Want a Toyota or Honda?

8561 · Sep 6, 2005

Toyotas use timing chains, not belts. As far as whether a snapped timing belt will damage a Honda, they will. I had an Acura Integra several years back, sold it to a friend. She snapped the belt at 127,000 and damaged a good portion of the top end. Motor required a rebuild.

BobRip · Sep 6, 2005

My daughter bought a Toyota Matrix. During the discussion the guy who sells the service contract said that they had to add a new higher level (more expensive) contract for the Hybrids. This either means that they are less reliable or an unknown or probably both. I think they may be the future, but they are awful complex and I will let somebody else pay for the experiment. I like the small diesels now sold in Europe. Good mileage, long engine life, and a long history.

Bob Rip

NY_Yankees_Fan · Sep 6, 2005

( Toyotas use timing chains, not belts. )

I am not sure what year Toyota you are referring to, BUT my 2000 Camry with a 4 cylinder engine uses a belt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I think I read some where in 2002 they changed to a chain on some engines.

Dargo · Sep 6, 2005

Interesting. I was at a Honda dealership just this afternoon and one of their master techs showed me where he was replacing a belt on an Accord that had the belt break. He commented that it was a good thing the customer wasn't driving a car with an engine that would allow the valves to drop into the pistons and wreck the engine.

8561 · Sep 6, 2005

Dargo - they may very well have changed. I'm going back to the 1990's with my Integra. I couldn't tell you with any certainty that the new ones aren't different. Certainly if a master tech told you a late model Accord wouldn't be damaged, I would assume he was right.

8561 · Sep 6, 2005

I was under the impression Toyota had always used chains, as I know several models had them dating back to the 80's and before. I punched Toyota Timing Chain into google and got several pages of timing chain references going back many, many years, but I did also find refernce to belts in some Camry's. So Tom, you were right, your Camry must have a belt. I also found the attached article on timing belts which I found interesting, you guys might too.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/2003/us70343.htm

Dargo · Sep 7, 2005

Sorry, I re-read my post and it sounds sarcastic. I'm a bit tired, and only intended to state what occured. I only posed the question to the service manager, and he walked me back to one of his master techs who was much more interested in giving me the complete "low down" than I cared to stay and hear. I was rather in a hurry and got dragged over to the tech, if you know what I mean. Again, no sarcasm intended. Sorry it reads that way. I was only stating what was on the top of my mind.

Dargo · Sep 7, 2005

That's a great article you posted, but I assume it is an older article. The "newest" model it lists is a 1998 model. I was in the Honda dealership to order the Honda factory MP3 player for my '06 Accord and asked about the belt on it. That is when I got the trip to the tech.

I have the abilitly to have each engine looked up to see if it will cause damage or not, but that gets into work stuff. You know how that goes; something about the time and desire... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

gsxr1100 · Sep 7, 2005

( ( Toyotas use timing chains, not belts. As far as whether a snapped timing belt will damage a Honda, they will. I had an Acura Integra several years back, sold it to a friend. She snapped the belt at 127,000 and damaged a good portion of the top end. Motor required a rebuild. ) )

not correct here. Chains are you kidding me. in a Toyota car. They are belts since I have a Lexus.

gsxr1100 · Sep 7, 2005

The article is kind of outdated and false into but that is me. 3,000 mile drains when the manufacture does not even state that.

Never mind the interval for a Camry is incorrect. If the person writing the manual read it, it states, "it's inspect at 60,000 miles replace if needed, inspect every 15,000 miles afterwards, replace as needed."

And the joke on the sludging in the General Tips paragraph. What a joke. Even Lexus is 180 degrees different per there own Letters and info sent to me. The longer drain of 7,500 miles has ZERO to do with it.

All Toyota/Lexus from 1997 to 2002 (with the 3.0-liter IMZ V-6 engines) or 1997 to 2001 with the 5SFE 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engines have/had the sludge issue. It is from design, not oil.

This is the #1 reason why 50% of the info online is a wild west show....