposits on either the piston or valves, The head, or block has been skimmed then interferance may occur.

However this is no garuntee that damage wont occur, you could even be very unlucky and have a valve spring snap! not nice!

Its never worth the risk so spend a few quid and get that cambelt changed regularly or when you dont know the history of the car.