I bought my 05 TL without any mechanical history or records and am a little concerned because I don't know if the timing belt has been replaced. Is there a way to visually inspect and determine age estimate w/o taking it to a garage?

 

You really should have asked about that before buying it, as its a major service but usually the belt itself dosent show much sign of wear at all. Its tough to tell really. I just had mine done today at 103k, my old tb looked nearly new to me. Maybe if you know of the dealership or shop it was serviced at give them a call?

 

no way you can tell without taking the timing belt cover off which require you remove drive belt also. Why you didn't ask for the carfax and see the history prior to purchase?

 

Rob, how many miles are on the car?

 

I'm in the same situation. Mine has half service records but nothing about a timing belt or anything in the last few years for that matter.

I did this. What am I looking for. The belt looked new to me.

 

^^^ you are looking for crack, flexibility for age belt, if not then it probably is a new belt.. I would spend $35 for the carfax record to see if it had been done. BTW you can also check the crank pulley bolt to see if there is any metal shave (rounded kinda like almost strip a little of metal off) around it since it need 450 ft/lb or more to remove that bolt. If the bolt look complete then the TB haven't been done.

 

You can also see if one of the battery tie down bolts/studs has been ground down to a tapered edge.

 

Looking at the crank pulley bolt is not definitive. There's not necessarily going to be anything noticeable. Especially after some time.

Carfax ? Again, not necessarily going to say anything if some indie or owner did the work. Worth a shot I guess if it's cheap enough.

If you see cracks then it's got to go but if even if it looks new that doesn't really mean anything either.

So in the end if you can't find out for sure then you are going to have to make up your own mind. There's ample threads here with much passion about when to do a TB so please don't stir that pot again here

Assuming a dealer did it to the shop manual spec and didn't use a different bolt/tool to do it. My guess is the dealer mechanics don't remove battery tie downs off each car but have a spare one (or equivalent) in their tool box.

 

My TL came with a tapered battery hold down, and according to my 04 service manual they all come that way.

 

95k

 

^^assuming this was a recent purchase for you. i'm willing to bet that the TB was NOT done by the previous owner at that mileage.

 

i'm with Trigirl. Most people dump their TLs it seems before this "major" service. Chances are it was not done if one buys or sells a car around this mileage.

 

Yeah I would be shocked if any previous owner who wasn't on here did it before 105k. Most people just wait for the service reminder. Honestly if your gonna take your cover off and go to the trouble of checking you mine as well just change the belt. I really doubt you could tell for sure anyways if it was done. Its really not all that hard you just have to make sure you mark it really well so you know you get the new one aligned correctly.

 

Do you know at what millage the reminder pops up?

 

^^give or take a few thousand miles of 105k.

 

Thanks.

 

so 105k miles = 168K km,the timing belts are good for that long?