thought I read some place that my car is equipped with a special timing system that causes less damage / no damge at all if the timing belt breaks. Mine broke on the highway and now I'm in the process of getting repair estimates. Seems like the timing belt and waterpump is one price, before they can tell if the engine head has to be replaced due to bent intake valves? My main question is if you know about the special timing belt system, what is it called, and does my car have it? thanks.
It is called a "non interference" engine, and your car has one (as are most Toyota engines). Your intake valves should be fine.
For future reference, the factory recommended replacement interval for the timing belt in the 1998 Camry is 90,000 miles.
By the way: Replacing the water pump & timing belt at the same time is not necessary, but it is often recommended; that's because they both are likely to wear-out around the same time, and they both require removing the same parts of the engine to get access to them. So you might as well replace both; otherwise, if the water pump breaks a month from now you'll kick yourself for having to pay that same labor charge again.
Source(s):
90,000 miles is the recommended interval (no time specified) by Toyota for the 1998 Camry. Open site:
http://www.briskers.com/2009/06/timing-b? Or
http://toyotaownersonline.com/ (requires free registration and valid VIN). "100,000 miles or 10 years" is not believable without a valid source to substantiate it.
is it the same for an automatic?
Linear Mode
