hey guys, once again i turn to the wise people of the org. My girlfriends father called me today saying the mechanic said he needs to change the timing belt on his 2001 Avalon. Now they live 8 hours away so it's not possible for me to look and listen to the car. He said that in the manual that it states that it's reccomended to change it every 60k....and his car has 60k on it. Thats why i was thinking that the mechanic said this. I was wondering if anyone has personal experiances with this car and if they tend to wear the timing belt fast or not. I know that if they ignore the timing belt and it snaps that it's totally not a good thing lol. So any info you guys have would be greatly appreciated. I dont' wana see my girl's parents getting screwed seeing how it's a 300-500 dollar job depending who u talk to.
Thanks again guys!

I work at a Toyota dealer, and we do these services all the time. It's part of the scheduled maintenance for a reason. Now, I assume it's the old 3.0L v-6, not the nice, new Avalon with the 3.5L (I think that one has a timing chain, but I'd have to check...). That's not an interfearance engine, so if they want to take the chance of it snapping at the most inconvenient time (it's never convenient to have the car towed to a shop), it probably won't do too much additional damage... the engine will just die in the middle of driving down the road... hmmm.

I don't think the timing belt by itself is usually anywhere near $500, but I'm not a service writer. Usually the 60k service includes quite a few individual recommended maintenance items, and it's in the customer's best interest to do the whole service, even though it is pretty expensive. services performed vary from one dealer to the next but usually include: an oil change, tire rotation and balance, alignment (some dealers), fuel injector flush (some places just dump some useless sh!t in the gas tank, but others do a more effective flush which entails disconnecting the fuel line from the engine and running a different chemical through the injectors with the engine running- you want the latter), spark plugs (depending on the application- different cars/engines used different plugs that can go different distances without wearing out) "and much, much more" I don't have the whole list memorized.
Just find out specifically what they're doing to that car and exactly how much it will cost. getting your scheduled maintenance items as package deals like the "-K services" usually actually saves you money, like buying merchandise in bulk. Find out if the dealer in that area has any cupons available for what needs to be done- they can save you quite a bit of money (literally hundreds on really large services like the 30/60/90-Ks) and if you can't find any, ask the service advisor, they often have some cupons they will use for you to get your service.

Another thing to keep in mind: people often go to a dealer, and then find out they can or could have gotten what is supposed to be the same service from an independant shop. The price difference isn't because dealers think they can get away with more, it's because they're using genuine factory parts, and the technicians are trained specially for your make of car and work on that make all day long, so they get to know it better than someone who works on a Dodge, then turns around and works on a VW, then his next car is a Toyota, etc.,etc.,etc. this also has advantages for you (the customer): your car is usually done in a timely fashion, since the tech has a lot of experience with your car, and the parts will fit, because they're factory parts, not some aftermarket BS, and the part won't damage any other parts- brakes are a particularily good example of this: many aftermarket shops use cheaper pads that have a different mixture of materials in the friction material. this different material is often harder and will damage the brake rotor and decrease braking performance, and make more noise, while the dealer uses a factory pad that stops the car like it's fresh off the showroom floor. Also, the dealer has references that I don't think are available to independant shops. they should make you aware of any recalls applicable to your car, and they do a multi-point inspection, to make sure that other items don't need service.

I don't just say this as someone who works for a dealer, I say this as another driver. when I'm not getting upgrade parts, I generally get genuine GM parts for my Cav. It's more expensive, but it's worth it in many ways. Besides, from looking at your profile it looks like you're in New York (it just says Buffalo...) I'm down here in Texas, so it won't benefit me in any way for you to go to the dealer up there- I'm just telling you all this man-to-man. you can take my word or leave it.



LD9 F23 FTW!!